ORANGE : Farmers Market May Open as Early as July

Orange’s historic Old Towne district soon will offer a farmers market to Sunday morning strollers if the City Council approves the concept at its meeting today.

The market, which would start with 20 to 25 booths, would open on the 100 block of North Orange Street from 9 a.m. to noon Sundays.

The street would be closed from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. to accommodate set-up and cleanup, according to the Orange County Farm Bureau, which would certify the sellers and operate the market.

Council members will consider the project for a 60-day trial period at their 3 p.m. meeting today.

Merchants in the plaza are delighted at the prospect of more shoppers, said Shannon Tucker, president of the Old Towne Preservation Assn. and head of the downtown revitalization task force for the Chamber of Commerce.

“More people are using farmers markets,” said Tucker, who has been working on the project with the farm bureau. “It’s a very trendy thing right now to buy fresh vegetables and herbs. It would be a real treat for people to go down there and see what’s going on.”

Residents currently travel to farmers markets in Tustin, Costa Mesa or Huntington Beach to buy fresh produce, she said.

But while local merchants are heartened by the prospect of the new market, a representative of one of the churches in the area said he will object to the proposed time and place.

“I have no objection to the farmers market,” said Bill Teachout, president of the Board of Trustees for the First Presbyterian Church of Orange. “My objection is to the combination of the farmers market being on a Sunday morning within a block of three churches.”

Teachout said he will ask council members to either find another site for the market or have it open on a different day of the week.

If all the permits can be obtained quickly enough, the market could open as early as July 1, Tucker said.