Por Doug Curlee | Editor en general<\/p>\n
The new farmers market in the parking lot of the former Albertsons on Waring Road is developing a good reputation among those who prefer foods that are fresh, organic and locally grown (for the most part).<\/p>\n
But that won\u2019t be enough to keep it operating if someone else needs the parking lot, and it\u2019s looking as though someone else will, and fairly soon.<\/p>\n
Allied Gardens Shopping Center property manager Linda Lasher won\u2019t say exactly who, just yet, but she will say something may be about to happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe might be as little as two weeks away from announcing a new tenant for the Albertsons building,\u201d Lasher said. \u201cIt might be a little longer, but right now we\u2019re looking good for having a new tenant there very soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
The process, which drew a good deal of initial interest, may now be narrowed down to two finalists.<\/p>\n
While those talks go on, people in the area seem to be enjoying the foods available at the farmers market. Generally, the foods they sell are a bit more costly than you\u2019d find at grocery stores, but that\u2019s at least partially offset by the fact that most of the foods are organic and will have been picked or harvested recently \u2014 some even on the same day they go on sale.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very much into organics, and it\u2019s good to see them here so fresh,\u201d said Jason Toth and Megan Grady, who visited the market on a recent Friday. \u201cWhat we just bought was picked this morning up in Valley Center, so that\u2019s about as fresh as it gets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Artiva Schoenen was making her second visit to the market.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good that this opened up here,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s nowhere near the selection you\u2019d get at places like Whole Foods, but you know it\u2019s gonna be nice and fresh. You don\u2019t mind paying a little more for food you know is fresh and organic in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n
A little price survey we did confirms it\u2019s more expensive for some foods at the Farmers Market.<\/p>\n
Zucchini squash went for $1.50 per pound there, while Sprouts sells it for 98 cents a pound. Food4Less has it at 99 cents a pound, while the Haggen store that just replaced my own neighborhood Albertson\u2019s in Santee wanted $1.49 per pound.<\/p>\n
Fresh strawberries ranged from $3 per pound at the farmers market to $2.50 a pound at Food4Less, with the other stores ranging somewhere in between; the same range was true with fresh nectarines. Again, most people were willing to bite the bullet on the prices just to know the farmers market products were almost invariably fresher.<\/p>\n
Slightly more than half of the booths and tables at the Farmers Market are devoted to food. The rest of the tables were primarily devoted to the kinds of commercial arts and crafts sales you might see at any street fair, having little or nothing to do with food. One table covered with commercially made models of sailing ships and other such things caught my attention. (It didn\u2019t appear to catch anyone else\u2019s attention.)<\/p>\n
Until an announcement is made about the future of the former Albertsons space, the farmers market will continue to operate in the parking lot every Friday from 4 to 8 p.m.<\/p>\n