And in February, it will return to what it was in previous years: the site of the weekly Los Gatos Farmers' Market.

The event had been moved to the Los Gatos Civic Center parking lot in the spring while the plaza was undergoing construction, with the intention to move it back after the renovation was completed.

While market organizers said there were some benefits to holding it at the civic center, they requested permission from the Los Gatos Town Council to go back to the plaza.

Farmers' market co-director Melanie Defé said she and SuEllen Sterling had started the market a decade ago partly to bring life into the downtown area on Sundays. Without the market, "the downtown is pretty much a quiet little place again," Defé said.

The market "needs to be in the heart of downtown. You just don't get the foot traffic at the civic center," Defé said. "I, personally, am very anxious to go back."

Defé and Sterling took their case before the council Dec. 2, when Los Gatos Redevelopment Manager Marty Woodworth presented the findings that town staff had made in a series of interviews with those affected by the market.

According to Woodworth, most of the plaza area businesses preferred the market moved back, while the E. Main Street area businesses either liked it at the civic center or had no opinion. Similarly, most of the market's vendors, as well as the Town of Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce's board of directors, preferred the plaza as the market's home. Woodworth reported that there was no majority opinion among customers or town staff.

Woodworth said the suggested return date is Feb. 2, which will allow time for the grass to grow and the kinks to be worked out. Woodworth added that market organizers would be agreeable to paying for temporary restrooms on-site if the council wanted them to do so.

Teri Hope, owner of the Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Company, said the town should chip in for the Port-a-Potties, since the facilities would benefit the community. Hope said her shop's bathroom was recognized as the restroom for the market; though management has a policy of not turning people away, Hope said farmers' market usage did burden her employees.

Hope said she preferred keeping the market at the civic center so that business in downtown would be "equally dispersed" between E. Main and the N. Santa Cruz Avenue area.

Domus owner Margaret Smith disagreed with Hope. Smith said she welcomed people coming in to use her store's restroom because people would shop after using the facilities. According to Smith, business at Domus had dropped 20 percent on Sundays since the market left the plaza.

The plaza, Smith said, is "the heart of town," and the farmers' market should go there.

Vice Mayor Steve Glickman sided with Smith. The town has "spruced up the park," Glickman said, and should see how the event works at the plaza.

"I, too, have a vision for a vibrant Main Street," said Councilwoman Diane McNutt. But, McNutt said, "to me, what are the strongest indicators of whether the market should go back to the plaza are the wishes of the organizers, the wishes of the vendors."

Councilman Joe Pirzynski said the town should allow the farmers' market to return to the plaza, which is what it had promised in the first place. Pirzynski added, however, that the market "is a great contributor to the community." He said, "I think it'll be a great contributor to the community no matter where it is."

Woodworth said later that town staff will work with Defé and Sterling on the issue of the temporary restrooms. Although Defé and Sterling are responsible for all costs associated with the market, the specifics of financing the Port-A-Potties could be dependent on whether the facilities stay in town the whole day or just during the market.

What came out of the process, Defé said, was that the market needs to be reconfigured once it goes back to the plaza. Vendors and customers had said they liked the extra space in between the aisles that the civic center parking lot afforded them.

Defé and Sterling also learned the necessity for public restrooms at the market. "We were overtaxing Teri Hope, overtaxing Le Boulanger," Defé said. "Shame on us for not noticing."