It’s a sweltering hot Thursday morning at the Central Avenue Farmers Market. Out of school for the summer, some kids chase each other around vendor booths while others snore in strollers next to their parents. Spirits seem high as laughter and conversations in Spanish and English mingle in the air. Today marks a new beginning for the neighborhood.
When ICE raids rattled the South L.A. community about a year ago, market organizers decided to move the weekly farmers market to a private courtyard — a hidden, cramped enclosure that was fenced off from the sidewalk. Alejandro Corona, the market manager, still remembers the incident last June that persuaded them to relocate.
“There was a lady actually coming out from the bus, she just walked down, and they took her,” he said. “Our customers were not feeling safe.”…