Celebrating 50 years of the Davis Farmers Market
2026 marks 50 years since the beginning of the Davis Farmers Market that we have been fortunate to be a part of since 2022.
This Saturday will be the official 50th anniversary celebration of the farmers market during the market hours.
There will be a number of speakers on Saturday including, co-founder Annie Main of Good Humus, and a number of politicians. California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross will be the spotlight speaker for the event that also includes a number of activities and memory lane of the market archives.
Annie Main, Henry Esbenshade, Ann Evans and Martin Barnes were the ones who started the market with everything left over having the promise from the Davis Food Co-op of being bought.
From the beginning there was a lot of community support directly and indirectly that got the market off the ground and kept it growing which it continues to do today.
Without the community there is no Davis Farmers Market. The support of all the farmers and turning the market into a weekly ritual for so many people showed the impact a farmers market can have.
Over the weekly interactions with so man people we get to know them even if the conversation is brief and each week there are new people stopping by our stand.
Often times people run into neighbors or other members of the community they know while at our stand catching up and seeing what meals are planned for the delicious veggies and fruits in their baskets.
Something special about the Davis Farmers Market is that three of the four founders started farms shortly after the opening and all of the farms are still attending the market. Evans was the lone one to not start a farm but worked in nutrition and co-wrote wrote the Davis Farmers Market Cookbook along with the newly released Market Memories cookbook with Georgeanne Brennan.
The celebration coincides with National Farmers Market Week which starts on Sunday that highlights the vital role farmers markets play in the food system.
Without farmers markets it would have been an even greater challenge to get our farm started and we would have not been able to make the improvements we have over the last few years.
Plus it is extremely rewarding to get to see everyone excited about getting to eat what we grow and how we are part of hundreds of people’s meals every week.
On the farm the figs are starting to ripen and we will be harvesting some for the market on Saturday. These are the second harvest of figs which is the main season and these Black Mission ones are packed full of flavor.
It is always a smaller crop than the early season harvest and with the triple digit temperatures it could be a very short harvest of them.
Beginning Friday it is expected to be just over 100 degrees on the farm for seven consecutive days. That will speed up the ripening of the fruit on the plants and trees but also kill any new flowers.
The plants will feel some stress as they do not like such a long period of days over 100 in a row but once the temperature drops down they will start producing more flowers and fruit.
This last week we started to harvest the first of the season Copia tomatoes which are so delicious and a very special variety to us. The seed we have is saved from seeds our Dad grew.
