Pleasanton Farmers' Market Offers Fresh, Locally Grown Food Direct from the Producers Every Saturday Year Round

By Hacienda Network Staff Writer

One of the great things about living in California is our wonderful weather. Our temperate climate gives us great access to the outdoors and blue skies for months at a time. What makes it even better is that those are perfect growing conditions for an enormous variety of fruits, vegetables, and nuts, all available every Saturday at the Pleasanton Farmers' Market.

"When we reach the peak of the season, which is typically the middle or latter part of June, we'll get over 50 producers out there on a given day," says John Silveira, director of the Pacific Coast Farmers' Market Association. His organization runs the Pleasanton market as well as 35 others in the Bay Area. "The great thing about the Farmers' Market is we kind of provide our own splash with commodities and products just because it's all California grown."

Shopping at the Farmers' Market is a great way to enjoy the passing of the seasons and the seasonality of produce. "In June, we are kind of saying goodbye to some of the fresh, local asparagus coming out of Brentwood in Contra Costa County, but we'll also be saying hello to the cherry crop," Silveira notes. "Santa Rosa plums, a personal favorite, will usually kick off in the middle of June and those are absolutely incredible. My favorite peach comes out in July or early August and that's the O'Henry peach, and to me that's the Cadillac of the yellow peaches. Many different varieties of yellow and white peaches are in the market in June."

The Farmers' Market also has foods from organic growers. "We have Lone Oak Ranch, which is a stone fruit grower that also does some citrus in the wintertime. They have organic navel oranges and grapefruit, cherries, apriums (a hybrid of apricot and plum), and they'll have grapes and all sorts of peaches throughout the season. We have a couple organic vegetable producers out there, too."

Silveira notes that Pleasanton's market is one of the most popular in the area. "That market has been going since June of 1992 and it's grown quite a bit," he says. "I would say our average attendance throughout the year is about 1,800. In summer, being the peak of the season, we'll have 3,000 people go through that market on a nice sunny day. But we're open year round, too, so we've got a pretty faithful crowd that comes out even in the rain."

The market is open every Saturday from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm on West Angela Street at Main Street in downtown Pleasanton. You can also find some of the producers taking part in Pleasanton's First Wednesday Street Parties, which take place downtown on the first Wednesday of each month from May through September.

For additional information on the Pleasanton Farmers' Market, contact the Pacific Coast Farmers' Market Association at (800) 949-FARM or access their web site at www.pcfma.com.

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