The Yard Farmers & Ranchers Market will be permanently shuttered after a loud confrontation Sunday between the owners and a market vendor, which several witnesses said included racial and ethnic epithets as well as threats of physical violence.

Following what vendor Hinnerk von Bargen, co-owner of Ming’s Thing, called an “unparalleled shameful tirade of profane insults, racist hate speech and verbal threats of physical and financial harm from (market owners) Heather Hunter and (F. David) Lent,” he and at least two other vendors have publicly pulled out of the market.

Lent conceded having only a “heated argument” with the owners of Ming’s Thing, which sells Asian street fare. He denied using any racist speech. On Wednesday afternoon, Lent said he and Hunter have decided to close the market completely after the 90-day notice required in his contract.

But he said he plans to hold the market as planned this Sunday in The Yard, on McCullough Avenue in Olmos Park.

“We have other things to do,” he said. “If what we’ve accomplished here isn’t appreciated, so be it.”

The Yard’s property manager Rachel Holcomb said she will deliver papers this Sunday to Hunt and Lent giving them 90-day notice that their lease with the center is being terminated. She said the note, drawn up by the center’s attorney, also will give them permission to end the market sooner.

“I spoke with my owners who said that if we allowed this type of behavior without taking a stand against it, what would it say about us?” she said. “We love the market; it’s been great for our other tenants’ business. We’d love to have them back, but not with David and Heather.”

On that day, The Yard market will face increased competition as the Pearl Farmers Market expands its schedule from Saturday only to both weekend days.

It was this move that triggered the argument between Lent, Hunter and Carlos Arredondo, operations manager of Ming’s Thing, which has a booth at the Saturday Pearl market. The company also has a retail shop in The Yard’s rail cars, but on Sundays, it also puts up a booth as part of the farmers market there.

“He called my wife 'a (expletive) gook,’ and called me a '(expletive) ball-less German Nazi,” said von Bargan, who is a German citizen. “We will not be selling at The Yard market anymore, and I’ve resigned from the market’s advisory board. I cannot be seen interacting with such racist, violent personalities.”

According to Arredondo, he informed Hunter and Lent this past Sunday that owners Ming Qian and her husband Hinnerk von Bargen were moving their booth to The Pearl’s Sunday market.

“They took it personally and really blew up,” he said. “

“The market was closing but there were still customers around,” said eyewitness Roy Gonzalez, a massage therapist with Rachel’s Relaxation Station, also housed in one of the rail cars. “I was outside talking to someone when suddenly I heard Heather shout '(Expletive) you!’ to (Carlos). Everybody there was kind of stunned.”

Qian and von Bargen, who were not at the farmers market Sunday, say they received first a text and then a phone call from Hunter.

“Heather talked herself into a frenzy of profanity,” said von Bargen, a professor of culinary arts at the Culinary Institute of America-San Antonio. He said he tried to “de-escalate“ the argument by hanging up, but that Hunter called back twice more.

“By the third call David was on the phone,” and that, von Bargen said, is when Lent used the racial slurs.

This is not the first time Lent has been accused of using racist speech. Several weeks ago, he confronted the owners of Olmos Park Paint & Body about a misunderstanding over how much they’d charge to allow market shoppers to park in in the company’s lot, located across the street from The Yard.

“He called me a 'greedy Mexican’ and said, 'All you want is money,’” owner Lisa Acosta recalled. “We decided to stop letting anyone park here. I shouldn’t have to be insulted in my own business.”

Lent denied using slurs on this occasion, too, saying Acosta’s husband threatened him, a charge Javier Acosta doesn’t deny.

“I told him, 'The next time you talk to my wife like that, I’m going to kick your ass,’” he said.

The farmers market has operated in The Yard only since December, when it moved from its longtime home at the Alamo Quarry Market. The Quarry management did not return calls seeking comment, but at the time cited complaints about traffic and parking for the decision to terminate its agreement with the market.

According to Holcomb and several vendors, the move to The Yard has been a positive one. Business is up and crowds pack the market, which is open every Sunday except Easter from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Sylvia Toscana, who owns the All Aboard Deli located in one of the rail cars, said she started opening on Sundays only because of the presence of the farmers market.

“We love the market,” she said. “It’s raised our profile and led to catering jobs and more business the rest of the week.”

Sunday evening following the confrontation, Ming’s Thing’s Facebook page announced that due “to unforeseen and unfortunate circumstances,” they’d be leaving The Yard Farmers Market. Early Monday, the farmers market’s page announced Ming’s Thing’s membership would be terminated because of “their inability to source healthy and local ingredients as requested as well as other unresolved issues.”

According to Qian, other than occasional alterations to her menu, she hasn’t significantly changed her ingredients in the 3½ years she’s been a market tenant, first at the Quarry and more recently at The Yard.

But, explained Lent: “We’ve been working with them to source better ingredients the whole time. It’s not OK to buy meat at (wholesaler) Restaurant Depot or the cheapest eggs at H-E-B.”

Asked about the the coincidence of Ming’s Thing being booted the day after the public confrontation, Lent said the argument “brought the situation to a head.”

On Tuesday, Marissa Schaeffer, the owner of CrepeLandia, sent an email to the farmers market vendors and management and some of The Yard retail shops saying she would be resigning from the market’s advisory board and pulling out of the market “in support of our fellow vendor Ming’s Thing.”

Schaeffer wrote that she would like to be a part of the market, “but we will not do so under the leadership of Heather Hunter and F. David Lent who habitually carry out unprofessional and abusive behavior.”

In a long emailed response to the group, Lent and Hunter wrote: “We again apologize for subjecting you to this silly event which has been blown completely out of proportion and we feel is nothing more than a smokescreen for certain vendors to migrate over to the Pearl.”

Peaceful Pork also has announced it no longer will be associated with The Yard Farmers Market.

Before informing the San Antonio Express-News that the couple would be closing the farmers market within the next three months, he said they’d been contemplating leaving The Yard for a number of reasons, including problems such as insufficient parking, overflowing dumpsters and cars parked overnight in spaces reserved for booths.

Holcomb, the property manager, discounted these complaints and said things were often blown out of proportion.

“I walk the lot before going home every Saturday night and there were never overflowing dumpsters,” she said. “If someone dumped something in them overnight, we took care of it first thing Sunday.”