Farmers’ Market to Mark 1st Birthday

In its first year, the Encino Farmers’ Market has brought more than fresh fruits and vegetables to Victory Boulevard in Van Nuys. It also has brought a new awareness of a group that helps the elderly to the thousand or more people who visit the area on a typical Sunday.

“We see it as a success in terms that it has brought more attention to O.N.E.,” said Susan Beckman, manager of the farmers market.

O.N.E., the Organization for the Needs of the Elderly, is a nonprofit group based in Van Nuys that delivers hot meals and runs day care and other activities for senior citizens.

The market celebrates its first birthday Sunday with birthday cake, a magician and a food artist.

The anniversary will mark the beginning of a year in which the market should break even, Beckman said. It did not break even during its first year--not unusual for a new farmers’ market--but donations from benefactors prevented it from going into the red, she said.

However, the market has helped O.N.E. reach a wider section of the community, Beckman said. A typical Sunday crowd of 1,000 to 1,200 people--mostly families--can often swell to 2,500 when the market sponsors special events.

“The main purpose of the establishment of this market was as an outreach to the community, because O.N.E. has been one of the best-kept secrets of the Valley,” Beckman said.

It is run each week by about 20 to 30 volunteers--from ages 9 to 87--who add trust and safety to the market’s somewhat European flavor, Beckman said. “Since I’ve been here, five wallets have been lost and five wallets have been returned with the money and credit cards still in them.”

Each week the market features face-painting for children and a story time in which senior volunteers read to the children.

But the main draw is the fresh fruits and vegetables from 27 farmers and half a dozen food vendors, who can only sell what they grow themselves. “It really gives you things you can’t normally get in the marketplace,” Beckman said. “Things grown for flavor and freshness rather than ‘shipability.’ ”

The market, at O.N.E.’s Mark Taper Intergenerational Center, 17400 Victory Blvd., is open from 8 a.m. to noon every Sunday.

Featured this week at the market’s birthday party will be magician Paul Ruben, a member of the Magic Castle, and food artist Karen Berk.