Santa Monica Farmers Market Starts Off Early with its 30th Birthday Festivities

The Santa Monica Farmers Markets were established in 1981. Today, they cater to about 900,000 customers per year, bringing farm fresh local produce to their patrons. The markets are a way for farmers to still stay on their land and bring their crops and harvest to a city crowd.

 

On Thursday, August 11, 2011, The Santa Monica Farmers Market will be kicking off its five-day 30th anniversary celebration which will be held in September, with a panel discussion at the Main Library, suitably dubbed “Celebrating 30 Years.”

Four Santa Monica farmers market long-timers – Two Chefs and Two Farmers: Renowned chefs Mark Peel of Campanile and Josie Le Balch of Josie, together with Santa Monica farmers market veterans Alex Weiser, “celebrity potato farmer” of Weiser Family Farms, and Molly Gean of Harry’s Berries – will be gracing us with their presence, while talking about their memories, experiences, dreams, and reflections on the three decades of prosperous and successful affiliation with the market.

These 4 food connoisseurs will be taking us back to the 80’s and 90’s, places in time where sustainable food movement and fine dining in Santa Monica were just getting acquainted. They will be discussing how different the farming operations were from back in those days, and how it helped the local restaurateurs.

Peel was one of the first chefs to acknowledge that Santa Monica had a great asset in its farmers market, and Le Balch was a big fan of the market in the late 90′s. And as restaurants grew within Santa Monica, with the chefs expressing more of what they needed, the farmers changed their operations and grew new and more crops.

Today, sophisticated fine-dining restaurants offer three-course, farmers market options, and because of that, more of the well known foodies and chefs have become frequent and consistent visitors at Santa Monica’s farmers markets.

Now for those of you who will be joining the discussion on Thursday, you will be in for a treat. Chef Peel will be preparing something special (he has to see what’s fresh at the Wednesday market) – which will most likely be paired with fresh bread from Campanile.
The panel discussion is one of a series of quarterly talks, starting from 2006, when the Santa Monica Farmers Markets celebrated their 25th anniversary.

“Celebrating 30 Years” will run from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Auditorium at the Main Santa Monica Library at 601 Santa Monica Boulevard. Seating will be available on a first come, first seated basis.

Next month, the Santa Monica Farmers Markets will really be holding a five-day Good Food Festival and Conference, coined as an “unprecedented multi-day event” gathering farmers, sustainable food advocates, chefs, food businesses and of course, the foodies – people who love good food.

Events will include a good food street fair, cooking demonstration at Santa Monica High School, and programs focusing on school food at Santa Monica College, all of which are only few of the many other highlights.

The festival, to be held on September 14 through 18, will be sponsored by Chicago-based FamilyFarmed.org, a company known for training farmers, promoting local sustainable food and is leading a national effort to improve food safety on small farms.

If you happen to be passing by one of the Santa Monica farmers market locations –   Wednesday and Saturday at Arizona Avenue downtown, Saturday at Virginia Park and Sunday on Main Street, you will be able to see flyers and other promotional materials elaborating on the upcoming festivities.

The Santa Monica Farmers Markets are organized and managed by the City of Santa Monica. For more information, see the Santa Monica Farmers Market Website. This article was originally posted here.