Overheard Tuesday at Monterey’s Farmers’ Market:
First tourist:
”
Gilroy is the Garlic Capital of the world!
”
Second tourist:
”
Marilyn Monroe was from there.
”
First Tourist:
”
I think you’re right. She was Queen of the Garlic Festival.
”
A little inaccurate (Monroe was Queen of the Artichoke Festival
in Castroville), but these visitors had the garlic part right.
Overheard Tuesday at Monterey’s Farmers’ Market:
First tourist: “Gilroy is the Garlic Capital of the world!”
Second tourist: “Marilyn Monroe was from there.”
First Tourist: “I think you’re right. She was Queen of the Garlic Festival.”
A little inaccurate (Monroe was Queen of the Artichoke Festival in Castroville), but these visitors had the garlic part right. We are fortunate to live in a valley surrounded by the richest farmland in the world, and this time of year there is a farmers’ market every day of the week within easy driving distance of Gilroy. Each market has its own unique flavor and mix of fruits, veggies, nuts, and characters.
Every Tuesday from 4 to 8 p.m., the entire main drag of Alvarado Street in Monterey shuts down to all but pedestrian traffic. The street becomes one giant party; a festival of arts and crafts, banjo players, incense sellers, cashmere vendors and African basket weavers. The aroma of Indian curries and freshly-made breads and pastries fills the air from Baker’s Alley, while hundreds of people shop among vendors hawking their wares of purple onions, pluots (a plum apricot), colorful edible flower petals mixed with salad greens, lemon cucumbers, vine-ripened tomatoes and orange-blossom honey.
The Morgan Hill Farmers’ Market is smaller than some but offers unique delicacies, such as gelato (an Italian ice cream that is less fatty than regular ice cream) and delicious crepes that are made for you right on the spot. Business is so good for the coffee/gelato vendor that soon an empty depot building will be set up as a coffee shop.
Business is so good for the market (9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday, downtown at the Caltrain Station, 3rd & Depot) that it has recently been upgraded to a year ’round market, instead of just a summer affair.
Even though Wanda Garrett of Morgan Hill grows her own vegetables, she tells me that shopping at the Farmers’ Market has become a treasured family outing.
“It’s not just about shopping,” she says, “It’s a place to socialize – we always see people there that we know and we end up getting into great conversations with our neighbors.” It is also a great place for kids to learn more about where their food comes from and how it is grown locally.
Mary Phillips Gonzales of BluFrogg Gardens runs the transitional booth at the market, and as a sort of goodwill ambassador, she will strike up a conversation with you to tell you anything and everything you might want to know about a farmers’ market and how it operates. Mary’s booth separates the agricultural goods from the non-agricultural goods. She sells aloe vera plants, along with her husband Ralph’s birdhouse gourds that are painted in fantasy themes of castles and dragons.
“These markets provide a niche for the smaller or family farmer,” she tells me. “They can’t compete with the big farmers who sell to stores with strict requirements for the shape, size, amount and look of each type of fruit they buy.”
I see what she means as I shop at a small Japanese farmer’s booth where six figs are laid out for sale. They aren’t perfect-looking but they are the best I’ve tasted in years.
The farmers’ market is truly the face and spirit of the community it serves. As I load my car with Russian Banana Fingerling Potatoes, inexpensive fresh-cut flowers, and juicy Israel melons, I can only wonder why Gilroy is the only city of its size throughout the Santa Clara Valley and Bay and Peninsula Areas that can’t support just such a farmers’ market of its own.
