The Chula Vista Farmers Market is celebrating three years of bringing fresh food, local goods and neighborhood connection to downtown residents after returning in 2022 from a five-year absence.
Held every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., rain or shine, on Park Way between Third and Fourth avenues, the market now features more than 70 vendors selling everything from produce and flowers to pet treats, handmade items and prepared foods.
“Downtown Chula Vista seemed to be a really up and coming neighborhood,” said Catt Fields White, founder and CEO of San Diego Markets and the manager of the Chula Vista Farmers Market. “The residents there seemed to be looking for both community gathering points and fresh food and I just felt like it was time for Chula Vista to have a weekly market again.”
White, who previously launched San Diego County’s largest farmers market in Little Italy, oversees vendor approval with a focus on balance and variety. She said only about 15 vendor spaces remain before the market fills the block up to Fourth Avenue.
“It’s all about balance and keeping it balanced,” she said.
Among the local businesses at the market are Gerard and Frank Villalobos, second-generation farmers and owners of The Juicing Gents. The brothers grow their produce in Pauma Valley and offer seasonal drinks such as pomegranate orange juice, mint lemonade and a passion fruit-orange-guava blend.
“The community in Chula Vista is awesome because they’ve really been open to trying our juices and buying from us,” said Gerard Villalobos. “And we’ve gotten to know people, they come in week after week and it’s just great getting to know them and their families. Their kids come up and get their favorite juice.”
Villalobos said the market’s management ensures a wide range of offerings for shoppers.
“They make sure they have enough variety and enough items that people are actually looking for, and people come out to get all kinds of different things,” he said. “It’s one of our favorite markets to attend.”
The Chula Vista Farmers Market, operated by the Downtown Chula Vista Association in partnership with San Diego Markets, received a city proclamation in recognition of its third anniversary.
White said farmers markets offer more than just fresh food – they also help sustain local agriculture and small business.
“When you buy, say, an avocado at the grocery store for a dollar, the farmer who grew that avocado gets to keep 9 or 10 cents of that dollar,” she said. “When you buy the same exact avocado from a farmer directly at a farmers’ market, they keep the whole dollar. That really is keeping our farmers on the land and growing food for us.”
She added that many vendors start small at farmers markets before expanding into storefronts and long-term businesses in their communities.
“A lot of small businesses start at farmers markets and then grow into businesses that live in a community for a long time,” White said. “It’s also a place for residents of the community to come together.”
In addition to fresh produce and food, the market includes vendors offering handmade jewelry, clothing, body care products and household goods. They even have a bookstore that sets up two tents of new and used books, where White said families often buy titles and head to the nearby park to read together.
“We want our market to continue to be something that our residents count on week after week,” White said. “People can write their grocery list, show up there every week, do their shopping, and keep that money in the community.”
