The Leucadia-Encinitas Farmers Market spent about 20 years on Sundays at Paul Ecke Central Elementary on Union Street. Its last market there was June 7. It skipped one weekend while the city heard a neighbor appeal and reopened at Oak Crest Middle School on June 21. The move was explained as a construction detour. Paul Ecke Central is being rebuilt, and the market had to go somewhere.
City staff said the new permit lets the market stay at Oak Crest permanently, even after the Paul Ecke project is finished. This is the market's first fall on Balour Drive. A permit with no end date, a parking plan built for growth and a school rebuild with no completion date all point to Oak Crest as the market's long-term Sunday home.
The rebuild it was waiting out has no finish line yet
Demolition of the Paul Ecke Central campus began Aug. 12, which was also the first day of classes in the Encinitas Union School District. The district is rebuilding it as what architects DLR Group call "a contemporary school in a garden." The roughly $60 million project is funded by Measure Z. The original schoolhouse dates to 1927.
The district first planned to finish by August 2027. A district spokesperson told The Coast News in late August that an August 2027 finish was now unlikely. On Oct. 13, the district and the City of Encinitas posted a joint progress update. It said the drainage, grading, traffic queuing and frontage issues had all been resolved, and rough grading was set to start that week. A hearing on Phase 2 of the Coastal Development Permit is set for Tuesday, Oct. 27, followed by an appeal period of about 20 days. Building on site is expected to start once that process is done. The update does not give a completion date.
Leucadia 101 Mainstreet runs the market, and its executive director, Stacy Reddell, has kept the question open. She told The Coast News it remains unclear whether the market will go back to Paul Ecke Central after construction. Any decision about returning to the coast will come later.
How the move unfolded, in order
- June 8, 2005. Leucadia 101 Mainstreet gets its original permits for the market at Paul Ecke Central.
- May 12, 2026. The city issues its decision on the relocation to 675 Balour Drive.
- May 28. Two Oak Crest neighbors file an appeal.
- June 7. Last Sunday market on Union Street.
- June 17. The City Council unanimously denies the appeal and adds conditions.
- June 21. First market at Oak Crest.
- Aug. 12. Demolition begins at Paul Ecke Central.
- Oct. 27. Hearing on Phase 2 of the school's Coastal Development Permit.
The parking math was built for a bigger market
According to The Coast News, the neighbors who appealed said they supported a farmers market and objected to vendor booths, vehicles and parking on the school's upper grass field and running track. Their concerns included traffic, noise, early-morning setup and wear on the field. Before the vote, organizers had already agreed to a 200-foot buffer from the school's southern property line and cut the proposed vendor maximum from 195 to about 135.
The city's own staff report explains why the council saw Oak Crest as a lasting fit. It estimated parking demand from how the market actually ran at Paul Ecke Central, using vendor counts, hourly attendance, visit length, car occupancy and bike use. It then compared that demand with the spaces at the new site.
| Parking measure in the May 2026 staff report | Spaces |
|---|---|
| Estimated demand, based on the market at Paul Ecke Central | 108 |
| Estimated demand with future vendor and attendance growth | 156 |
| Encinitas Community Center lot | 241 |
| Along Oakcrest Park Drive, including six accessible spaces | 19 |
| Total supply at Oak Crest | 260 |
Even with the growth estimate, the report counts 104 spare spaces. A plan sized only for a few construction years would not need room for growth. Councilmember Joy Lyndes told the San Diego Union-Tribune that parking at the new site would be much better than at Paul Ecke Central.
The conditions read like rules for a long stay
The council's conditions are not written to expire when the school reopens. The Union-Tribune and The Coast News listed them:
- A 200-foot buffer from nearby homes, with signs in the upper field and on nearby streets
- A noise assessment before the move and noise monitoring at key spots
- Code enforcement at the first four Sundays, with more visits if needed
- A look at off-site parking for vendors and their staff, to keep onsite spaces for shoppers
- Planning Commission approval, not just city staff sign-off, for any growth past 135 vendors
- The option of future council review if problems come up
The vendor cap has room to spare. At the first Oak Crest market on June 21, Reddell counted 116 vendors: 26 farmers, 25 hot-food stalls, 15 craft vendors and 50 packaged-food vendors. In May, before the move, she told NBC 7 San Diego that the market started with about 60 vendors and had grown to as many as 130 on some Sundays. That puts the first Oak Crest market a little below the market's busiest Sundays at Paul Ecke, with room under the 135 cap.
A Sunday on Balour Drive this fall
The market's own site lists Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Oak Crest Middle School, 675 Balour Drive. Under the city plan, drivers use the school's main entrance from Balour Drive onto Oakcrest Park Drive. Attendants stand at that entrance and at key intersections inside the Community Center lot. The market also points shoppers to parking at the Rhoades Preschool across the street and at the Boys and Girls Club, a short walk from the back entrance.
Reddell described the first weekend to The Coast News this way:
"The market went very, very well and that's an amazing, perfect location for it. The new location was everything we were hoping for."
She added that traffic and parking worked well that day, helped by the nearby Encinitas Community and Senior Center lot.
Some of the Union Street routine carried over. Leucadia Cyclery sponsors a free bike valet with tune-ups, and riders get Bike Bucks to spend at the market. Part of the market's proceeds now goes to the Oak Crest Foundation for students, programs and teachers at the host school. The market says shoppers will see the same vendors as before. Its current spotlight is Smit Farms, a family farm since 1969, which is bringing fall apples, table grapes, nuts, dried fruit and its fresh-pressed apple cider. The site also promotes live music, kids' activities and "ocean views and A LOT more parking."
Two Sundays when the market shares the calendar
The market now sits just inland, off Encinitas Boulevard. On two Sundays before Thanksgiving, it runs on the same day as a free event closer to the coast.
On Sunday, Oct. 25, the 13th annual Encinitas Día de los Muertos festival runs from noon to 4 p.m. at MiraCosta College's San Elijo Campus, 3333 Manchester Ave. in Cardiff. Encinitas Friends of the Arts presents it, with art workshops, artist demonstrations, food vendors and the Callejeros de Encinitas Car Club. One general city events page lists the festival on a different date, so check the city's event page before you go.
On Sunday, Nov. 22, the Encinitas 101 MainStreet Association holds its Holiday Street Fair from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. around 818 South Coast Highway 101. The listing describes six blocks of vendors, two entertainment stages and children's rides. The market closes at 2 p.m., so there is time to do both. Two days earlier, on Nov. 20, Lightscape opens at San Diego Botanic Garden. It runs through Jan. 3 on a mile-long lit trail with more than 20 new installations.
The market has not posted a November or December calendar yet. The market site and Leucadia 101's newsletter are the places to check for Thanksgiving weekend hours.
At Crown & Coast Properties, we follow how changes like this reshape a Sunday in Encinitas, from the market's new home on Balour Drive to the rebuild on Union Street. If you'd like to talk through what's changing near your part of town, book a consultation with our partners.
