Farmers Markets are festive events that connect communities with individual farmers and other vendors. It's popular today for people to gather in the streets or parks of their cities or towns on weekends or in the evenings after work to sell their wares: meats, fruits, vegetables, beverages, prepared foods, and arts and crafts. This community event which has rapidly expanded across the nation is a hybrid of earlier days when people took their goods to a common outdoor site for barter and sale.Open air markets - once a standard way for people to get supplies - quickly dwindled once the shopping market came along. With the retail brick and mortar locations came delivery of foods from other places; foods that were foreign, so to speak. Imagine a pineapple or mango in a Kansas open-air market, for example.
The tradition of growing and supporting local businesses, fostered by a wave of eco-friendly lifestyle changes led to the revival of what call today The Farmer's Market.
In 1934, a group of farmers in Los Angeles decided to bring their rurally grown produce to the heart of the urban city. They displayed vegetables, fruits, and flowers from the backs of their trucks and everyone enjoyed the opportunity this presented them. From there the farmers’ spontaneous idea grew into a contemporary event.
Pretty soon the spot became known as Farmer's Market and, hence, developed into a national institution with over 5,000 markets across the country, all promoting the core idea of buying from local producers. They have become individualized to suit the needs of individual communities. Some have dancing, music, art,others have sports and/or pony rides.
In Sonoma County where I live there is a Farmers Market in almost every town. Rohnert Park and Cotati, for example, offer delicious food, wine/beer, art activities and other entertainment activities suitable for those of all ages.
These examples of Farmers Markets harken back to the days when and they also reach into a sustainable future with organic, tasty products.
