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# Market will take place on Saturday
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/market-will-take-place-on-saturday/
- Published: 2003-07-18T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T02:33:22.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Business, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By JASON AUSLANDER Daily Press Staff Writer*

The Santa Monica Farmer’s Market will take place on Saturday as usual, a city spokeswoman said Thursday.

“A number of farmers who were there (on Wednesday) said they would like to come back,” said city spokeswoman Judy Rambeau. “For the sake of the community we want to get back to normal operations as quickly as possible.

“We will not let this horrible thing ruin the goodness of the market.”

Next Wednesday’s market will go on as scheduled too, she said.

An 86-year-old man drove his car at high speed through the farmer’s market Wednesday, killing 10 and wounding close to 50\. Russell Weller apparently lost control of the car and authorities have not decided whether he will be charged or not.

A group of city officials met Thursday to discuss if the Saturday market would take place and ultimately decided it would, Rambeau said.

However, those officials are bracing for a higher than usual number of people and the inevitable crush of media Saturday’s market is likely to attract, she said. In addition, the city will park a public works truck across intersections at both ends of the market to provide shoppers with peace of mind, Rambeau said.

“We don’t expect that to be long-term, but we’ll have to wait and see,” she said.

The city has been using the same procedures and signs announcing the closure of Arizona Avenue during the Wednesday farmer’s market for 22 years without incident, Rambeau said.

“We’re trying to learn lessons from (the accident),” she said. “Safety is the utmost concern to us and we’ll be taking a look at (the procedures).”

Concrete barriers at each end of the market would be impossible to erect and take down for the twice-a-week markets, she said.

Officials will wait until the police investigation is complete — probably by the middle of next week — before determining the city’s liability in the accident, she said.

“Certainly it’s something that’s on our minds,” Rambeau said.

To help the approximately 50 farmers who lost goods and equipment in Wednesday’s carnage, the city will rent tables and canopies to them for Saturday’s market and possibly Wednesday’s as well, she said.

“We have all been just extremely grateful for all the aid we’ve received,” she said, including private ambulance services, hospitals, area police and fire departments and the people on the street who helped the victims.

“We are so saddened,” she added, her voice breaking with emotion. “Our hearts go out to all the victims and their families.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 18, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/071803.pdf?ref=smdp.com)