Westwood Village once again has a farmers’ market, and organizers are hoping the new location and hours will not prevent the market from becoming a staple in the community.
On Sunday, residents and visitors strolled along the new market on Broxton Avenue, which featured 12 farmers, or certified organic producers, gourmet snack food vendors, live music, a rock wall and pony rides.
Steve Whipple, market coordinator, said the market is unrelated to the Westwood Farmers’ Market, once held on Weyburn Avenue, before being shut down in March 2006 by the Los Angeles Fire Department, due to safety concerns regarding nearby construction.
The previous farmers’ market re-opened on the Veteran’s Administration grounds last year and currently takes place weekly on Thursdays.
But the new market, appropriately titled the New Westwood Village Farmers’ Market, opened for the first time on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., across the street from the Village Theatre, also known as the Fox.
Though Whipple, who also runs the Culver City Farmers’ Market, said though demand was high for a farmers’ market in Westwood Village, negotiations involving the Westwood Village Improvement Association, Village merchants, and officials from UCLA and the city council took a year.
“We had hoped to be open much sooner,” he said.
He called the new market a “reinvention” of the previous one and said it aims to be the “greenest and most thoughtful neighbor in the village.”
He said new customers received a free recyclable shopping bag, and that the market featured more recycling bins, inspired by the bins at the Festival of Books, than any other farmers’ market in West Los Angeles.
Whipple added that he plans on offering incentives for customers who recycle, or travel by walking or biking.
He said the market does not use any electricity and leftover organic waste is removed to farms for composts. When the market makes a profit, he plans on directing some of the proceeds back for cleanup and maintenance of the Village.
While Whipple said he hopes the market becomes a weekly event, it is dependent on how many people visit.
“(There is) some apprehension that we won’t have enough business on Sundays,” he said.
Michael Schwenn, beekeeper and salesman for Honey Pacifica, said he used to be one of the vendors at the old Westwood Farmers’ Market, but he is unsure if the new market will be as busy.
“(Business was) quite good on Thursdays,” he said. “We’ll have to see what happens (at the new market).”
Law student Lisa Tran said she was on her way to a different farmers’ market in Pacific Palisades with her friends when they stumbled upon the market in Westwood Village.
She said shopping in farmers’ markets is a fun experience and the prices are often more reasonable than shopping in a grocery store.
Tran added that farmers markets also foster a sense of community.
“It (shows that Westwood) is not just restaurants and bars; it’s something else,” she said.