Quick Take
Market organizers are proposing a move to either Shoreline Middle School or Live Oak Elementary School, and will open the conversation at a district board meeting Wednesday. The Live Oak farmers market will leave the East Cliff Village Shopping Center, where it has been held for 22 years, at the end of April.
Forced to leave their longtime home at the East Cliff Village Shopping Center by the end of the month, organizers of the Live Oak farmers market have submitted a proposal to the local school district to move to a nearby school.
A possible partnership between the market and Live Oak School District is on the agenda for an upcoming district board meeting Wednesday. Market organizers have proposed moving the regular Sunday market to either Shoreline Middle School or Live Oak Elementary School. Both schools are near the market’s current location – Shoreline is 0.6 miles away and Live Oak Elementary is 1.3 miles away.
Leaders of Santa Cruz Community Farmers’ Markets, the nonprofit organization that runs the Live Oak farmers market and four other markets in the Santa Cruz area, say this initial meeting will explore the possibility and hopefully bring to light any potential hurdles.
“We’re waiting to see the response from the board to the proposal, and shine a light on trouble areas, mainly parking, and making sure field use and coordinating events won’t clash,” said Sandra Ward, the market board’s president and co-owner of New Natives microgreens. She said there’s a possibility that the district might already have its hands full recovering from a budget crisis, which led to the resignation of Superintendent Daisy Morales.
The Live Oak farmers market already has a working relationship with the district. In 2023, it partnered with LOSD’s nutrition program to deliver local farm produce directly to the school for school meals. It also hosts Dia De La Familia, a program created in partnership with regional school garden nonprofit Life Lab that offers incentives to families associated with the district to shop at the market.
Market director Nesh Dhillon emphasizes that the goal is to open up a conversation with the school district. “We’re investigating options,” said Dhillon. The Live Oak market is also still considering at least two other locations in the area. In any case, the market would prefer to move directly to a permanent location, and will move to a temporary location only if absolutely necessary, says Dhillon.
The farmers market has been held on Sundays in the parking lot at the East Cliff Village Shopping Center on East Cliff Drive in Live Oak since 2002, operating on a month-to-month basis without a formal lease agreement. In March, the shopping center’s owners, Swenson Builders, proposed a new agreement with the market. The lease included a monthly rent increase from $600 to $3,000, as well as other terms that would have made it impossible for the market to function, Ward told Lookout.
When the market was unable to renegotiate the terms, it faced an imminent move at the end of March when its agreement expired. On March 28, Swenson Builders granted the market a 30-day extension through April following community outcry.
Now, Ward said she’s “taking time to just breathe” after a chaotic month. Dhillon said he was surprised at the volume of community support. “It’s amazing. I’m really touched,” said Dhillon. “And it’s all happening organically. It just goes to show you that markets are community activation zones.”
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