Newbury Park farmers market fosters community
Opened on Oct. 4, the Newbury Park Farmers Market, on the corner of Old Conejo rd. and Wendy drive, operates Saturdays between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.. Hosting over a dozen vendors, the market is run by Raw Inspiration, a non-profit organization that aims to encourage adults and children to eat more fresh fruit and vegetables.
Coordinator of the Newbury Park Farmers Market, David Allgeier, is in charge of making sure things run smoothly and recruiting vendors. Currently, the market has a wide variety of vendors, including local farms selling produce and eggs, vendors selling tamales and hummus and Gut Magic selling protein hot chocolate. “A lot of the vendors are routine, regular,” Allgeier said. “They do work at other farmers markets throughout the week as well as weekends.”
For people who live in Newbury Park, this farmers market is the closest one open on Saturdays. Others operated by Raw Inspiration include the Calabasas market on Saturdays and the Agoura market on Thursdays. “The 101 freeway […] is very local as well, as it’s a prime location where a lot of people do their shopping,” Algeier said.
A new vendor, Sarah Gordon, founder of Gut Magic, recently began her business selling high-protein hot chocolate mix. She hopes to expand her business to another farmers market in Brentwood in the near future. “[Farmers markets allow people to make] organic connections, [having] people like the product, like me, [and] maybe want to work with me as a dietitian, so just kind of bridging all the aspects of my career into one,” Gordon said.
Juan Osorio of Osorio Family Farms began selling at this farmers market 2 weeks ago, at its debut. He sells mostly greens, tomatoes and lettuces, all grown on a family farm in Carpinteria. “[It’s] important for the farmers market to bring people together that do look for fresh food and not processed foods that have been stored for weeks,” Osorio said.
As a new market, Allgeier hopes that the market will grow and thrive along with the community. “Every week we’ve been seeing a lot more new people come by,” Allgeier said. “So we’re just hoping that as the weekends progress, a lot more people will start to know, [and] there’ll be more of a buzz in the community.”
