Repair Café Adds New Dimension to Cooperstown Farmers’ Market

By TERESA WINCHESTER
COOPERSTOWN

On any given Saturday, the Cooperstown Farmers’ Market at 101 Main Street in Pioneer Alley is a happening place. Regular customers are familiar with its plenteous produce, high-quality artisanal fare and baked goods, while first-time shoppers are most likely pleasantly surprised by its offerings. In February, The Repair Café, a collaborative effort of Otsego 2000, Otsego County Conservation Association and Otsego Land Trust, was introduced to the market.

“It’s a great way to help people and spread good will. It’s been successful because these good folks volunteer their time,” said Peg Odell, program and communications manager for Otsego 2000, at the March 15 market.

The first Repair Café took place on February 15, focusing on small appliance repair. On March 1, the public was invited to bring textiles and jewelry for repair, and repair coaches also welcomed kids hoping their stuffed animals could be made “all better.” March 8 was for computer and cellphone repair.

On March 15, from 10:30 to 1 p.m., a steady stream of hopeful participants brought their lamps and small appliances for repair by Neal Newman of Middlefield, Joel Morain of Cherry Valley, and Patrick Sherry of Laurens.

Morain’s first order of business was a Bose CD player.“The radio works but the CD player is intermittent. Sometimes it just needs a good cleanse. Everything with moving parts has pieces to wear out,” he said while evaluating the problem. Morain was able to successfully repair the CD player.

During the summer months, Morain is the audio/video coordinator for Glimmerglass Opera. In the off-season, he runs a small freelance shop in Springfield Center, taking miscellaneous “odd projects” while also doing fabrication for the opera’s lighting and scenery departments.

Reached by telephone after The Repair Café had closed for the day, Sherry offered that “things went well. We fixed about a dozen lamps—both freestanding and table lamps. We took care of everybody who came to the table today.”

Sherry worked as a Sears appliance repairman for more than 40 years before retiring. He now owns and operates Appliance Maintenance Services LLC, which may be reached at appliance820@gmail.com or (607) 353-2305.

Visitors to The Repair Café fill out a form noting, among other things, the time they arrived, the time the work was done, and whether the item was in fact fixed. The back of the sign-in form lays out “house rules” to be signed by customers, stating that they offer broken items at their own risk, with no guarantees for the repairs carried out. Coaches may refuse items at their discretion. If things are especially busy, a maximum of one broken item per person will be evaluated.

The work carried out in The Repair Café is performed free of charge by the repair coaches. Although repairs are free, any use of new materials may result in a small fee. Donations are also accepted.

At the four Repair Cafés held thus far, 50 people brought in more than 50 items, the vast majority of which were repaired on site, Odell related in an e-mail communication, adding that at The Repair Café dealing with computers and cellphones, the coaches answered many technological questions, which was another means of helping people.

Odell also said that Otsego 2000 hopes to offer more Repair Café opportunities at the farmers’ market in the future and also noted that a more comprehensive Repair Café will be offered at the 2025 Earth Festival to be held at Milford Central School on Saturday, April 26.

The Repair Café originated in Amsterdam in 2009, the brainchild of Dutch woman Martine Postma, a journalist turned environmentalist with a focus on sustainability. Currently, there are some 4,300 community-run Repair Cafés in countries such as Belgium, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, India, Japan and others. According to the website repaircafe.org, repairing rather than throwing away items “reduces the volume of raw materials and energy needed to make new products. It cuts CO2 emissions…because manufacturing new products and recycling old ones causes CO2 to be released.”

Postma went on to establish The Repair Café International Foundation to enable local communities to set up their own projects. She also wrote a manual and produced a starter kit. Repaircafe.org offers many how-to guides for fixing things.The New York State Department of Environmental Con-servation promotes The Repair Café in the section of its website titled “The Case for Repair: Environmental, Economic and Community Engagement Benefits.”

Information is also available at www.otsego2000.org/repair.