Farmers' market moves to temporary digs

The Farmers' Market, held every Thursday at The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks, will be moving to a temporary location due to an extensive renovation in the shopping center. The Market will relocate today, Feb. 1, to the parking lot of the former City Hall building, up the hill from The Oaks at 403/ 401 Hillcrest Drive. The new Farmers' Market site will share the parking lot with the Conejo Recreation and Park District, the Arts Council and the National Park Service Visitors Center.

"The Farmers' Market is very excited to work with these three groups at City Hall to help promote each other's programs," said Karen Wetzel Schott, operations manager of the Ventura County Certified Farmers' Market Association. "The Farmers' Market managers are encouraging their customers to be patient with the new move as the site is not visible from Hillcrest, with lots of signage needed to get people used to driving up the hill."

Once the east end of The Oaks is complete with a new parking structure, the Farmers' Market will move back to its original parking spot, estimated for spring 2008 or earlier, depending on the progress of the new structure.

The Farmers' Market will continue with its same day and time of operations on Thursdays, with winter hours from 3 to 6:30 p.m. and 3 to 7 p.m. in March when the time changes.

According to Schott, because the Farmers' Market will be sharing parking space with other businesses, parking spots will not be as ample as at The Oaks.

To get to the new location, shoppers will take Hillcrest Drive to McCloud Avenue north to Civic Center Drive, which is immediately on the right. Patrons will continue up the hill and the Market will be on the rooftop of the Conejo Recreation and Park District at 403 Hillcrest.

The Thousand Oaks Farmers' Market is part of the Ventura County Certified Farmers' Market Association, a nonprofit cooperative. The Market will be open rain or shine for the rest of the year.

For more information, call (805) 529-6266 or visit www.vccfarmersmarket.com.