Margaret Rodgers: Recalling Modesto’s first certified farmers market

Re “Downtown farmers market opens season with new vendors” (Page 1B, March 27): Reading of the Modesto Certified Farmers Market opening recalled memories of its birth in early 1979. Two MJC ag instructors, a local farmer and wives envisioned a community market where produce went directly from grower to buyer. Working with helpful city officials we found a site, the block between the new county library and First Methodist Church, which could be closed to traffic each Saturday from 6:30 to 11 a.m. during harvest season. To be certified growers, meaning no middleman, meant involving the county ag commissioner’s office and providing insurance, approved scales, an on-site toilet, barricades, etc.

The barricades were sawhorses and volunteers provided insurance and a manager until vendor fees covered them. The toilet problem was solved by parking a pickup camper by the sawhorses. Thankfully no one asked to use it.

Opening day, the first Saturday in July, we held our breath. Would we have vendors or buyers? By 6:30 a.m., my son Peter had parked a trailer of freshly picked sweet corn at the curb, the Taros had early peaches and Bernie Alves had figs. Other growers appeared and Modesto residents cleaned us out our long before 11. We were a success!

This story was originally published March 31, 2016 at 3:11 PM with the headline "Margaret Rodgers: Recalling Modesto’s first certified farmers market."