By Doug Carman, Staff Writer
HIGHTSTOWN A business owner started gathering several signatures for a petition asking the borough and Downtown Hightstown to reschedule the seasonal Farmers’ Market for Saturday mornings rather than Friday evenings.
Tavern on the Lake co-owner Fran Palumbo turned a petition over to Borough Clerk Debra Sopronyi during a council meeting Monday evening.
Ms. Palumbo alleged that the Farmers’ Market and its customers fill up the parking spots near her business and crowd out other spaces, preventing customers from being able to park near her restaurant. She also complained that the live music from the market amounted to competition, which she said consisted mostly of merchants from out of town.
”If they want to come to town, where do they park their cars?” Ms. Palumbo said, referring to patrons who are regular customers of the town’s storefront businesses. “The people I see coming to the market … they come and go. They come directly to the Farmers’ Market and they leave.”
Tom Muza and Christopher Moraitis, organizers of the Farmers’ Market, made a joint statement in response to the petition, countering that it has only helped businesses downtown.
”The market, which is held at Memorial Park, has become a community focal point for residents, has served as a launching pad for new businesses, and helped recreate a downtown in line with what many of the tireless volunteers in town envision,” the statement read. “We did this by trying to maximize exposure on Friday nights keeping in mind Jersey Shore-goers, commuters getting off the Turnpike traffic in the summer, and the uniqueness of the Triathlon training in the lake. We wanted to make downtown Hightstown a vintage destination. This concept is taking root.”
Ms. Palumbo said she had 11 signatures from local businesses prior to Monday’s council meeting, although one of the signers, Alex Ruffino, manager of Mannino’s 4 Pizzeria and Trattoria, told the Herald Tuesday that he has retracted his support of the petition, adding he fully supports the Farmers’ Market.
George Sawma of Diamond Cleaners, one of the signatories, said most of his customers come by after they get out of work to pick up their clothes. He said on Fridays, one of his busier days, those customers end up competing with the farmers for parking space and are invariably forced to park behind the building or further away.
Mr. Sawma said many of his customers simply opt not to do business with him rather than put up with the inconvenience.
”If they cannot park, they do not care,” he said.
At least one of the signers of the petition saw things from the opposite point of view. Rob Sackowitz, whose father, Stu, owns the Shoe Buckle, said they thought the extra traffic would actually benefit their store. Problem is, they’re closed Friday evenings.
”It will bring people in at a good time,” Mr. Sackowitz said. “Saturday’s a good retail day for everybody. That’s the way we do see it.”
Responding to Ms. Palumbo’s complaints on the parking lot situation, Mr. Muza and Mr. Moraitis said, “we realize that it is difficult to please everyone, but we have been exceedingly considerate of the municipal-owned parking lot, and are requiring vendors to park at the municipal building so as not to compete with parking in the downtown.
”A number of the businesses that signed the petition either own their own parking lots, or do not typically operate business past 5 p.m. on Friday evenings,” Mr. Muza and Mr. Moraitis’ statement said.
The Farmers’ Market will begin the first Friday of June and will continue every Friday evening through September.

