Introduction

The sun hangs high above your head, on either side the street stalls line the pavement, and new smells assault your nose around every corner. You see, on any given week, flowers, tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, herbs, spices, crafts, old guys, young guys, girls with jewelry, girls pouring crepes, and even more things than you can imagine. If you are wondering where you are, you are in none other than the San Diego Ocean Beach Farmers Market, or the OB Street Fair as it has been happily renamed. Since the first farmers market in July of 1934 in Gilmore Island, farmers markets have become immensely popular. They have grown from just the farmers pulling up their trucks in an empty lot to community oriented meetings to sell not only locally grown produce but also artisan crafts and food. Lately farmers markets in San Diego have been growing like weeds, and have also become some of the most popular markets in Southern California.