Albany Farmers Market

YES! Albany’s weekly market BEGINS at 3, finishes at 7pm.
The early hours of many farmers markets has always been my #1 gripe.
The offerings are all new to me, being new to the area, and yes, the number of purveyors is on the smaller side, but there is a good variety of foodstuffs.
I am beyond a big fan of the kettle corn booth. i seem to have become obsessed with it, because i have never gone gaga over popcorn until i grubbed theirs. the fella told me that they are happy to fill up any container i bring to them, so ill just bring a trash bag next week.
lots of seasonal veggies, of course, also, eggs, starter bakery pastries and baked goods, Phoenix pastifico pasta and focaccia pizza stuff, donna tamale and salsa, Jammin olives from somewhere, honey, flowers, plants… those were the booths i noticed.
parking is easy. public transpo is easy too, being at the bottom of solano at san pablo.
thanks for reading!

Theres some vegetables and fruits here for sale at this farmers market but not much. There’s also pastries and a Scream sorbet booth. The great thing about this farmers market is that they’re open until 7pm which is nice if you have work or if you don’t wanna wake up early in the morning.

In the last year this market has struggled to take hold even though It has strong community support. This year I think it is going to be an incredible year. The vendors are really great, as you would expect with any eco-​center Farmers Market

The Albany Farmers’ Market reopened today. I was very disappointed when I came here the first Wednesday in May and it wasn’t here. I called the Ecology Center to find out what’s up and was told it would be opening today. As I drove down Solano this afternoon after visiting w/​Nina I could see the pavilions, so I knew it was here. Once I parked I asked the folks from the Ecology Center what the problem had been. I was told that the short story was issues w/​permits that are now resolved, a response that satisfied me. Reading back issues of the Albany Patch, I learned that a few of the local merchants had raised objections to the noise and traffic of the market. Compromises were worked out which allowed the market to open and for that I’m grateful.
Vendors line the block of Solano below San Pablo. Phoenix Pastaficio is here again this year, as is Starter. Scream Sorbet was here and I was tempted by their Meyer Lemon sorbet, but there were too many people gathered there so I moved on. There were new vendors as well as familiar ones. Spiral Gardens Nursery, which was there last year, dropped out because the booth had been manned by volunteers and it got too complicated, I was told when I visited the nursery several months ago. There is now a seller of meats, which I will check out later, and one farm had nothing but avocados, which surprised me as I rarely see avocados at farmers’ markets. Nina was delighted and bought several, as she’s cooking us a Mexican meal Saturday. I picked up strawberries from Blue House, which were wonderful as usual. He also had lovely bunches of fragrant sweetpeas. Nina bought a bunch of those. I picked up a couple of squash for dinner from a farm in Suisun. They were delicious and fresh. The weather was sunny and a stiltwalker was walking around relating to people in a charming fashion. Someone was painting faces and someone else was making balloon animals. I was pleased to see so many vendors there and so many patrons. It’s a smaller market than most of the others in the area, but I expect it will grow w/​time.

I am debating if I am going to continue shopping at this farmer’s market.
The main reason is because of my experience at Blossom Bluff Orchards. It’s the only vendor that has a large selection of fruit that is CCOF certified. Unfortunately, their fruit is not sweet. I just bought a plum and a pluot and they had no flavor. This happened to me the last few times I bought fruit from them. It’s really a good idea to be honest and fair when you’re selling fruit at the farmer’s market. If the fruit you’re selling doesn’t have any flavor, either 1) be upfront about it or 2) just don’t sell it. I did ask the people who work there if the fruit was sweet and they told me it was. Okay, they got my business today and the last few times I went. But never again. Ever.
Now whether the rest of the Albany farmer’s market gets my business I am not sure. From now on, if I go there, I have to go someplace else to buy my fruit. That’s a major inconvenience for me. I might as well just go to the Thursday farmer’s market on Shattuck and buy my fruit at Kashiwase and Frog Hollow. Another factor is there is hardly ever any entertainment at the Albany location but there is usually something happening at the Shattuck one.

Excellent low-​key market. We usually come away with a prepared dinner, produce and meat. Dogs are not invited, but there are spots to tie them nearby.

Three weeks old, this Farmers Market is still in its infancy. Vendors sell everything from produce to seedlings. A welcome addition to the Albany food scene. I can’t wait to see this market grow to its full potential.
Open Wednesdays from 3pm — 7pm. Go and support your local growers!