Lakewood's Saturday Farmers Market Lot Has a Construction Date. The Market's 2027 Address Doesn't.
At 8 a.m. on a Saturday, the corner of Del Amo Boulevard and Clark Avenue fills with citrus, stone fruit, avocados, berries, microgreens and farm eggs. One fish vendor will cook and serve the fish you just bought from them. There are French croissants, rum cake, tacos and tamales, a shaded dining area, and live music from local musicians every other week. Everything wraps up at 1 p.m.
The city has already scheduled what comes next for that ground. Lakewood Town Square is fully designed and approved. The city scheduled the construction bid to go out October 26, and construction is estimated to start in January 2027 and run nine months. The finished square includes a space drawn for a farmers market. The city has published nothing about where the market goes while that space is being built.
The Lakewood Farmers Market is run by Farmers Marketplace of Lakewood, the operator named in the city's 2022 agreement. The state's certified-market roster lists it at 4990 Clark Ave., Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. In January 2023 the city announced the new market was open, and it has run on the Civic Center property ever since.
The city's January 2026 environmental study for Town Square spells out the overlap. The project site covers about 4.3 acres on the vacant southern part of the Civic Center property. It runs from the parking lot and the Angelo M. Iacoboni Library on the north down to Del Amo Boulevard, between Clark Avenue and Civic Center Way. The study says a portion of the site's parking lot "is currently being used to host the Lakewood Farmers Market on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m."
The project has been coming for a while. In June 2024, the City Council picked Dahlin Group to design what its recap called a "three-acre dirt lot." The plan then was art, landscaping, seating and an entertainment area, with the space locked when not in use and available to rent for private events. The project now has a schedule, and the FY 2026–27 capital budget puts it at $11.552 million. That is down from the $12.5 million on the project's older data sheet.
The city's Capital Improvement Projects page says design and approvals are 100% complete and five contractors have prequalified to bid. Here are the dates it lists, plus the two events that fall in between:
The schedule has already moved once. The January 2026 environmental study expected construction in "mid to late 2026." The current page pushes it to January. So the market has had more Saturdays on the lot than the original plan allowed for, and the city still calls the current dates estimates.
The study describes Town Square as a civic plaza and park with a passive playground, a stage area, landscaping and a parking lot, plus public restrooms and storage. The stage is portable and raised, framed by an open arch, and it faces a natural-turf audience lawn. Removable shade sails hang from columns over the lawn, and the same columns carry string lighting and light-show elements. A programmable sound system can cover the whole park or only certain zones.
The market gets one paragraph of its own in the study's description of site amenities:
The existing parking lot would serve as a flexible space capable of hosting farmers markets, food vendors and gourmet food trucks, and parking for various events.
The same section adds a flex-use parking area with electrical and water hookups for food trucks, hydration stations, free public Wi-Fi across the site, and quick-connect water for temporary uses.
So the market is part of the permanent plan, on a lot built to support it. Vendors who sell hot food and cook fish on site today could have power and water connections in fall 2027. The study does lay out a nine-month construction period. What it does not do is name a temporary location for the market during those months. Its project description covers the market as it runs today and how the site will be used once it is built.
The Tree Lighting is Friday, December 4, outside The Centre at 5000 Clark Ave., next to City Hall. Carnival games and food trucks start at 4:30 p.m., and Santa is available for photos on your own device until 8 p.m. The lighting program begins at 6:30 p.m. The city also lists falling snow, holiday music, and photo scenes with costumed characters and two large sleighs.
The event spreads into the lot that is about to become the square. The parking lots directly in front of and behind City Hall close for the event, and the food trucks move to the lot behind City Hall. Parking is behind The Centre and in "the large, gravel parking lot at the corner of Del Amo Boulevard and Clark Avenue." If the January start holds, this year's Tree Lighting is the last one with that gravel lot open for parking. The next one could be held on the finished square itself.
Lakewood's major community events are currently spread around town. The 2026 Concerts in the Park series ran Thursdays at Del Valle Park from June 11 to August 6, skipping July 2. The Pan Am Fiesta took over Mayfair Park May 8 through 10, and Fest-of-All was held at Palms Park on October 10. Palms Park's community building is itself closed for renovation, with completion estimated for July 2027.
Town Square is meant to pull these together. The environmental study says the 4th of July Block Party, Pan Am Festival, Summer Concerts in the Park and Christmas Tree Lighting "would be relocated to the Project Site and surrounding roadways." That would put the Saturday market, the summer concerts and the holiday lighting on the same 4.3 acres beside the library, with the stage, lawn and food-truck hookups shared among them. The square's estimated September 2027 opening would come just after the concert season and before the holidays.
The parks have their own December plans in the meantime. On Saturday, December 19, Santa tours Lakewood parks, starting at Biscailuz Park at 10 a.m. and stopping hourly until his last visit at Del Valle Park at 1 p.m. Families who haven't been to Cherry Cove Park lately will find a new playground there. It opened September 29, months after Bloomfield Park's replacement playground opened May 9. Drivers on Palo Verde can expect more cones for a while. The permanent roundabout at Palo Verde and Candlewood is nearly done, with signage and striping to follow, and the Studebaker/Centralia work is expected to continue through the end of 2026.
The calendar above has two milestones in the next five weeks. Bids close November 18. On December 8, the council is expected to award the contract, pending its review of the bids. The city still lists the January 2027 start as an estimate. As of this week, neither the city nor the market's operator has published where the market will run between January and September.
Until then, the market is open every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Del Amo and Clark, and the city's market page is the first place an update would show up.
CART Group, Inc. follows civic projects like Town Square because they shape how a Lakewood neighborhood is used week to week, from Saturday-morning parking to where the holiday crowds gather. If you'd like to know how the Civic Center rebuild fits into your own plans for the coming year, Schedule a Strategy Call and we'll go through the dates with you.
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