![\"A](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/LH3.jpg\")
<\/a>Running from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday, the Olde English-titled Open Aire Market will host your typical farmers market, with a few oddities thrown in, such as a drum circle and yoga classes strewn throughout the morning.<\/p>\n
University Heights Community Development Corporation Executive Director Christopher Milnes said the idea of a farmers market has been floating around for upwards of 15 years, but finally reached fruition thanks to the proactive involvement of farmers market manager Lisa Hamel.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was looking for something I could sink my teeth into really,\u201d Hamel said. \u201cAnd I knocked on their door and I said, \u2018hey, what do you think?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
This is Hamel\u2019s third farmers market. Most notably, she got Oceanside\u2019s Sunset Market up and running, which she says vastly improved Oceanside\u2019s once troubled downtown.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helped clean up the community up there,\u201d Hamel said. \u201cThey closed off the streets and brought in some electricity. Now it\u2019s a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
While University Heights isn\u2019t in need of saving or revitalization, it\u2019s got several other well-established markets nearby to compete with. Little Italy North Park, Hillcrest and several other communities already draw sizable crowds to their neighborhoods on a weekly basis. Giving the Open Aire Market a unique appeal will be the make-or-break challenge faced by Hamel and the University Heights CDC.<\/p>\n
While the market has all the essentials\u2014the local art, a few food trucks and local businesses setting up shop\u2014they\u2019ve added a few off-color ideas to the mix. A large drum circle with a few dancers certainly caught the eye on Saturday. Donation-only yoga classes run throughout the morning\u2014also offered to kids\u2014granted getting a child to attentively participate in a yoga class sounds like a daunting challenge. A featured teacher of the week will also host a class midway through each market, and once a month an art show will take place on the lawn.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted it to be open enough where everyone could be included,\u201d Hamel said. \u201cThere [are] so many choices, so many fabulous markets to go to, so we\u2019re just trying to shine a little bit brighter.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the crowd present on Saturday was light, businesses saw it as a catalyst for drawing a larger portion of the community to the market in coming weeks.<\/p>\n
Virginia Yousif, who works in Ms. Patty Melt, a food truck owned by the Cohn Restaurant Group, said these events are vital for food trucks during this period in which mobile vendors are stuck in a legal limbo. Interim Mayor Gloria revived neglected city laws that prevent food trucks from operating on private property\u2014at least until new regulations are put into place\u2014although enforcement of this policy has thus far been axed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith our company we go only where we have a certain space,\u201d Yousif said. \u201cWith the whole transition with the mayor and whatnot, we\u2019ll see what happens, because right now it\u2019s super strict.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yousif said Ms. Patty Melt\u2019s policy is to only go to scheduled events rather than going \u201crogue\u201d and roaming populated street areas like many other vendors. Foot traffic is a big concern for all food trucks, and it\u2019s an especially large factor in determining where Ms. Patty Melt will set up shop. While foot traffic at the Open Aire Market\u2019s first installation may have been lower than Yousif prefers, she anticipates the crowd to grow because of the good location and visibility of the market.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think once they get the word out and people tell their neighbors and their friends, it\u2019ll be a good turnout,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Jensea Storie and Susan Heenan were two North County residents who traveled down to University Heights to get a glimpse at what its local businesses had to offer. Loaded with bags full of purchases from the market, they were two of the day\u2019s more enthusiastic patrons.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got some fresh beets, some free-range, no-hormones, no-antibiotics eggs. A fabulous loaf of walnut, date, sourdough, freshly baked bread,\u201d Storie said emphatically, boasting about capitalizing on the organic produce stands.<\/p>\n
The two also commended Hamel, their friend, for organizing what they were confident would be a successful farmers market.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Hamel] did a grand job,\u201d Heenan said. \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be a monster.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both Hamel and Milnes emphasized inclusiveness over all else at this weekly event, especially with University Heights businesses and residences, as shown through their motto, \u201cI love local.\u201d Anyone interested in participating, whether it be displaying, performing, selling, buying, hula hooping, cawing like a bird\u2014any way you\u2019d like to participate\u2014should contact Hamel directly at lisahamel@cox.net<\/a> or at 760-500-7583. <\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Hutton Marshall | SDUN Editor If you were one of the motivated few who awoke before noon last weekend, and you happened to drive down Park Blvd. over to its clustered intersection with Normal St. and El Cajon Blvd, chances are you noticed a new gathering.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":740,"featured_media":246760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"New Open Aire Market seeks inclusiveness, eccentricity","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/740"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nNext Featured Teacher: Nov. 23rd<\/sup>, Ken Dorr of the Optimum Health Institute and Kale University
\nNext Art Show: Dec. 7
\nLocation: 4100 Normal Street
\nTime: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.<\/p>\n