Under New Management, Farmers Market Will Now Serve Meat

, which has been managed and organized since it opened in March 2010 by Deanna Rose, has a new manager.

Rose departed due to family reasons and her unwillingness to sell meat, said IB Beautiful president Jill Lender. IB Beautiful is the Farmers Market's primary sponsor.

The market will continue its efforts to be able to provide produce to people who receive EBT food stamps and assistance programs for low-income residents, Linder said.

Though the market will now sell meat, Brian Beevers, the new manager who was hired Thursday, said community and fresh produce will remain the main focus held every Friday from 2-7:30 p.m.

Fresh raw meat like chicken, beef, fish, pork or sausages may be available soon and vendors may offer dishes that include meat.

"I'm not really into the big touristy markets but I especially love the community markets," he said. "The main thing is produce but it's also about people coming together."

"It's good to know your neighbors and your vendors and who's selling you carrots," Beevers said.

After the economy tanked in 2008, Beevers, who is a website developer by trade, said clients were no longer as willing to pay as much for a website so he began looking for other means of income. 

That brought him to a part-time job managing a market in his City Heights neighborhood.

Beevers now manages Farmers Markets at University Town Center, Mission Valley, Point Loma and Golden Hill, along with Imperial Beach.

Since he grew up on a walnut and almond orchard in Modesto, CA working in markets "kind of brought me full circle," he said.

A few weeks or months will be taken to first assess the market's needs and kind of requests people made but eventually ideas that have been successful at other markets may be implemented in IB. 

Additional vendors will be invited to take part, including but not limited to more produce and artists, potted plants, fish tacos and oysters.

People or businesses interested in becoming a vendor at the market may contact Beevers through his website. Online applications will be available in the future. 

Local residents in offering new ideas can post comments on the Farmers Market's Facebook page. It may not be possible to implement everything, but each will be considered.

Tawnya LaFave, who serves on the Farmers Market's Board of Directors and sells woven hats and beanies at the market, is excited to see Beevers bring more vendors to the market and the food stamp program.

"It's something you want to promote because junk food is so cheap, but if healthy food is something we can viable and available to our community then thats something we want to do. Thats what this market is for," she said.  

In regards to the outgoing manager LaFaye said, "She is the one who took on the management position when other people didn't want to take it on. She got us to this point and now she's just passing the torch so it's really nice."