Celebration Farmers Market Open Again
Celebration’s farmers market, circa last July.
If you’ll recall, the farmers market at Celebration Restaurant was shut down last summer by city code inspectors when they found a dog on the restaurant’s porch. Rumors spread that the city was putting the kibosh on the various neighborhood farmers markets that have sprung up in recent years. Celebration ended up being the only market closed by the city. but the even precipitated a long a bureaucratic back-and-forth between the city, market organizers, and vendors, which others have followed more closely than I.
This spring, when the White Rock Local Market, the market at Mockingbird Station, Bolsa’s Market were all getting geared up, Celebration wasn’t allowed. Or so they thought. Market organizer Leah Ferraro finally called an assistant city manager and asked “What’s the deal?” “Oh,” she was told. “We thought you were already open.” Would have been nice if someone had told Ferraro, but that’s all water under the bridge. She got the market up and running again three weekends ago, and things have been bustling. The city’s still working on how to regulate the markets–a final ordinance should go before the City Council in August, and it’s looking like organizers will be charged about $300, which Ferraro is fine with. So maybe things will be implemented by September? Which is probably getting close to the end of market season.
Until then, the markets are free to operate as they always have, which is fine, if a bit bemusing, Ferraro said.
(h/t Kim Pierce).
