Ric Lopez, president of the Glen Park Merchants Association, is being given an award Thursday evening at the 60th anniversary dinner of the San Francisco Council of District Merchants Associations.
Lopez, a member of the city association’s board of directors, is receiving one of two such awards at the gala celebration. The other is David Heller, who heads the Greater Geary Boulevard Merchants and Property Owners Association.
Glen Park’s merchant association, though smaller than many others throughout the city, represents most of the stores and many of the professionals who base their business in our neighborhood. Lopez recalled some important instances of merchant solidarity in our recent past – the opening of the farmers market in the BART parking lot in May 2011, and the brutal attack on Paul Park of Buddies Market during a robbery in August 2008.
“We’re all so much a part of the community that we all sit together, fall together and rise together,” he said. The local merchants helped raise $12,000 for Park, who needed months of convalescence.
Finally getting the Glen Park farmers market up and running took countless hours of meetings, negotiations and gentle arm-twisting to make it a reality, Lopez noted. He added it will reopen for the season on March 31.
Among the speakers at Thursday’s dinner are Mayor Ed Lee and Supervisor Scott Wiener, whose district includes Glen Park. The event will be held at the Concordia-Argonaut, 1142 Van Ness Avenue, at 6 p.m. Tickets are $125. For more information, call the city association at 621-7533.