Answering Nina Murano’s recent opinion on the proposed potential structures for an all-year farmers market, there are a few things I’d like to point out (“Village Green is not to be built on, needs to be preserved for all island activities,” Aug. 24).

First of all, I too have lived here more than 40 years and have seen many localities, businesses and institutions evolve.

The market is a meeting place. It’s a place where people can buy, at a nominal price, local, organic food raised by our hard-working small farmers. It’s a place where we greet neighbors and friends we don’t see in any other context. No other place on the island engenders more delight in community than the ever-rewarding Saturday market. Why restrict that community to a few months of summer?

The Village Green is also a place where local craftpersons show their wares. In the sluicing rains of winter, it is not feasible for many of those vendors to set up outside, yet there’s only a small covered area available now.

Forty years ago, there were people here who farmed, but we did not have any of the dedicated, sustainable farms that struggle to earn a living doing what they believe in. Murano refers to those who would like a year-round market as money grubbers. What’s so wrong about wanting to get paid for working all year?

I can remember a McFeed’s store in what’s now a new arts center, a cramped little library that now houses the senior center, a hardware store that sold screws and nails, now a restaurant that still sports the “Today’s Special” sign and many more changes.

We have evolved and grown, let’s continue to do so.

— Kaj Wyn Berry