California Ave. Farmer’s Market draws hundreds

Hundreds of Palo Alto area residents strolled through the first California Avenue Farmer’s Market Sunday, tasting fruits and sampling other foods and wares from farmers and others from the greater Bay Area and beyond.

Some 35 farmers, five craftspersons and 25 food vendors had signed up for the opening day of the new market, which will be open every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will continue all year, not seasonally, according to backers.

Interest in having a market began four years ago, when Palo Alto resident Sanford Forte inquired at the Downtown Palo Alto Farmers’ Market about doing something similar on California Avenue.

He followed up with contacts at the California Avenue Area Development Association (CAADA), where he teamed up with Ronna DeVincenzi, with backing from some CAADA board members.

But it wasn’t a sure thing.

“Some CAADA directors had doubts about closing off the street, with a few long-time, established retailers originally dead set against doing so,” Forte recalls. “We persisted. Eventually, we managed agreement, with a unanimous CAADA vote in favor of the market.

“It was a long road — somewhat over two years — with lots of personal lobbying on the part of the supporting directors, but we got it done,” he said.

They connected with Ron Pardini, from Urban Village, a leading nonprofit organizer of farmer’s markets in the Bay Area. The Urban Village board had been asked to open other markets, but declined.

“When the Palo Alto opportunity was presented to Ron, he and his board enthusiastically embraced the idea,” Forte said. Pardini and Alice Waters (of Chez Panisse fame) are organizing the first ever “Slow Food” conference in the United States, in San Francisco in 2008. The Slow Food movement is popular in Europe.

In January, the California Avenue market got a go-ahead from the city “in what is probably a speed record for encountering the Palo Alto Process” for permits, including permission to put signs on El Camino Real from CalTrans. The concept also got strong support from David Schrom of the Evergreen Park Neighborhood Association and Margo Goldberg of Palo Alto Central Association.

The Downtown Farmer’s Market Association “heartily endorsed our effort. … They see no competition problems, as the bulk of the Downtown Market shoppers commute from adjacent north Palo Alto neighborhoods,” Forte said.

Mayor Yoriko Kishimoto and Vice Mayor Larry Klein were also highly supportive, as was City Manager Frank Benest and key city staff members.

A local band played easy music, accepting donations in a small wicker basket.

“The farmers range from very local out to near Sacramento and just south,” Forte said, adding that Pardini’s organization donates food to nonprofit food-related charities at market’s end, and donates a percentage of end-of-year profits to charities identified by his board.

Forte said he and others had lots of help along the way.

“As with all efforts of this type, there are unsung heros: Our local police department; several city hall staffers; neighborhood volunteers placing posters; residents making phone calls to inform neighbors about the market.”

He predicted the market “will result in more ‘communion’ among neighbors, and more people out and about. We all love to see this — it’s something Europeans encounter every day. There’s something essentially ‘human scale’ about these markets, whose tradition reaches pretty far back into our human heritage.”

(Forte’s wife, Jeanie, is a theatre reviewer for the Weekly.)

By Palo Alto Weekly staff

By Palo Alto Weekly staff

By Palo Alto Weekly staff