A new iteration of the Main Street Farmers Market is sprouting up on Sundays and organizers want the post-pandemic event to be as enticing for its produce as it is for entertainment.
The Main Street market has long been the least farmer-focused of Santa Monica’s four (Wednesday/Saturday Downtown, Saturday on Pico and Sunday on Main Street). Officials said that while the market will retain its beloved music stage and prepared food options, they hope to raise a new generation of market-goers who can appreciate the actual farmers.
Market Manager Carla Rosin, said the entertainment and events are a great way to bring people into the market and she is working on programs to translate that foot traffic into food purchases.
"I’m really focusing on bringing that awareness that these farmers that come from hundreds of miles really need to be supported," she said. "So that’s my dream and my goal is to go beyond having a market that is there for great entertainment."
She said part of that effort will capitalize on younger residents.
"That’s been a joy to just really have a strong focus on kids and kid activities," she said. "I think kids are the future and kids get excited about farmers markets at a young age. They’re gonna get their parents excited about it and there’s more opportunity to really direct people to farmers markets for the future and gain more support for farmers and good, clean, healthy food."
While the market is encouraging people to get their food fresh from the source, it’s still offering a variety of programs to make the experience fun with a focus on that youth demographic.
Last month, the Samohi Jazz Bands performed and more special guests are planned to be featured in the future, such as Climate Action Santa Monica (CASM) alongside the always popular main stage. A couple of the events at the market to look forward to are performances from the Lazy Dog Mountain Band on July 2 and the Marimba Band on Sept. 2.
"[The goal is] to open that door to people that don’t usually gravitate towards farmer’s markets," said Rosin.
In order to achieve that, the market is also trying out a new scavenger hunt game, brought on through a partnership with Cultivate L.A, a non-profit focused on food systems issues and food insecurity, and Value Co. By appealing to youths’ focus on value propositions, they hope to engage a new demographic and help support the program going forward. The last day to play is Sunday, June 25, and the scavenger hunt 2.0 is planned for the market in the fall.
"We’re looking forward to having more of that: different activities and different entertainment and different communities represented at the market," said Rosin.
While they are intent on making the market a comfortable environment for families and friends to hang out at, there are also new vendors, including new fruit vendors as well as an Asian vegetable vendor. They continue to have a variety of prepared food vendors, hosting local Santa Monica restaurants such as SOCALO, alongside baked goods, Maestro Coffee and a new dumpling stall.
"There’s always an ebb and flow with the seasons, but it’s fun to have different items at the market for people to experience and different farms for people to experience," said Rosin.
The market is also focused on making their products affordable to all customers, partnering with Market Match, a USDA matching program to help individuals afford fresh fruits and vegetables.
"Having the Market Match program at the farmers market so that CalFresh recipients can actually afford to purchase food at the farmers market has been such a great opportunity," said Rosin.
The market is held every Sunday from 8:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. at 2640 Main Street. Join them this Sunday for a Solstice Celebration with Bach2Rock kid jam at 9 a.m. on the lawn with special guest, Cadre Scott, at 10 a.m. Kiki and the Sunnyside Chalkers 8:30-10:30 a.m. and CASM - induction stove demo, SM Community Gardens - Ocean Waste survey.
