With its third manager stepping down for the third year in a row, the Gilroy Farmers Market is taking a different approach and attempting to join the big leagues by becoming a member of the same California Farmers Market Association that runs the now highly successful year-round market in Morgan Hill – but it needs a little financial help to make the transition.
Joining the CFMA would put the Gilroy market under the umbrella of the nonprofit organization that, since 1994, has overseen the popular Saturday Morgan Hill Farmers’ Market in the Depot Street Caltrain parking lot.
“They are kind of like a corporation of farmers’ markets,” explained Dale Thielges, Board President of the Gilroy Demonstration Garden, which has been supporting the Gilroy farmers’ market with funds and volunteers since it launched in 2011.
But in order to make that happen, the Gilroy Farmers’ Market – now entering its fourth year this spring – must raise $6,947 by March 1st, and organizers are still about $2,500 shy with only one week left to reach their goal.
As part of accepting the Gilroy farmer’s market into its league, the CFMA asked for a one-time fee of nearly $7,000, which will be applied towards the costs of operating the market, paying a market manager and extensive city-wide advertising. The CFMA expects the Gilroy market to lose about $14,000 next year as it pays for extensive start-up advertising and works to establish a community of regular shoppers, according to Brenden Zimmer, a part-time employee who manages the Gilroy Demonstration Garden.
At the moment, CFMA’s system of 14 markets across the state serves more than 26,000 households each week, according to the nonprofit organization’s website. The CFMA is a co-operative, meaning it can use revenues from some of its already successful farmers’ markets to help newer, younger markets get on their feet and continue to gain a strong foothold in their respective communities.
A survey run by CFMA found one in eight families attending the Saturday market in Morgan Hill were actually from Gilroy – evidence the city might be ready for a market of its own, Thielges explained.
That, combined with a scarcity of reliable volunteers to run the Gilroy market and the fact last year’s manager, Theresa Webb, wanted to step down to spend more time with her family, meant it was time to seek new leadership. Webb had previously approached the CFMA in the fall and asked if they would consider taking the Gilroy market under their wing.
The effort to establish a sustainable farmers’ market in Gilroy has seen its share of trials and tribulations while neighboring markets in Hollister and Morgan Hill thrived. Following two prior, failed attempts over a span of several years, a third effort to get a farmers’ market going in Gilroy was spearheaded in 2011 as a special project by Leadership Gilroy. The Gilroy market struggled through its first two years with a rotating door of directors and an inconsistent number of vendors, but saw some progress last year after Webb relocated it from its previous location in the parking lot of the Interim Center for the Arts on the corner of Monterey and Seventh streets downtown, to its current, more popular spot in the City Hall parking lot at Seventh and Rosanna streets. The market was also previously held on Sundays and now takes place on Saturdays.
Thielges also points out: the best farmers markets take some time to establish and the Morgan Hill market lost money for about four years before it took off.
She urges customers to continue patronizing the Gilroy venue, since a market can’t truly take off until farmers hear it’s a great place to sell produce.
“It’s not going to grow until the farmers hear people are going to the Gilroy market instead of the Morgan Hill one,” she said.
Establishing a strong farmers’ market through CFMA would be “a boost for the local food movement,” according to Zimmer.
“It’s going to keep more people downtown getting their local produce in Gilroy,” he said.
Donations can be sent to the Gilroy Foundation, attention: Donna Pray and earmarked for the Gilroy Farmer’s Market.
Mailing address:
P.O. Box 774
Gilroy, CA 95021
