Farmers’ Market to Reopen at New Site

Forced out of Moorpark’s historic downtown by a lack of customers, the city’s farmers’ market has found a new home.

The market will soon reopen at Spring Road and Los Angeles Avenue, manager Cynthia Korman said. Organizers have tentatively picked Oct. 26 as the first day of business at the new spot.

Korman said she hopes the location, along the city’s busiest roads, will give the market the visibility it lacked at its former home on High Street.

City officials had hoped that placing the farmers’ market in the MetroLink parking lot near High and Magnolia streets would help bring weekend shoppers into downtown Moorpark. But the same lack of pedestrian and car traffic that has killed many downtown businesses also hurt the market.

The final farmers’ market on High Street was held in mid-August, Korman said.

Korman found the new site at Gateway Plaza with the help of the Moorpark Chamber of Commerce. About 20 to 25 vendors will sell fruits and vegetables in the plaza parking lot from 3 to 7 p.m.

Although she has prepared fliers to hand out around town, Korman said she will rely on the market’s new visibility--and customers who tell their friends about the move--to rejuvenate the market.

“Really, the way this works best is word of mouth,” she said.