Local
‘Better than I expected’: Sacramento farmers market’s move to Arden Fair mall kicks off
This Sunday’s Certified Farmers Market looked almost normal, with hundreds of shoppers bustling between vendors’ stalls on the hunt for a good deal on fresh produce. The only thing different was the sun.
Without W-X freeway above and full sunlight pouring over the market, the edge of the brisk morning was softened in front of Arden Fair mall’s soon-to-be-shuttered Sears store. For 40 years, the market had operated in the shadows of the Capital City Freeway overpass at Southside Park.
The abrupt change of venue — forced by a Caltrans expansion project on the freeway — had some longtime customers feeling put out, now having to go an extra few miles to get to the new location. For some who biked or walked to the Sunday market, the move was the end of their patronage — at least until the market returns to Southside Park in December. Vendors were worried they might not get enough business at the new location if customers weren’t willing to follow along during the temporary relocation.
But on the first day of operation at Arden Fair after a two-week transitional hiatus, the results were better than many anticipated.
“I’m very, very pleased with the turnout. I see a lot of friendly, familiar faces but also a lot of new people checking it out, too,” Alexandria Kerekez, co-owner of Rancho Roots Farm, said. “I was actually quite worried that we were going to lose clientele from the move.”
Some of Kerekez’s customers, those who biked or walked to Southside Park to buy her produce, told her they wouldn’t be able to come because of the distance. But others made a special effort to make it to Arden Fair.
“We have been getting a lot of support,” she said. “I think people recognize how important it is to support local agriculture and farmers. They want a better connection with their food so they’re making that effort to come out here.”
Of course, not everyone was displaced by the new venue. Shoppers like Rachel Alvarado, a frequent customer of the Certified Farmers Market for several years, were hardly effected by the move.
The travel time between Southside Park and Arden Fair is pretty much negligible for the Tahoe Park resident — although she did accidentally go to the old location during the two-week hiatus.
She has mixed feelings about the Arden Fair spot.
“It’s not cute,” she said.
But just to have a functioning farmers market and being able to support the farmers is enough for her.
Others like Katie Chojnacki and Eddy Seward were among the new faces at Arden. They live close to the mall, and didn’t often go to the market at Southside Park.
They went a few times, but weren’t part of the dedicated customer base the market had grown so used to. So while the market is at Arden Fair, Chojnacki said they probably will become regulars, at least for the time being.
“We’ll probably be visiting a lot more frequently as long as it’s over here, now that it’s closer,” Seward said.
That’s good news for people like Brian Aoyama, the son of the owner of Abe-El Farms.
“This is actually a whole lot better than I expected,” Aoyama said. “We’ll see if it gets a little more crowded, see if the local area comes out, and if it does, it’ll probably be a good location.”
Both Aoyama and Kerekez noted that the Sunday turnout was somewhat below normal. But it’s hard to beat the crowd of the older, established location.
“Our normal Sundays under the bridge were really, really remarkable,” Kerekez said. “That was the farmers market for California.”
But they both were also hopeful that, in time, numbers could improve.
Market coordinator Dan Best said there was a strong showing from the loyal customer base, which helped make day one go so well.
“It’s a very respectable showing,” Best said. “They seem to have missed us — they went through a two-week withdrawal.”
He emphasized that those two weeks weren’t just tough on eager customers missing out on organic, farm-to-fork produce. His vendors had to make sacrifices, too. But given such a short window of time to move, and with lots of permitting processes to finish, Best couldn’t even begin to form expectations for turnout at the new location.
“Our intention is just to keep this alive,” he said, but added that the level of support they received on day one was a good omen.
“Even the ones that didn’t want us to move and didn’t want to come here were curious enough to go check it out,” Best said. “It’s been a very positive day.”
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