It turns out there might just be room for two farmer's markets in Santa Rosa after all.
Tents full of organic veggies, crisp apples and fresh pastries sprouted up in opposite ends of the city Saturday morning, with large crowds at both locations illustrating the strong support local farmers enjoy in Sonoma County.
Vendors from Santa Rosa's Original Certified Farmers Market, displaced from their long-time home at Santa Rosa Veterans Memorial Hall, expressed relief that their customers followed them to their new home at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts.
"Very good energy" is how Tom Ecklund of Sonoma Garden Design described the new location, with its connection to the region's premiere performance venue and visibility from Highway 101.
Organizers listed 66 vendors selling products at the market's new location.
Meanwhile those who stayed behind and became part of the Redwood Empire Farmers' Markets said their opening day outside the vets building also went well.
"We're all working together to make this a success," said Cindy Holland of Gleason Ranch, whose ouster from the original market and subsequent lawsuit has contributed to bad blood between the two groups.
Holland said about 50 vendors participated in the new market Saturday.
While vendors and supporters of each market claimed not to harbor ill will toward the other, emotions remained raw over the break-up triggered by the county's rent increase and resulting decision to award the lease to a new group.
Some Redwood Empire vendors said they stayed behind because they were fed up with tactics of the original market's long-time manager Paula Downing, characterizing her as controlling.
Supporters of Downing, however, counter that she had to make tough decisions that people sometimes didn't like.
"Of course she's controlling. You have to be controlling to be a manager," said Lesley Brabyn, co-owner of Salmon Creek Ranch in Bodega. "She's struggled to keep a really good balance of products."
Downing, who spent the morning helping vendors make the transition to their new home, declined to comment, referring questions to Brabyn.
Brabyn said the whole affair is rooted in a "personal vendetta against Paula that took on a life of its own."
Holland said her lawsuit, which claims her ouster from the original market is responsible for the loss of up to $100,000 in income that could put them out of business, is a separate issue.
She and others stepped in only after Downing publicly stated the market couldn't pay the higher rent demanded by the county, she said. The market had been paying $23,875 annually for the use of the veterans building parking lot on Wednesdays and Saturdays, an amount the county said was a discounted rate. The county proposed it pay $57,600.
Downing criticized the county for the increase and said small farmers couldn't afford to pay more. Brabyn said Wells Fargo is charging $33,204 for a space about 75 percent the size of the old location.
Jeremy Bardell and his two young daughters enjoyed Asian noodles and other delicacies at the Redwood Empire market following the Rose Parade. The 37-year-old engineer lives two blocks away said he'll continue to patronize whatever market operates at the veteran's building because it's a part of his neighborhood.
He said he was appalled that the original market banned vendors from selling at both markets.
"I think it's a shame that all the politics got involved," Bardell said.
Patrons at the original market predicted it would do well in its new location.
"It's actually better for us," said Karri Smith of Healdsburg, who noted the spot at the performing arts center shaves several miles off her drive.
Carrying a reusable shopping bag full of handmade granola, Hector's Honey and a thick pork chop from Black Sheep Farm in Potter Valley, Smith said she wishes he farmers in town could just get along.
"This little market fight, I think it's ridiculous," she said. "We don't want to see that bickering."
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