Pasadena Certified Farmers Market, located at Victory Park in the 2900 block of North Sierra Madre Blvd., continues its Saturday farmer’s market which the City’s Department of Human Services and Recreation started about 35 years ago.
The farmer’s market started at Villa Parke Center in 1980, and Victory Park was added to the schedule in 1984. The market has been open every week since then, rain or shine – with the exception of the week of the Rose Parade.
“We are seasonal but we’re here year round so different things come in different seasons,” Gretchen Sterling, Manager of Pasadena Certified Farmers Market. “We have the summer season from our regular season, but in the springtime we have the summer season from Coachella valley. You come and you look and you see what’s here at the market and the farmers are here. They’ll tell you how to cook something. They’ll tell you what that new thing is that you have no idea what it is. They’ll tell you what to do with it, how to cook it.”
Farmer’s Market from Pasadena Now on Vimeo.
The Markets Program, which in 1997 was recognized with the Arthur Nobel Award for “making life better in Pasadena,” are sponsored by the City’s Human Services and Recreation Department under the rules and regulations of the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
As a Certified Farmers’ Market, the weekend markets provide Pasadena residents you with fresh, nutritious, locally-grown fruits and vegetables. The market is an active member of the California Federation of Certified Farmers’ Markets.
We have farmers here from as far north as Fresno area and down to San Diego, Coachella Valley and up the coast to San Luis Obispo. And like I say, we are year-round,” Sterling said. “The only time we’re not here is if the Tournament of Roses is either getting ready to bring the floats here because we’re right at the end of the Rose Parade, or the floats are here on display.”
Saturday’s farmers market also has available EBT (electronic benefit transfer) systems for food programs at CalFresh, Sterling said.
“Almost everything here at the market is eligible for the Caltech program, except hot foods or cut flowers,” she added. “You will also see a seasonal produce chart. Everything here is brought in by the grower, it’s California grown.”
For more information about the Pasadena Farmers Market, call (626) 449-0179, or visit www.pasadenafarmersmarket.org/VictoryPark.
