Rules are integral to keeping public spaces enjoyable for everyone — especially when food safety is involved.

When a local farmer’s market became overrun with off-leash dogs, once concerned (and disgusted) resident is determined to take a stance — no matter how unpopular it might make them.

Read on for the full story!

WIBTA if I reported my local Farmer’s Market to the health department?

My local Farmer’s Market does a “Music and Market” night once a week where they get a band to play for a few hours, and people can shop, sit, and buy meals from local vendors.

This park has a strict “no dogs” policy, and the Farmer’s Market stalls have signs saying dogs are prohibited for health code reasons.

But the rules are clearly not followed.

Yet every week I see 20-30 dogs there, many off-leash.

They bark, fight, pee, and poop near food vendor stalls, making for a very unpleasant experience.

The concerned resident tries to complain to the city.

The Farmer’s Market is run by the city using donations collected during the concerts, so I approached them about all the dogs and was met with a “yeah, but what can we do?” response.

I complained several weeks in a row, so they finally said they’d make an announcement.

But it wasn’t what the concerned resident was expecting.

This is it verbatim:

“Hey everyone, some party poopers want us to remind you that dogs aren’t allowed in the park, so be sure to leave them at home. We’ll keep enforcing the rule as vigilantly as ever, wink wink.”

So they decide to escalate the issue even higher.

That has me ticked off enough to contact the local health department.

But now they’re wondering of the potential consequences for complaining.

I know if I lodge a complaint, they have to inspect eventually, and they’ll either force them to enforce the rules or shut it down.

If I can get them to come out next week, it will be the busiest concert of the summer, so I think it would make the biggest difference.

They feel justified, but they know speaking up will make them unpopular.

My wife is standing by me in this, but says I could have a lot of people mad at me.

So, WIBTA if I got everyone’s fun night shut down?

If there’s anything that gets people riled up, it’s discourse about where they can and can’t take their pets.

Let’s see what Reddit had to say.

This commenter thinks the rules should be respected and if it takes a health code complaint to do it, then so be it.

Dogs may be cute, but they don’t belong anywhere around food.

This user not only agrees with the author, but has a handy pun ready to go.

Regardless of what some entitled pet owners may think, their furry friends aren’t entitled to the same privileges as humans are.

Letting dogs roam where they didn’t belong was more than a nuisance — it was a violation of trust and safety.

The negligent city official’s behavior just goes to show that just because something’s popular, doesn’t mean it’s right.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.