FARMERS MARKET HEADING BACK TO BOULEVARD
Event, a Friday-night staple since 1993, attracts thousands
The La Mesa Certified Farmers’ Market returns this Friday. Open from 3 to 7 p.m., the market will once again run along La Mesa Boulevard between Palm Avenue and 4th Street. More than two dozen vendors, live music, and special promotions and activities are expected.
While many residents and vendors are rejoicing, some business owners in the downtown area remain unhappy. Fridays are busy in the village and with parking spots in front of dozens of stores taken up by vendors, the owners say the market is a losing proposition for them.
Some business owners who make up the La Mesa Village Association, a group that ran the event at one time, have formed a committee to work with the market and city to “come to a better solution about the market,” according to LMVA spokeswoman Terri Favro.
The farmers market draws thousands of shoppers from around the county every week. Brian Beevers runs it as part of Brian’s Farmers Markets after winning a city bid to manage the event.
It was most popular when it was on La Mesa Boulevard, where it moved three years ago from a small parking lot on Date Avenue near the Civic Center. During the pandemic, it operated temporarily at a parking lot along Allison Avenue
Beevers said he is now able to fulfill an agreement he made last year with the city of La Mesa — that once three months had passed after restaurants could operate at 50 percent capacity, the market could open back up for good along La Mesa Boulevard.
“It’s what the people want, overwhelmingly,” he said. “It offers the quintessential downtown feeling people love. They meet people, they gather and connect with friends and neighbors.”
Beevers said that many of the shoppers who come to the market patronize businesses in the area. He said a typical Friday brings up to 3,000 shoppers — doubling the 1,500 that were visiting the Allison Avenue parking lot site.
But some business owners in the downtown area say they are frustrated with the coming plan, even those that support farmers’ markets in general. Many express frustration with the 40 or so parking spots taken up by vendors for more than six hours on what is usually their busiest day.
“There’s no other farmers market on a Friday night (in San Diego County), because it’s not a good business model,” said Michelle Huey of Pete’s Place, a bar on La Mesa Boulevard since 1954. “That doesn’t happen anywhere else. Most are held in parking lots, in a strip mall or on streets that are off a main drag.”
She said that Carlsbad and Ocean Beach have farmers markets in a villagetype setting similar to La Mesa’s, but those are both on Wednesday nights.
Beevers said changing the day of the farmers market is not an option because farmers and other vendors are already committed to farmers markets on other days of the week — and also because La Mesa’s has been held on Friday afternoons for nearly 30 years.
Michael McWilliams, who has run San Pasqual Winery on La Mesa Boulevard since 2009, said he is looking forward to the market’s return.
“I think it helps businesses in the big picture,” McWilliams said. “For the businesses on those Friday afternoons, it’s somewhat of a wash in terms of parking places that get taken up. But there’s more traffic that walks by. There’s exposure to the businesses in the village and on La Mesa Boulevard. If people don’t stop in that night, they will come back later.”
Beevers said he is looking forward to bringing back some of the kid- and familyfriendly activities the market had been offering while on the boulevard.
He said this Friday there will be a promotion offering $5 toward a same-day purchase at participating farmers market vendors for shoppers who buy something at a brick-and-mortar store on La Mesa Boulevard between 2 and 6:45 p.m. and then show a receipt to Brian’s Farmers Markets personnel.