Montrose farmers market may cut number of antique, crafts vendors

Nov. 4, 2011 12 AM PT

Antique, collectible and used book dealers may see their role at the Montrose Harvest Market change as organizers continue to push reforms and take stock of the event.

The farmers market has undergone several changes in the past five months to address violations issued by the Los Angeles County Agriculturer Commissioner and Department of Public Health, as well as the fallout from an ongoing embezzlement investigation being carried out by Glendale police.

But another change may be in the midst as the Montrose Shopping Park Assn. board, the business group that runs the market, reviews the types of vendors it allows to have booths at the event.

Market manager Mark Sheridan said the board is mulling over possibly cutting the amount of craft-like vendors from 40 to 25.

“I’ve seen this over the years,” Sheridan said. “As markets mature, people want change.”

Fearful of losing their spots at the Montrose Harvest Market, dealers in the adjoining Thieves Market section are willing to make sacrifices and changes, said Terre Ashmore, a spokeswoman for the booth owners.

“We understand our future is in question,” Ashmore said at the Montrose Shopping Park Assn. board meeting on Thursday. “It isn’t a hobby, it isn’t a past time, this is our business.”

Board treasurer Maureen Palacios, who also heads the Harvest Market Oversight Committee that was created after the police began the embezzlement investigation, said the group is still in the research stage.

“No decisions have been made,” she said.

Ashmore said the vendors at the Thieves Market consistently draw customers to the farmers market and the shopping park on Honolulu Avenue. But some merchants in the past have complained that the street vendors bring unneeded competition to an area that has been hit hard by the sluggish economy.

After embezzlement and certification concerns, Montrose organization faces shake-up

-- Brittany Levine, Times Community News

Twitter: @brittanylevine

Photo: Signage at the Montrose Harvest Market bans dogs from the food areas after the organizers received a notice of violation from the Los Angeles County Department of Health. Credit: Roger Wilson/Staff Photographer