Sacramento farmers market to move from under freeway to Arden Fair. Will shoppers follow?
On Sunday morning, the Certified Farmers Market was bustling as usual.
Hordes of shoppers eager for farm-fresh produce were doing their rounds beneath the floors of Highway 50 at W and Eighth streets, some blissfully unaware that change was coming to the beloved community market. For the next 10 months, there will be no market beneath the overpass.
That’s why the organizers of the market posted large, bold-print signage to the concrete pillars that support the highway overhead, announcing a temporary move to Arden Fair mall. An addendum to the signs indicated the precariousness of the situation: the word ‘hopefully’ on a separate piece of paper was taped on.
That is, hopefully the market will reappear at the mall near the closing Sears store on March 21. Final permitting still needs to go through to secure the mall’s parking lot as the site for the market, which has been operating beneath the Highway 50 overpass for 40 years. A Caltrans expansion project on the highway is forcing the market out for now, although organizers hope to return to the old spot in December.
The change has some vendors rattled — sellers whose income in many cases is directly tied to each Sunday morning’s turnout.
But market coordinator Dan Best was standing at an information booth on Sunday to help give a sense of surety to customers and vendors alike.
“This market draws the entire Sacramento Valley,” Best said. “I suspect that once we get into those seasons (with special seasonal produce offerings), people will say, ‘Hey, I need to go see that farm or this farm’ because we’re not only kind of a family connection between the growers and the public, but its almost congregational. I think you just go where the harmony exists and I think that’s what we provide.”
He admitted that it’s impossible to predict the future — especially in the age of COVID-19. But he wasn’t the only one to point to the market’s special community-based spirit as reason for its longevity.
“It’s like our church,” Juli Bassegio said, though the vast size and selection of produce doesn’t hurt either. She was there with Danielle Ebeltoft and the two of them are frequent and loyal customers.
One concern came up frequently among patrons of the market — bikers or pedestrians within range of the Southside Park location might be unwilling or unable to travel the additional three or so miles to Arden Fair. But that won’t stop Ebeltoft and Bassegio, even though they normally bike to the market.
“I can see people who walk not being able to get there. It’s a bummer,” Ebeltoft said, adding that since the move is out of the market’s control, it’s hard to see any alternative. She even saw a few possible benefits of the new location, too.
The overpass, which acts as a natural barrier against rain or other inclement weather, also casts a shadow over the market, making it chilly on brisk Sunday mornings, as it was on this February morning. A sunny open lot at Arden Fair might be a welcome change, Ebeltoft said. Bassegio added that the greater visibility of a more open location could draw in more customers.
Michael Neff, a regular weekly patron who also bikes to the market, simply laughed at the prospect of the Arden Fair location.
“I’m not going to ride out there,” he said. Instead, he’ll head to the Saturday Midtown Farmers Market, even though it’s smaller.
Kat Weis and Mandy Morris said they shop at all sorts of farmers markets, but they come to the Certified Farmers Market at least once a month. For them, it’s incomparable.
“I totally tell people about it,” Weis said. “When people don’t know about it, I’m like, ‘Oh my goodness, you need to be going there.’ ”
For them, a big part of the charm of the market is its homey atmosphere and its wide selection of seasonal offerings. But Arden Fair is just too far from the Rancho Cordova area, where they live. The extra distance is an impediment when they can find alternatives closer to home.
“I can’t get clear over there,” Weis said. “Potentially, what I would see is they’re going to tap a new market or not at that location.”
Vendors hanging on
Best made it clear that he has no plans of staying at Arden Fair.
“Our main objective is to make sure everybody knows it’s temporary. We are bringing this baby back to its natural habitat,” he said, adding that paying customers are in charge of the market’s future: “The most important thing is to keep it alive. So if you really love the market, you need to support it. If you don’t support it, then it will die over there.”
Several vendors working on the last Sunday before the move from W and Eighth streets applauded Best’s efforts to keep the market operational. He looked over about 50 other sites before settling on Arden Fair, which provides lots of space for the market and plenty of parking. Without his fight to find a location, they might be out of work, too. It’s a tough situation for many vendors, but what can really be done about it when Caltrans is necessitating the move?
“It’s a blessing that we’re able to move the location and still have the market going for everyone,” said Brian Hoover, the owner of Patrick’s Garden. “Is there a little hiccup and a wrench thrown in the mix? Sure, but I mean at least it’s not closed. I look at it on the bright side because it could be not happening — and then what’s everyone going to do?”
He said it might take a few weeks for patrons to settle into a new routine, but, like Best, he was hopeful that as spring approaches, new seasonal produce would help to draw people back in.
Owner Leotta Martin has been selling produce from Martin’s Windmill Farm through Best for 30 years. She expects a fair amount of current customers to follow along with the market to Arden Fair, but lamented the inability of people without transportation to do the same.
It’s not all bad, though. One potential perk of the Arden Fair location is that people are already coming there to shop, Martin said. That could be one advantage over the current location. Either way, the market had no real say in the matter of moving.
“That’s the only spot that I have to go and I’ve got to sell flowers,” Alex Neve of Neve Bros. flowers said. “Some customers do feel some frustration about it, but change always needs to happen.”
Neve said some of his customers told him they’d return to the Arden Fair location every week. Others said they might pare their visits down to once a month. But one thing keeps him optimistic: if COVID-19 couldn’t take the business out, a venue change surely won’t. And new customers are bound to show up.
Scott Lawrence, the owner of Lawrence Farm, was a bit trepidatious ahead of the upcoming move. He likes the overhead cover of the highway, but more than anything he was just grateful to Best for finding a spot for everyone.
His predication is that, assuming some people won’t follow the market from its current location to Arden Fair, there should still be plenty of people near the mall who will stop by for their first time. At least, he certainly hopes that’s the case.
“This has been a hard year for me and I need some money,” Lawrence said.
