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When is a Farmers Market Not a Farmers Market?
Newhall isn't even a mini-mini Santa Monica farmers market. / Photo by pink_fish13 via LAist's flickr pool.
The answer to the above question, apparently, is when it's held in Old Town Newhall.
We heart farmers markets because it allows us to buy our foods directly from the growers. We get fruits and veggies without that waxy residue found at most grocery stores while feeling good about supporting our local economy. And oh yeah, it just all tastes so…much… better.
So this LAist poster and SCV resident got all excited when we saw a press release from the City of Santa Clarita announcing the re-opening of the spring/summer farmers market in Newhall. Bands from CalArts would play, the mayor would speak and there would be purveyors selling their harvests. In its continuing effort to make Downtown Newhall the next Old Town Pasadena, they moved the farmers market from a parking lot to the street, closing off a block of Market (during rush hour traffic). But whatever, it's Newhall, and many folks don't drive down Main Street anyway.
So imagine our surprise when we showed up to the "farmers market" around 6 pm and saw the following: a tamale stand; a sausage stand; a granola stand; a Whole Foods information booth, as well as a lemonade stand (to wash down the aforementioned tamales and sausages, probably.) Oh yeah, and tucked away in the corner was a solitary produce vendor.
Today's edition of the local paper The Signal, of course, doesn't tell the real story of this farmers market debacle. If you look at the story's tightly cropped shots at the farmers market, you'll see that it was taken at the only produce stand.
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Sorry, Newhall, but seven or eight stands does not a farmers market make. Go to Santa Monica, Hollywood or maybe Pasadena to see how it's really done. Either that, or rename it the Newhall Farmer Market.
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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