Confusion and Exhaustion At Sunday’s Pali High Farmers Market

By MATTHEW MEYER | Reporter

Traffic was slow at the Pacific Palisades Farmers Market last Sunday, as many patrons took part in that morning’s Wonder Woman Walk across town instead.

Several regulars raised familiar parking and layout concerns, simmering issues heated up by a series of confusing social media posts from organizers over the previous week.

The light crowd served as an advantage for drivers once again navigating Palisades Charter High School’s upper lot, edging into parking spaces that some feel are too narrow.

The market has also fielded complaints about the lot’s location, with some shoppers arguing that the steep incline is difficult to traverse with groceries in tow.

The market hinted earlier in the week that more parking options may soon be on the way, briefly posting on Facebook that there would be two lots open for customer parking, with the market situated in the middle of the two parking areas.

The post was removed, however.

Then on Sunday, a post on the market’s Facebook page said parking was available in both lower and upper lots.

But at 10 a.m, shoppers told the Palisadian-Post that a sign at the lower lot had directed them back to the upper lot after all, with the lower parking area reserved for a sporting event.

It’s all part of growing pains that have come along with the market’s new, temporary location at Pali High, after 16 years of weekly residence on Swarthmore Avenue.

The market was temporarily displaced earlier this summer to accommodate construction on the Palisades Village Project.

Before the move to the high school was announced in July, some Palisadians advocated for a move to the Palisades Recreation Center, and others for re-locating to one of the athletic fields at Palisades Park.

The market may remain at Pali High on Sundays for the next two years.

“I miss Swarthmore, I miss flat,” said shopper Miriam Braveman, as she slid into her car through the passenger door. “I am glad all the vendors are here, maybe even more than in the past,” she added. “But it’s difficult to get around here.”

“I have seen older people drop everything they just bought trying to walk up the hill to their car,” added another shopper, who declined to be named. “Soft fruit—‘splat!’ Maybe we would have been better off at the Rec Center.”

Mary Tuncer, from behind her stand among the milling shoppers, contrasted the complaints. She said she actually preferred the new digs, because the Pali High location is “wider and people can get around with their buggies more easily.”

Palisades representatives at Certified California Farmers Markets, the market organizers, did not respond to email and phone inquiries from the Post.