Woodland Hills : Cicero Intends to Start Farm Stand

Joe Cicero, the former operator of Pierce College’s farm stand, says he plans to open a new stand soon in the West Valley.

Losing his lease after 10 years at the school was a blow, he said. But his family, which has farmed in the San Fernando Valley for more than four decades, intends to stay in business, he said.

“We’re not going down.”

Investors, whom he declined to name, have helped finance his planned 15-acre operation on Sherman Way near Shoup Avenue, he said. Two abandoned houses were torn down to make way for the stand, which he says will open in the fall.

Cicero Farms, as the Pierce College stand was called, over the years had become a popular West Valley tradition. Its hayrides, elaborate Christmas displays and other attractions made it popular with families and schools.

Cicero, who also grew produce on the 25-acre operation, lost his lease last spring to an Oxnard strawberry farmer who outbid him. Later, the school announced that the farm stand would be eliminated and the surrounding farmland incorporated into the school’s agricultural program.

Cicero said longtime customers from the college stand have been calling him to ask whether he plans to keep farming. “The schools have all been calling asking about the hayrides,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pierce College is seeking bidders to sell pumpkins and Christmas trees from the stand during October, November and December, President Mary Lee said. The school, she said, will accept no bids lower than $36,000.