These Weed Sellers Aren’t Waiting for Permits: ‘Like a Dream Come True’

He and the half-dozen other vendors who set up in the park regularly know they are operating in a gray area, but they said the police had not bothered them by and large. When officers walk by, the vendors put away their products and stop sales. In one case, a police officer fist-bumped a vendor and chatted her up.

The Police Department and parks department did not offer a formal response, but officials at both agencies said they were working together to enforce vending regulations. In the first two months of the year, parks enforcement officers issued 20 summonses for illegal vending — of anything — in Washington Square Park, compared with 31 in all of 2021.

Just as the pandemic changed people’s priorities, values and coping skills, Mr. Gorham thought it had also eased the way for selling openly. “This should have happened years ago,” he said. “Maybe Covid made people be a little more lenient. It’s hard out here, but the times are changing.”