Shake-up at Claremont farmers market
Riverside farmer Brian Griffith pictured at the Claremont Farmers and Artisans Market in 2022. Courier file photo
by Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com
Eight vendors at Claremont’s Farmers and Artisans Market received notice Sunday that they were in violation of city rules for the popular morning event along Harvard Avenue.
The city claimed the vendors were in violation of two conditions of a special event permit, one pertaining to incorrect street closures, the other regarding the sale of hot, made-to-order food. Following a flurry of outcry on social media, the city released a statement Monday clarifying the reasons behind the move.
The market’s special event permit allows the sale of pre-packaged food such as breads, spreads, cheeses, and fish. Not permitted are “prepared, made-to-order food and beverages for on-site consumption such as tacos, hot meals, or food truck items,” read the city’s statement. “These vendors may participate only if their products are sold pre-packaged for off-site consumption.”
The full statement is viewable at claremontca.gov/news-articles, search “farmers market.”
The Claremont Forum, which runs the market, said the November 16 notice actually affected four vendors: Rene’s Beignets, Pack A Bowl, Marigold Coffee Collective, and The Tamale Guys.
Claremont Forum Vice President and Board Supervisor of the market Sergio Perez said The Tamale Guys will pivot to offering frozen tamales to comply, but Rene’s Beignets, Pack A Bowl, and Marigold Coffee Collective must find an alternative way to offer their products if they are to continue selling at the market.
Marigold Coffee Collective founder Natalie Sweis, who has been selling at the market for over a year, pushed back onPerez’s assertion that she was offered an opportunity to modify her wares.
“None of us were given an option to stay, we were just given notice to leave by the end of the month,” Sweis wrote in a text message. “Marigold’s last day will be the 23rd by my choice out of respect for our community.”
Sweis said she was unaware of the rule that states no prepared, made-to-order food can be sold at the market and that her business’s approved LA County Temporary Food Facility Permit has always been for “prepared foods.”
“They’ve been having prepared food vendors for two and-a-half years,” Sweis said.
Hot food is regulated at the market because, “These rules help ensure fair competition with Village businesses, which pay leases and local taxes, maintain business licenses, and employ local residents,” according to a written statement from Claremont Public Information Officer Bevin Handel. The rule was put in place “to offset the impact to the Village business including parking spaces, trash, access to their stores, etc.”
Sweis contested the city’s reasoning.
“We have fair business practices. We pay rent. We pay taxes. We have licenses, have insurance,” Sweis said. “That comment is so ignorant to the realities of owning a mobile business, the amount of legal professional and health hurdles that you have to go through in order to open. It’s different than a large business, but just as thorough.”
Following Sunday’s notice, Sweis posted a petition at change.org (search “marigold”) to raise awareness of and support for the affected vendors.
“This is an argument between the City and the Forum,” Sweis wrote. “We are just being caught in the middle.”
The four other vendors who were incorrectly notified of another violation have since been invited back, Perez said.
“The special event permit, from what I was told at the time, basically stated that we were in violation of having too many 10-by-10 canopies,” Perez said. “From what I recently found out, we have 88, and we were only allotted 66, I believe. So as a preemptive move to not be in violation of the special event permit, we preemptively made some adjustments which called for the removal of six farmers — not 10 or 15. But while that was the initial goal, we were able to kind of remodify the special event map so that no farmer would really be affected.”
The Forum’s 2025 permit runs through December 25. Perez said the Forum is reapplying for its 2026 special event permit and aims to address the prepared food condition.
“The Forum must comply with their existing permit conditions before the City can issue the 2026 permit (effective January 1),” Handel wrote. “Any changes to the prepared, made to order food restriction will need to go through a public review process which would include public meetings.”
Several people contacted the Courier this week, some claiming Mayor Corey Calaycay had been behind a “crackdown” on market vendors.
“The mayor did not change any rules or pass any policy affecting the Farmer Market permit,” Handel wrote. “He did spend a big part of his Mayoral year, visiting businesses all over town. During his visits to Village merchants, he was made aware of the violations and the impact on local businesses. He raised these concerns with staff, who meet with the Claremont Forum Market manager to go over the violations and suggest ways to correct them.”
Like Marigold Coffee, Rene’s Beignets and Pack A Bowl could be making their final market appearances this Sunday.
“We are actively working to replace the three, four, specialty vendors with farmers,” Perez said. “If we’re able to modify the special event permit in the future, we would be more than happy to welcome them back.”
0 Comments