Local Farmers' Markets
Grow Community
Written By Jordan Rosenfeld
R
esidents of Morgan Hill and Gilroy can step out
on a Saturday afternoon to a local farmer’s market
and purchase farm fresh fruits, veggies, flowers and
foods with ease, but that wasn’t always the case. The
health-conscious craze of the 1970s created an urge for
organically-grown produce, but gas shortages meant people
couldn’t afford to drive to Watsonville or Hollister for their
fresh produce, according to Gail Hayden, Director of the
California Farmers’ Markets Association (CFMA), which
runs the Morgan Hill farmer’s market.
By 1977, then-governor Jerry Brown signed The Direct
Marketing Act, which allowed California farmers to sell
their fresh produce direct to consumers at locations
approved by the Department of Agriculture. Farmers mar-
kets began to boom because local downtown associations
and chambers of commerce saw farmers’ markets as ways to
add value to their towns.
“It was a method of returning to the original idea of
going to market,” Hayden said. “Every city across Europe
has a market street.”
Morgan Hill Farmers' Market
One Saturday in 1987, former teacher’s aide and long-time
Morgan Hill resident, Virginia Sellers, ran into the Morgan
Hill Downtown Revitalization Manager, who convinced her
to start a fledgling market with a handful of farmers. Her
father had sold produce when she was a child, so she felt a
connection with the idea. With the support of the CFMA,
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GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
Salvadore Ascencio, Executive Director
T&C Farmers Markets
Sellers grew it into the bustling, popular market it is today,
managing it for over 30 years, until 2019.
“We started out with ten or fifteen farmers, now we have
between twenty-five or thirty. Then it just took off from
there. I really put my head to it and focused. I tried to make
it as hospitable as I could and create fun things,” Sellers said.
“Virginia has been awesome for the market,” Hayden
said. “She stuck with it, wind, sleet and hail.”
In today’s market residents can not only purchase the
freshest fruits and veggies from relatively local farmers, but
also prepared foods, such as tamales, hummus and other
dips, fresh fish, kettle corn and bakery items and artisan
crafts. Open year-round, the produce will vary depending
upon what is in season; though for popular items, such as
strawberries, once the Watsonville growing season is done,
they’ll pull from farmers a bit farther away, such as Oxnard
or San Diego.
Hayden said that while some older folks may have the
experience of tasting fruit off the farm direct, farmers’ mar-
kets provide a bridge to this kind of experience for people
who are used to shopping mainly at the supermarket.
Access to truly tree- or vine-ripened fruit is also a luxury
for many, Hayden said, explaining that by the time a piece
SPRING 2020
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