They came expecting fresh fruits and vegetables, homemade crafts and kiddie rides.

Instead, more than 1,000 potential customers showed up Sunday for the opening of the Yellow Green Farmers Market in Hollywood, they were handed white sheets of paper.

The much-anticipated, widely advertised market would not be opening Sunday after all, the sheets read. The problem: electrical and plumbing permit issues with the city of Hollywood and Broward County.

``We've been back and forth with the city for the last month. It wasn't till 4:30 Friday that we got our final sentence,'' owner Abraham Lalo told The Miami Herald.

On Sunday, the market stood ready to welcome vendors and guests. By 11 a.m., market employees counted 1,000 cars rolling into the parking lot.

Rows of booths inside a former steel factory, separated by stretched brown canvass, sported ``taken'' signs -- 300 vendors were supposed to be there, selling everything from antiques to wine. Lalo said 700 people were supposed to work that day.

``It's a shame. So many people need to work,'' Lalo said.

Giving the one-time factory some homey touches were life-size cow statues, plastic peppers hanging from the ceiling and yellow bales of hay. Hollywood resident Nadine Loeb walked the empty market with her two daughters.

``We've been watching and waiting for this to open,'' she said. ``It's really good for the community.''

Hollywood officials agree. But the market's permitting issues were known back in March, said city spokeswoman Raelin Storey. Not a single permit has been pulled for the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of work the market needs, she said.

``We're not nuts. We want businesses to open here,'' said Hollywood City Commissioner Richard Blattner. ``But, you know, they didn't follow the rules.''

Lalo said he would continue to work to pull the necessary permits to open the market in compliance with city and county codes.

``We wanted to do something good for the community, and we're going to fight this to the end,'' he said.

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