An Inside Look at the Market not on Saturday

By Paul Redman

San Francisco- Larry Johnson, a homeless man, languidly dragged a milk crate along the sidewalk, using a thick strand of Saran Wrap for a handle. The crate was full of fishing bait: large fish heads and tiny squid. He stopped in front of the farmers’ market, and asked “Where’s the beef?”
A vendor, John Bourne of sustainable beef producer Marin Sun Farms, smiled, greeted Larry, and asked if he would be in his usual spot around the back of the Ferry Building. “I’ll bring you a little something later on,” Mr. Bourne said, as he flipped three hamburgers on a commercial restaurant grill for a waiting customer. Larry nodded and walked on with his bait scraping the pavement behind him.

This was the scene at the Thursday market in front of the Ferry Building.

It goes to show, that even in San Francisco, if you build a farmers’ market they won’t necessarily come—at least not right away. The Thursday market began at the end of March, and in July was still in the process of attracting large numbers of customers to its organic products.

“It’s in a growth stage right now,” said Lisa Capozzi, executive director of the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture, the organization behind the market. She said there are more sustainable producers, ranchers and growers who would like to vend at the Thursday market, and they will be added in due time.
Of the nine vendors currently at the market, four of them sell prepared or already cooked foods; the other five sell organic fruits and vegetables.

The market has not developed nearly the amount of customers that come to the market on other days at the Ferry Building. According to a recent article in the New York Times, the Saturday market at the Ferry Building draws as many as 12,000 customers during the peak season.

For many of the vendors who attend several other markets during the week, the Thursday market is as much a way to promote their products and get feedback from customers as it is a way to make money. Marin Sun Farms sells their locally raised beef products at other markets, but on Thursday they send Mr. Bourne to the market solely to grill fresh hamburgers, sausages, and shredded beef sandwiches. If a Marin Sun Farms customer wishes to pick up a beef order placed with the company by telephone, then Mr. Bourne brings it on Thursdays, but mainly he handles the cooking side of the business, a feat he performs at four markets a week, sometimes drawing a line of ten people to his green umbrella in the market in front of the Ferry Building.

His neighbor at the market, Celine Underwood, is the owner of Brick Maiden Breads, another Marin County food producer who makes the trek to the Ferry Building on Thursday mornings.

“This market is more of a promotion for my business than it is to make money,” Ms. Underwood said. She bakes her bread in a bakery attached to her house in Point Reyes Station in Marin County, using an Allen Scott brand oven that is wood fired and does not even have a working thermostat. She said that after much practice she has learned the proper temperature to bake her bread, which is made from about 90% organic ingredients and sells out at markets and stores in the Bay Area every week.

While the Thursday market may not be the big draw to the Ferry Building that the Saturday market is, it sometimes serves as a stepping stone to bigger and more crowded markets.

David De Korsak is another Thursday vendor, and he recently founded the St. Benoit Yogurt Corporation with his brother, Benoit. The first market they ever attended was Thursday, July 8, 2004 at the Ferry Building. They will now be selling their natural yogurt in glass jars at the Saturday market. David says that CUESA required them to attend a couple of Thursday markets before they could come on Saturdays, a requirement David was happy to fulfill.

Every farmers’ market must decide what is the right mix of prepared foods and fresh produce in order to attract more customers overall. While the Thursday market at the Ferry Building may still be in the process of defining itself, one thing is certain: a sense of community is developing around the Ferry Building, one visitor at a time.