Downtown Long Beach Friday Farmers Market
When you shop at the Downtown Long Beach Friday Farmers Market, you won’t just be spending your money on the freshest, healthiest produce available, you’ll be buying into an Earth-friendly approach to life! Take a stroll through the market and meet a community of folks who want to provide you with the highest-quality food, help you create the best soil for your own crops, and raise your awareness of the amazing benefits of the farm-to-table movement.
“The DTLB Farmers Market is important as a legacy-certified farmers market [45 years] and a community asset,” said Market Director Kelli Johnson. “A farmers market is a welcoming space for everyone in the Downtown community and beyond. We have families grabbing groceries for the weekend, a chef provisioning their restaurant, and people picking up snacks for the office on their lunch break. Everyone is chatting about what they eat and how they prepare it. It’s a social connection about the most wholesome topic – food!”
Downtown Long Beach Friday Farmers Market
On a recent Friday, the sounds of local vocalist/guitarist Mooney Starr welcomed guests to The Promenade between 3rd and 4th Streets, where produce vendors from Signal Hill to Tehachapi had made their weekly trek to the market. Food shoppers were filling their bags with such staples as spinach, carrots, broccoli, and cabbage, as well as exotic harvests like Cherimoya, Purslane, and Ice Cream Beans.
Vocalist & Guitarist Mooney Starr
Just north of 3rd Street was the compost station, run by Long Beach Community Compost (LBCC). A crew was collecting food scraps people were dropping off (click here to see what’s acceptable and what isn’t) and chopping them up to be added to LBCC’s compost pile at Willow Springs Park that afternoon.
It takes 12 weeks for food scraps to transform into nutrient-dense compost or “Black Gold,” as some farmers call it. Market visitors were using their just-emptied scrap bags and buckets to get a fresh batch of compost from LBCC, and they didn’t have to wait 12 weeks!
Long Beach Community Compost station
Urban farmer Edgar Ornelas has been a Friday Farmers Market vendor for many years. “I have a small plot in Bell Gardens, an acre and a half, and I can grow 30 or 40 different crops of greens there. At this market, spinach and cilantro are very popular,” he explained. “When you shop here, you’re supporting local farmers, and you have the opportunity to buy things you won’t find at a supermarket.”
Justin Nguyen is another regular market vendor who operates his company, Long Beach Mushrooms, right up the road in Signal Hill. “We grow what we sell,” he said, pointing at a variety of wild-looking mushrooms. “We started growing in my garage, and we eventually moved into a warehouse. You’re seeing the hands that grew them, the hands that picked them, and now you’re seeing the hands that are selling them.”
Long Beach Mushrooms
Nguyen pointed out that “the best thing about this market is getting to know the farmer. We’re huge believers in not just buying produce, but having a relationship with who you’re buying it from.”
Husband and wife team Mike Rhee and Melanie Robichaud are new to the Long Beach market, starting work at the Ha’s Apples booth just three months ago. Each had a corporate job before making a complete switch to farmers markets. Mike’s parents had been doing markets for years, and they invited the couple to try it. “We did it once, we loved it, and we went all-in,” said Rhee. “This is what we do full-time, operating the booth and spreading some apple joy.”
Rhee started a website, FARMERSMARKETSOCAL.COM, which enables shoppers to find all the information about any farmers market that exists in Southern California, and allows vendors to sell their products online.
Mike Rhee and Melanie Robichaud of Ha’s Apples
As shoppers browsed the booths, many stopped to have a conversation with a rep from Environment California, an organization dedicated to advocating ideas and actions that will shift California onto a greener, healthier path. “We love seeing organic, farm-to-table food being sold, and we love seeing people getting involved in the movement,” said the rep. “We have the ability to get the resources to take on big conglomerates that sell questionable pesticides, which are raising cancer rates and wiping out our bee population. Making people aware and getting them to participate is such an important mission.”
Checking out the fresh citrus was Katie, a Downtown resident who shops at the market every Friday. She frequents the Taste of Asia booth for fabulous dumplings, and always makes sure to partake in the free orange samples. “I grew up with this market,” she said. “I’d come here with my folks when I was younger. It’s great to see it thriving after well over 40 years! I love it.”
Downtown Long Beach Friday Farmers Market
While you’re on The Promenade, check out a couple of new dining options! AZN at 325 The Promenade N serves its fantastic bowl assortment from 10 AM to 8 PM. Loose Leaf at 315 The Promenade N is open from 11 AM to 8 PM. They have just revamped their space and will soon be adding some superb food dishes to their menu of teas and juices. Click here for more info and amazing food photos.
SPECIAL NOTE FOR SENIORS: The market gives three coupons a week to disabled seniors (60 and over), who can collect them and redeem them for groceries. In addition, the market honors CalFresh EBT cards, and offers a Market Match program. For example, if you withdraw $15 with your card, the market will match that with $15 in credit towards farm-fresh fruits and vegetables.
Learn more about the above programs at goodveg.org and follow the Friday Farmers Market on Instagram @dtlbfarmersmarket.