After 40 years, Sacramento’s Sunday farmers market is moving. Here’s where

Inside: Lululemon. Outside: Meyer lemons.

The Sunday Certified Farmers Market is moving from Southside Park to Arden Fair mall’s parking lot, market coordinator Dan Best confirmed Thursday. A $394 million Caltrans highway expansion project is temporarily forcing the market away from its home for the last 40 years.

The Feb. 28 market will be the last at W and 8th streets under Highway 50 until at least early December, as first announced in an email to market newsletter followers Wednesday night. If final permitting goes through without any hiccups, the market will start up again March 21 at 1601 Arden Way near the soon-to-close Sears store.

“People that love the market need to support it no matter where it is,” Best said. “We’re lucky to have a place to move it to. And it’s temporary - we’re trying to keep it alive until we can move it back to its natural habitat.”

Some families go to church on Sunday morning. Others go to W and 8th streets. First opened in 1980, the Sunday market’s become a weekly tradition for home chefs and professionals alike. The Kitchen was named Sacramento’s first Michelin-starred restaurant on a Monday; the following Sunday, co-owner Randall Selland was back at the market.

Open-air markets have become especially attractive for some shoppers during the COVID-19 pandemic. And with 50 to 90 local vendors depending on the season, many can find all they need for the week.

Best considered about 50 other sites for the market’s new temporary home. Arden Fair, with its bountiful parking, easy truck access and smooth pavement, was the only real choice, he said. Even so, it’s about three miles from W and 8th streets and has no overhead shelter from inclement weather.

“We’re going to be back as swiftly as possible and immediately as possible. We don’t want to be away from home that long,” Best said. “We’ve become a part of the fabric of Sacramento and that particular location. There’s a lot of people used to going there for the service the market provides.”

For Arden Fair, the move will inject some new life after a challenging year for brick-and-mortar retailers. Customers that arrive around the mall’s 11 a.m. opening will be able to pick up groceries then head inside to knock a pair of jeans or new shoes off their shopping list, Arden Fair marketing director Nathan Spradlin said.

The market will take over an area of the parking lot that’s only really used during the holidays, by which point Best hopes to be back in Southside Park. For the time being, though, Arden Fair’s residential neighbors will have weekly access to fresh meat, dairy and produce instead of vacant concrete.

“Farmers markets are an integral community resource in Sacramento and with few locations that can accommodate a market of this size, Arden Fair is honored to provide a temporary home for the Certified Farmers Market,” Spradlin wrote in an email. “While Sacramento is the farm to fork capital of our nation, food scarcity is a real concern in portions of our city and Arden Fair is committed to aiding access to this much needed service for many area families.”

This story was originally published February 18, 2021 at 4:12 PM.