Hillcrest Farmers Market
Sundays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
3960 Normal Street
(Hillcrest DMV Parking Lot)

Adams Avenue Farmers Market
Wednesdays 3-7 p.m.
35th Street South of Adams (where Normal Heights meets Kensington)

North Park Farmers Market
Thursdays 3 p.m. to sunset
32nd St and North Park Way
3151 University Ave. (CVS Pharmacy parking lot at University and 32nd St.)

Mission Hills Farmers Market
Fridays 3-7 p.m.
Falcon Street between Washington St. and Ft. Stockton

By Dave Schwab/SDUN Reporter

What makes the four farmers markets—Mission Hills, Hillcrest, Adams Avenue and North Park—in the Uptown District so special is their homespun appeal, featuring local growers catering to local neighborhoods.

It’s that down-home quality that gets—and keeps—vendors and customers coming back every week, said Catt White, who manages the Adams Avenue and North Park farmers markets, both of which have found success partnering with a local business improvement district.

“[It] seems like many markets are doubling as community meeting places, where neighbors meet one another in a relaxed setting, doing something we all need to do—hunt and gather,” White said. “There’s a heightened level of awareness now about the importance of knowing where your food comes from and developing relationships with the people who grow or raise it.”

Large or small, new or old, Uptown farmers markets, like the 4-month-old Mission Hills farmers market sponsored by the Mission Hills Business Improvement District, all have something in common: They’re all community-based.

 Mission Hills Farmers Market

 “I use the term neighborhood market for Mission Hills,” said manager Ron La Chance. “It truly is a social hub, especially in a tight-knit community like Mission Hills.”

La Chance said bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to quality. “We are a smaller market but still have a great selection of produce and flowers, including some Certified Organic growers too,” he said.“You won’t find any crafts booths or ready-to-eat food booths like crepes or tacos here.”

What you will find at Mission Hills farmers market, said La Chance, is “all your produce needs along with some great specialty foods like hummus, local honey, baked goods, olive oils, eggs, pastas and more.”

La Chance said Mission Hills has 13 growers, five of whom are certified organic.

What’s special about Mission Hills’ farmers market?

“It’s tucked right into the neighborhood, offering lots of pedestrian traffic,” said La Chance.

For entertainment, Mission Hills offers live music and clown face-painting every week.

Concerning patrons’ shopping trends, La Chance said he has noticed that shoppers are looking for “anything different” and are turning more toward organic.

But they are especially concerned about freshness. “People are just more aware of the goodness of fresh local produce,” said La Chance. “Farmers market produce was picked that day or the day prior. It ripened on the vine or tree longer than supermarket produce.”

There’s one other advantage farmers-market produce has over store-bought. “Usually prices are better too,” La Chance said. With the fall season, La Chance said customers can look forward to a bumper crop of squash, zucchini, apples and grapes.

La Chance is also bullish on the future of the industry. “Farmers markets are more popular than ever,” he said. “I see no slowing in their popularity. It is more than just shopping: It is the whole experience.”

Hillcrest Farmers Market 

On the opposite end of the spectrum is Hillcrest’s large and time-tested farmers market, produced by the Hillcrest Business Improvement Association.

The market, which originally opened with only 35 vendors in April of 1997, currently consists of a total of 140 vendors—125 on any given Sunday—offering a wide variety of locally grown in-season fruit, produce, gifts, arts and crafts and flowers.

Many of the local California farmers participating in the market grow their produce organically or with no pesticides.

The market also hosts a large variety of prepared food and hot food items, with an emphasis on international cuisine, as well as weekly entertainment performed by a local band.

Strolling through Hillcrest Farmers Market on a typical Sunday, one gets a sense of community and a “family feel” from market manager David Larson, who’s been helping the Hillcrest Business Improvement Association manage the market for more than 13 years.

“Everything here related to agriculture is locally grown,” Larson said. “We do have more unique and specialty vendors than the other markets and we have the attendance to justify all that.”

Larson isn’t exaggerating. In almost every direction he points there’s a vendor with a one-of-a-kind product or service. New vendor Aqua Farms offers mussels, oysters and some abalone. Another has naturally raised whole chickens selling for $20. Banners on vendor booths proclaim “gluten-free, vegan-friendly,” something for everyone. One booth sells salmon from Alaska. Another offers eight different varieties of figs from France.

And the food court section is equally as diverse and multicultural. One merchant sells chili pepper jelly. “There’s not one other person in San Diego that does this,” said Keith Willis, owner of Bubbles’ British Café, which offers culinary delights such as breakfast bangers.

Other vendors offer African and Middle Eastern cuisine. A food both serving crepes always has long lines.

“It’s very much a family place,” said Larson.

Adams Avenue Farmers Market   Located at John Adams Elementary School on 35th Street, just off Adams Avenue serving Normal Heights, Kensington and University Heights, the farmers market is run by The Adams Avenue Business Association. Nearby businesses helped finance start-up costs for the market, which opened in May 2010.

Discussing the uniqueness of the market, White said, “This is the only one of our markets located on school grounds, and we consider education one of our missions.”

Also special—and telling—about Adams Avenue market, noted White, is that it’s patronized by local chefs. “Regular demos let shoppers see how food professionals choose foods and how they prepare them,” she said. “Chefs from Kensington Grill, Blind Lady Ale House and Cafe 21 have done recent demos and more are scheduled. We are developing workshops that will allow parents, children and neighbors from two very different communities to learn about healthy eating and local producers.”

North Park Farmers Market

The North Park farmers market has operated off and on, in various locations and under various managers, in North Park. For the past three years, it has occupied a space in the CVS Drugstore parking lot at North Park Way and Herman Street with hours that vary seasonally.

Invited to assume management of the under-producing market in late April 2010 by the North Park Main Street Association, White and her crew have almost doubled the size of the market in a matter of months, increasing the ratio of farmers to artisan food purveyors and dramatically reducing the number of non-food vendors.

White said North Park is in the forefront of the local farm-to-table trend. “We see chefs from Urban Solace, Ritual Tavern, Spread, the Linkery and others shopping at the market each week, and their menus often refer to the farms that produce the ingredients,” she said.

White said North Park is an eclectic community with a wide range of shoppers: people in suits shopping between work and home, parents with children in tow, low-income shoppers, teens and the elderly, local chefs and foodies. “It’s a wonderful mix and everyone comes together over their common interest in good food,” she said.

White said all farmers at Adams Avenue and North Park are Certified Producers, meaning the San Diego County Agricultural Department has verified that they are growing the produce they offer for sale. At each of those markets, some vendors are also Certified Organic, a certification obtained by meeting specific state and federal guidelines.

White said both North Park and Adams Avenue markets offer farm fresh fruits and vegetables and also locally raised meat, cheese and eggs, along with a full range of bread, seafood, coffee beans, locally made pastas, pestos and more. “Other than paper products, it’s one-stop shopping,” she said.

Both markets have live music each week, adding to the ambience and energy of the markets as weekly community-gathering places.

As fall progresses, look for more root vegetables—beets, potatoes, carrots, cauliflower and broccoli, said White, adding that a wide variety of apples are also coming into season along with winter squash, pumpkins and beans. “Heirloom tomatoes had a late season this year, so we’re still seeing a beautiful variety of those,” she added.

Why shop at an Uptown farmers market like Hillcrest or North Park?

“More and more people are realizing that the investment in quality food pays back many times over in reduced medical bills,” White said. “In the U.S., (farmers markets) have sometimes suffered from over-regulation, but the expanded knowledge and the growth of markets in recent years has raised the bar.

“There are too many people who have tasted fresh food and can never go back to commodity-level food for farmers markets to do anything but continue to thrive.”