By Ken Williams | Editor
The North Park Farmers Market is getting a fresh makeover, adding more vendors as well as moving down the street to a more visible location.
Launching March 24, the rebranded North Park Thursday Market will move west into the heart of the hipster community’s “downtown” area. Two full blocks of North Park Way — from 30th Street west to Granada Avenue — will be closed during market times.
Catt Fields White, the director of San Diego Markets that operates a number of local farmers markets, said she is excited by the move. The old location was in a remote parking lot directly behind CVS Pharmacy on the north side of North Park Way and on the block of Herman Avenue between North Park Way and University Avenue.
offer healthy drinks and fresh produce. (Courtesy of North Park Thursday Market)
“The new location will allow us to have a linear, two-block market,” she said.
“We will be able to add 35 percent more booths as a result.” That will boost the market to more than 60 participants.
New vendors will feature items such as artisan Sriracha and pesto sauces, bone broth and sea salts. They will join longtime favorites, including African Sisters Farm, J.R. Organics, Smit Farms and Suzie’s Farm.
Also debuting will be a weekly outreach program to students at nearby Jefferson Elementary School, which is on Utah Street at the dead-end of North Park Way just one block west of Granada Avenue. Fields White said the market hopes to educate students and their parents on the importance of eating healthy and will provide a space where the children can find nutritional information and healthy snacks.
As news began to leak about the upcoming switch in location, local business and restaurant owners told Fields White that they were happy with the decision.
“We will roll out a demo kitchen each week and feature a local chef,” she said. “We’ve gotten a tremendous chefs’ response.”
On March 24, Hanis Cavin from Carnitas Snack Shack will be the first chef to test the demo kitchen. Abe Botello from West Coast Tavern and Matt Gordon from Urban Solace will be among the early participants, Fields White said.
The demo kitchen is a tribute to North Park’s growing reputation for good eating, she added.
Dozens of restaurants are within walking distance of the market’s new location. It is also just steps from North Park’s public parking garage, accessed via 29th Street. But because North Park Way will be blocked off at 29th Street during the market, drivers will have to access the garage off University Avenue.
Another convenience is that the new site is much closer to the transit corridor, so bus riders coming to the market can also arrive and depart using the 2, 6, 7 and 10 bus routes.
“The new location will provide the market tons of pedestrian foot traffic,” Fields White said. “Also, the booths will face north-south, so our vendors won’t have to battle the sun. This is important to keep our produce and fruit at their freshest.”
—Ken Williams is editor of Uptown News and Mission Valley News and can be reached at [email protected] or at 619-961-1952. Follow him on Twitter at KenSanDiego, Instagram account at KenSD or Facebook at KenWilliamsSanDiego.
