Sunday was meant to be Sacramento farmers market’s last at its temporary home. Now what?

This weekend was meant to be Sacramento’s Sunday Certified Farmers Market last at its temporary home at Arden Fair mall.

But now its move back under the W-X freeway, where it operated for 40 years, is uncertain. It’s been at Arden Fair since March.

Currently, a Caltrans construction project on the W-X portion of the Capital City Freeway has turned the area beneath the elevated freeway into a staging location. And on the outer edges of where the market previously operated, the city is running a Safe Ground lot for unhoused Sacramentans who can set up tents on one side or safely park a vehicle on the other.

With everything going on under the freeway, Market Coordinator Dan Best said “we’re kind of in a holding pattern.”

“We’re content to stay at Arden until they don’t want us or it’s safe to go back,” Best said.

Nathan Spradlin, marketing director for the Arden Fair mall, said this weekend was originally supposed to be the market’s last at the mall. But now, there’s no end date on the arrangement.

“(We’re) absolutely happy to host them as long as they need,” Spradlin said.

Caltrans spokesperson Deanna Shoopman did not elaborate on when the Highway 50 construction project may advance to a point that would allow the market to return, saying only that the project has a 4-year timeline.

Gregg Fishman, a spokesman with Sacramento’s Department of Community Response, said the goal is to close the Safe Ground center by the end of the year. The location was always meant to be temporary, he said.

“We’re actively working to relocate the folks that are staying there in other appropriate settings,” Fishman said.

This story was originally published November 19, 2021 at 7:57 AM.