WESTSIDE COVER STORY : Fruitful Marketing : Popularity of Fresh-Picked Goods Causes Many Farmers Markets to Sprout Up Locally

By SUSAN STEINBERG

July 3, 1994 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

In Westwood on a recent Thursday, a crowd gathered in the shadow of the Bullocks department store. But this was no pre-sale positioning for Waterford crystal.

The occasion was the grand opening of Westwood’s farmers market, and the merchandise--piled high on tables set up in the street--included fresh-picked strawberries and purple basil.

Growing faster than summer squash, farmers markets have blossomed on the Westside. In 1990, there were three local open-air markets. Now there are seven--three in Santa Monica and one each in Hollywood, Venice, West Hollywood and Westwood. And more are on the way: Beverly Hills is scheduled to open a farmers market in August, Culver City plans to start one in 1995, and Malibu is discussing plans for one.

The growth comes amid a statewide boom in farmers markets. Since 1978, the number of certified farmers markets in California has climbed from four to 250, according to Southland Farmers Market Assn., a nonprofit group that assists in organizing and operating farmers markets in Southern California.

Farmers markets are not for everyone. Sometimes the prices exceed those of supermarkets, and some competing merchants consider them a business threat. But such concerns have not stopped the markets from proliferating.

On the Westside, evidence of their popularity--and appeal--abounds.

Residents and visitors flock to the weekly markets, buying such products as seasonal fruits and vegetables, fresh bread, exotic herbs, houseplants, aloe vera or even oat grass grown to aid cats’ digestion.

An estimated 8,000 to 10,000 customers usually turn out for the Wednesday farmers market in Santa Monica, the state’s biggest certified farmers market. That market’s 85 growers grossed $3,839,321 in 1992, according to the farmers market association. (The other two Santa Monica markets, held Saturdays, together brought in $791,016.)

Westside-wide, farmers markets grossed more than $6 million in 1992, the latest year for which annual figures are available. That compares to just under $5 million the year before.

Such results have stirred strong interest in cities looking to boost downtown business--and community spirit. “A lot of cities are picking up on farmers markets to return to the concept of the urban gathering place,” said Laura Avery, farmers market coordinator for Santa Monica.

Farmers markets, which are certified by the counties, require that all items grown by the farmers be sold directly to consumers--no middlemen involved. The farmers must also be certified by county agricultural commissioners. Farmers who sell in Westside markets typically pay “space fees,” amounting to 4.25% to 5% of their gross sales, to the host city or its redevelopment agency, and an additional 1% to 1.5% to the farmers market association.

Important to the markets’ appeal, customers say, is the accessibility and helpfulness of the growers. Whether the issue is the cooking time of bok choy or the drought resistance of certain shrubs, the growers give the answer--and often seem to enjoy doing so.

“The honeydews need about four days (to ripen),” grower Nina Vedder Ames instructed a customer recently at Santa Monica’s Wednesday market. “But if you need a good melon right now, try the canary melon. They taste a lot alike.”

The buyer sampled the canary melon, then asked Ames to pick out a few of the ripest ones. Said another shopper, John Watkins: “I rely on the salespeople, and they’re always honest. I like the personal aspect: You’re talking to the person who grows the vegetables. You get to know the farmers, and they know who you are.”

The appreciation runs deep.

According to Steve Cancian, assistant manager of Santa Monica’s Wednesday farmers market, a vegetable grower who was having financial problems in 1991 told his customers that he would have to raise his prices in order to stay in business. His customers rallied, continued to patronize his stand, and the grower survived--his clientele intact.

Perhaps the key drawing cards of farmers markets are the quality and variety of the produce. In many cases, produce is picked within 24 hours of going to market.

Ames says that on Tuesdays this time of year, she takes to the fields in the mornings to pick corn with the farmhands at her family’s 2,000-acre Imperial Valley spread. The trimming and bagging come next. Then the corn is placed on ice to take out the field heat, she said. Other produce, including cantaloupe and bright-yellow canary melons, is also harvested and crated in the dizzying Imperial Valley heat.

On Wednesday morning, Ames is typically in Santa Monica by 7:30 a.m., sipping a cappuccino in a 2nd Street coffeehouse as her pickup truck and trailer--loaded with a ton of vegetables and fruit--sits parked at the curb. At 9:30 a.m., a blast from an air horn signifies that the market is open.

Ames has sold in the Santa Monica market for two years, and she hopes to remain. She estimates that she makes about $700 every Wednesday--but the allure, she says, goes beyond dollars and cents. Said Ames: “I’d miss it.”

Over the years, market offerings have become more varied, market aficionados say. Whereas one or two types of onions or basil might have sufficed in the past, others are now provided as farmers respond to customer demand.

“If a grower gets several requests for a special kind of something, he can plant a few rows and see how it sells,” Cancian said.

Customer interest in produce grown without pesticides has prompted a surge in the number of organic offerings. Santa Monica’s Saturday market, in fact, has dedicated half of its space to organically grown produce.

“Being registered organic growers helps. A lot of people will only buy organically grown produce,” said DeDe Bazyk, a farmer from Riverside County who sells vegetables at the Hollywood and Westwood farmers markets.

Farmers markets are also showing greater variety in non-agricultural products. Some offer cooked foods, crafts, clothes and more. At the Hollywood Farmers Market, teen-agers Jasen and Justin Perri sell lady bugs, praying mantises and other insects to keep gardens pest-free, an enterprise intended to raise money for the Boys and Girls Club of Hollywood.

Said Justin: “This is much cooler than selling chocolates.”

Farmers market prices, however, often outstrip those of supermarkets.

At Santa Monica’s Wednesday market, for instance, peaches were selling for $1 to $2.50 a pound; at a Vons supermarket about 10 blocks away, peaches could be had for 79 cents a pound. Salad fixings--lettuce, avocado, cucumber, red and green bell peppers, green onions, mushrooms, carrots and tomatoes--cost $7.75 at the farmers market; the same produce--in quantity and type--cost $6.84 at Vons.

But such differences don’t deter farmers market fans, some of whom say, with careful bargain-hunting, they can actually beat supermarket prices.

“My strategy is to come late,” said West Los Angeles resident Mark Baue. “The farmers want to get rid of stuff, so (they) will sell it cheap, just so they don’t have to take it home.”

For farmers, the outdoor markets offer a chance to earn several hundred dollars a day by selling directly to the customer, avoiding shipping and--in most cases--packaging costs. Farmers’ income varies from market to market. The average farmer at West Hollywood’s market made about $266 a day in 1993, but at Santa Monica’s Wednesday market the average grower earned $964 a day, according to the farmers market association.

Ames said she was on a waiting list for three years before landing a spot in Santa Monica’s 85-vendor Wednesday market. “Santa Monica is a draw as a grower, since it is the largest market with the most customers,” she said.

For cities, the farmers markets in some cases represent a redevelopment tool.

The Hollywood Farmers Market, begun in 1991 as part of an economic revitalization effort, attracts about 4,000 customers every Sunday to what would normally be a quiet part of town. The Westside’s newest farmers market, which opened June 2 in Westwood Village, is intended to attract new customers to Westwood’s struggling retail area.

“We’re not here to sell produce; we’re here to promote business in Westwood Village,” said Joe Fahey, the market’s manager.

Whether farmers markets help boost trade at nearby businesses is an open question, however. The economic effects of the markets appear to vary dramatically from business to business. A Santa Monica sandwich shop near 2nd and Arizona, for example, does tremendous business on Wednesday, but other restaurants have complained that their trade is hurt because market customers take up a great deal of parking space in the area, Avery said.

In Hollywood, stores next to the market area have not experienced improved sales, said Pompea Smith, project director of the Hollywood Farmers Market. “We’ve had positive comments from merchants nearby,” she said. “But nothing like, ‘Oh, it has been the greatest for sales.’ One problem is people love the atmosphere here at the market, but they may not go outside the area to shop.”

In Malibu, meanwhile, merchants’ concerns about competition have complicated efforts to organize a market there. The Ventura County Certified Farmers Market Assn. is working on a proposal to hold a market every Friday for three hours at possible sites such as Malibu Bluffs Park and the Civic Center area. But some Malibu merchants say they fear a market would sap local businesses and cause traffic tie-ups and parking shortages.

Elsewhere, however, the move toward farmers markets continues apace.

Beverly Hills has scheduled its first open-air market for Sunday morning, Aug. 7. Canon Drive in the city’s business triangle will be blocked off for 25 to 30 farmers. The proposed Culver City Farmers Market is slated to open in April, 1995, as part of a downtown revitalization project.

Such is the proliferation of farmers markets on the Westside that some wonder whether the markets will begin cutting deeply into each others’ business. Market boosters, however, remain unfazed.

Said Cancian, the Santa Monica farmers market official: “In other parts of the world they have an open-air market every day.”

On the Cover

Daniel McFeeley of Van Nuys juggles oranges as he represents Polito Farms at the Venice Farmers Market held on Fridays.

MARKET SALES

1993 average weekly sales for Westside farmers markets:

Santa Monica: $105,444

Hollywood: $19,754

Venice: $9,116

West Hollywood: $8,253

Westwood: (opened 6/94)

Source: Southland Farmers Market Assn.

FARMERS MARKETS