Free Pizza for First Responders at Farm & Coast Market in Padanaram

Padanaram is even sleepier than usual. This time of the year is normally the preface to a book of beach fun, ice cream, and free concerts at Apponagansett Park.

But the quiet Dartmouth village isn't even at offseason levels right now. The stores are dark, the roads are quieter. Even the Padanaram Bridge defiantly sits with its eyes closed tight and its arms crossed.

For a small town, Dartmouth has been hit pretty hard by the COVID-19 coronavirus, and with Patriots Day coming up next week, one local market has decided to recognize front line workers with a gesture of thanks. Farm & Coast Market will give a choice of a free cheese or pepperoni pizza to healthcare workers and first responders.

Orders need to be placed before 4 p.m. and will be available for pick up between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night next week. The first responders will be able to use the same curbside pickup method that paying customers have been using at Farm & Coast during the pandemic.

Jody Cote is the manager at Farm & Coast Market. She said that business is up a bit since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis.

"We are so lucky. We have a really strong customer base of people that come quite often and they really want us to make it, so they are supporting us," said Cote. "I think they like the fact that we're a small market and that they don't have to go inside a market, touching shopping carts and walking around shopping with other people."