For 46 years, the corner of Garfield Avenue and Villa Street has smelled like stone fruit and fresh-cut flowers on Tuesday mornings.
The Pasadena Certified Farmers’ Market at Villa Parke Community Center opens again June 2, as it does every Tuesday, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. About 13 vendors certified growers and food artisans sell produce, baked goods, prepared foods, and plants at the market, which the city’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department has operated since 1995. The market runs year-round, rain or shine, closing only during the week of the Rose Parade. The market accepts EBT and participates in the Market Match program, funded by Hunger Action Los Angeles, which provides CalFresh recipients with additional funds to spend on fresh fruits and vegetables. EBT users can check in at the information booth, where staff process benefits and explain the matching program.
The Villa Parke market started in 1980. It was the first of Pasadena’s two certified farmers’ markets; the larger Saturday market at Victory Park followed four years later. Both are part of the California Federation of Certified Farmers’ Markets. In 1997, the markets program received the Arthur Nobel Award for “making life better in Pasadena,” according to a Pasadena Now report.
“Farmers’ markets introduce us to the hardworking farmers who grow food for our families,” Gretchen Sterling, manager of the Pasadena Certified Farmers’ Markets, said in a City of Pasadena statement. “Farmers work long days, deal with changing weather conditions, and travel a long way to be at our markets weekly.”
Sterling has managed the markets since the early 1980s. A Pasadena resident since 1960 and a graduate of Pasadena High School’s class of 1964, she has overseen the market through more than four decades of operation, according to the Pasadena Weekly. The growers travel from as far as the Fresno area, the Coachella Valley, San Diego, and San Luis Obispo to sell at Pasadena’s markets, according to a Pasadena Now report.
The Tuesday market is smaller than the Saturday operation at Victory Park, which draws as many as 60 vendors. But the Villa Parke edition is embedded in a community center that houses a public library branch, a Head Start preschool, a Women, Infants and Children center, a gymnasium, and a community garden making the weekly market one piece of a broader social services hub.
“PRCS is proud to support such a meaningful and long-standing program,” Koko Panossian, director of Pasadena Parks, Recreation and Community Services, said in a City of Pasadena statement. “The Pasadena Farmers’ Market aligns with our mission to offer affordable resources, encourage healthy choices, and foster connections within the community.”
Revenue from the markets supports recreation programs at the city’s four community centers, according to the City of Pasadena. The market program’s charitable contributions have included clothing and school supplies for students, summer camp and swim lesson fees, and transportation to special events, the city said.
Most vendors accept electronic payment. Cash is always accepted.
The Pasadena Certified Farmers’ Market at Villa Parke Center is at 363 E. Villa St., at the intersection of Garfield Avenue and Villa Street, one block north of the 210 Freeway. Admission is free. The market is open every Tuesday from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. For more information, call (626) 449-0179 or visit pasadenafarmersmarket.org.
Early June in Southern California brings the turn into summer growing season, when stone fruit, berries, and early tomatoes start coming off the farms and onto the tables at Garfield and Villa.
