For 42 years, Saturday mornings in Pasadena have started the same way at the corner of Sierra Madre Boulevard and Paloma Street: farmers backing trucks into the Victory Park lot before dawn, unloading crates of whatever is ripe and ready.
The Pasadena Certified Farmers’ Market at Victory Park returns this Saturday, June 27, with as many as 60 vendors, the majority of them certified growers selling produce they raised themselves — no intermediary, no grocery markup. Operated by the City of Pasadena Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department since 1995, the market accepts EBT and participates in the Hunger Action LA Market Match program, which matches CalFresh spending on fresh fruits and vegetables, up to $15 per market visit. Entry is free. Surplus revenue from the market funds youth recreation programs at the city’s four community centers, according to a City of Pasadena press release.
Every farmer at the market is certified by the county agricultural commissioner and sells only what they grow, according to the market’s official website. The market does not permit craft vendors. Manager Gretchen Sterling maintains a four-to-one ratio of farmers to food artisans.
“We keep four farmers for every one food artisan,” Sterling said. “We do no crafts. We are your food source… We’re there to keep that connection between you and the farmer that’s growing your food.”
Vendors offer certified fresh fruits and vegetables, ranch-raised meats, baked goods, prepared foods, fresh-cut flowers, and potted plants. Most accept electronic payment. Cash is always accepted. Farmers travel from as far north as the Fresno area and as far south as San Diego and the Coachella Valley, and up the coast to San Luis Obispo, according to Sterling.
The market’s unbroken record was tested in January 2025, when the Eaton Fire broke out within a mile of Victory Park. The market reopened the following Saturday. Two of its own farmers had lost their homes. “We had customers who came up and volunteered to give us money to pass along to the two farmers who actually lost their homes,” Sterling said. “It’s been a very humbling experience for all.”
Koko Panossian, director of the City of Pasadena Parks, Recreation and Community Services, said the market serves a broader mission. “The Pasadena Farmers’ Market aligns with our mission to offer affordable resources, encourage healthy choices, and foster connections within the community,” Panossian said, according to a City of Pasadena press release.
The market opened at Victory Park in 1984 as a second location after the Villa Parke market launched in 1980. It began as a nonprofit before the city assumed full ownership in 1995. In 1997, the market program received the Arthur Nobel Award for “making life better in Pasadena,” according to Pasadena Now. Sterling, a Pasadena resident since 1960 and a graduate of Pasadena High School’s class of 1964, has watched the market grow across more than four decades of Saturday mornings.
The Pasadena Certified Farmers’ Market at Victory Park operates every Saturday, rain or shine, from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the 2900 block of North Sierra Madre Boulevard, at the intersection of Sierra Madre Boulevard and Paloma Street, in front of Pasadena High School. The only weekly closure is during the Tournament of Roses Parade. Entry is through the monitored entrance at the northwest corner of the parking lot. For more information, call (626) 449-0179 or visit pasadenafarmersmarket.org.
“I’ve lived in the community long enough to know that fires will come and go,” Sterling said, “and that we always come back. We come back stronger and healthier.”
Pasadena Certified Farmers’ Market at Victory Park | Saturday, June 27, 2026, 8:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m. | Victory Park, 2925 E. Sierra Madre Blvd. |🔗 https://www.pasadenafarmersmarket.org/VictoryPark
