Farmers Market Eyes Antioch

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

The Pacific Palisades Farmers Market is reportedly looking to return to the Village from Palisades Charter High School—but instead of heading back to Swarthmore Avenue, the market is looking at the possibility of operating on Antioch Street, Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce President Bob Benton confirmed.

“There is no definitive plan for the market to come back on Antioch, but what I know is that Mr. Caruso wants the market back, the market wants to come back and the vendors want to come back,” Benton explained to the Palisadian-Post on Tuesday, Nov. 6.

“I’m not giving you what the public wants, but I’m talking about the business end of it.”

In discussions on social media in mid-October, the community was split in half whether they believed the market should return to the Village or to remain at Pali High, where it has been temporarily operating since October 2016.

A handful of commentators expressed that they thought Antioch would make a good home for the market in the future.

“Perhaps we could consider Antioch as a location,” one community member wrote. “It’s wider, longer, has food, will continue the tradition of bringing community to area, avoid the extra congestion at the Village, etc. It covers all bases.”

In order for the move to happen, the market would need to meet with businesses that operate along the street, which stretches from Sunset Boulevard to Haverford Avenue, and seek their approval.

“It has to work for everybody and they need at least 50 percent of the people on Antioch to approve it,” Benton said, explaining that the market would not move “half-baked” and would remain at Pali High if the response from Antioch Street was not mostly positive.

Though representatives from the farmers market were not available for comment as the Post went to print, Benton shared that so far, there have been no major road blocks and that the move could come as soon as the beginning of 2019, pending location approval and the obtaining of road closure permits.