After a year’s absence, food vendors have returned to Mérida en Domingo.
Mérida en Domingo is the Plaza Grande’s weekly open-air event complete with performances for children, regional dancers, and now once again, lots of food.
Before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, dozens of vendors sold snacks including fried plantains, tacos and marquesitas to passersby across the cathedral and in Mérida’s main square.
Out of the 40 vendors who hoped to be allowed to return to work, only 11 were allowed to set up shop this week on Mérida’s main square. The remaining vendors will take turns in upcoming weeks until sanitary authorities decide to lift restrictions altogether.
Other popular weekly events such as Noche Mexicana and the Bicirutra have also begun operating once again, though with a handful of restrictions.
Vendors and attendees alike seem pleased with the move to reopen outdoor activities and have overall been fairly respectful and accommodating when it comes to social distancing norms and mask-wearing.
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“I was over the moon when authorities told me that I would be able to get back to work selling marquesitas. When everything shut down I had to find work weeding and collecting cans. I much rather be selling my marquesitas,” said Roberto Navaro Herrara at his stall across from Mérida’s cathedral.
Several Mérida en Domingo vendors reported that during the first three months of the pandemic they received 500 pesos a month from the city government.
The vendors said that they appreciated the help and understood that it could not go on indefinitely, but that what they really wanted was to get back to work in earnest.
