Rough Draft

Farmer’s Markets

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.

Under a full sun, with wooden stalls lining chalk painted slots and a 50 cent per day rent, farmers gathered onto a plot of land known as Gilmore Island. This gathering was the brain child of Roger Dhlhjelm and Fred Beck. These two men wanted to create a place where “artisans would sell handmade goods - pottery, furniture, textiles… farmers would sell their produce to housewives”. This was the first farmers market, and to this day is known by the same name as the day of its creation simply, the Farmers Market. This market, which was started at the corner of Third and Fairfax, still exists and is known as one of the United States most popular farmers markets. It seems though that the tide of favor is shifting. Slowly but surely San Diego farmers markets are starting to rival the original in popularity,

One of the most well known farmers markets in San Diego happens to be the Ocean Beach Farmers Market. This market is held on Wednesdays from 4-7 during the winter months and 4-8 during the summer months. Similarly to the original Farmers Market, location was and is everything. Located down Newport Avenue between Cable and Bacon Street, the Ocean Beach Farmers Markets’ location has become synonymous with freshness and a good time.

(I still need interviews)