Too Many Markets in Modesto?

New Site Suits New Saratoga Market

For 18 years, Modesto has had one farmers market open for business two mornings a week downtown near the city library. This summer, a second market arrived on the scene, intent on operating on the same days on a site about four miles away.

That development prompted the local newspaper, the Modesto Bee, to wonder, "Is Modesto big enough for two farmers markets?"

Managers of both markets said they wouldn’t hamper each other. "It’s way on the other side of town. And they don’t do a night market," said Jim Gallupi, manager of the new market, referring to the existing market. But Galuppi, acknowledged that he was motivated to start a market in part by dissatisfaction with the existing market, which has been in business since 1979.

Galuppi, an insurance broker, told the Bee that he got the idea to start the new market from his farmer clients. Many of his growers used to sell at the downtown market but became unhappy with sparse attendance at the Thursday market and a shortage of parking downtown, he said. "People are disenchanted with the downtown market. Modesto could use another good market," he added.

Galuppi calls his market the Modesto Farmers Table and Crafts. He has a permit from the county agricultural commissioner’s office allowing him to operate five days a week, but is only open two days a week for now.

A reporter from the Bee who visited both markets in early July found shoppers and farmers at the downtown site expressing their loyalty to the market -- and a scanty crowd of vendors and customers at the new market.

Gallupi said in early August that the market had averaged 20 to 25 vendors a day -- with four selling crafts, the rest produce -- during its first month.

"We’re getting there," he said, of customer attendance during the first month. "We’re spending quite a bit on advertising and that helps."

Steve Christy, manager of the downtown market, told the Bee that he welcomed the competition. "I always say, ‘Let ‘em come. We just have to be a little bit better,’ " Christy said. "It’s not going to hurt us. Our customers will come back. I’m sure some of the vendors will do both markets, because on a hot day, they need to move their fruit or vegetables."

Saratoga lost its farmers market over the winter, but before this summer was over, gained another in its place. The Chamber of Commerce and another association of local businesses were behind the comeback.

At the new market’s grand opening July 12, the market’s managers told the Saratoga News that about 3,000 people came to shop for the produce offered by nearly 40 farmers and enjoy the special attractions, including free pony rides, clowns and face painting for the kids, and music by country band.

Last year’s market had the enthusiastic support of some – but not all – merchants in the Saratoga Village downtown shopping district. It brought a European-style village atmosphere back to Saratoga Village, fans of the market said. But it also brought traffic congestion and shortages of parking space, problems that were in turn to blame for a low turnout of farmers, according to Bill Cooper, chairman of the Saratoga Market Days Committee, a merchants’ group that supported the old market and pushed for creation of the new market.

To assess the level community support, the California Farmers Market Association, the group managing the new market, mailed a survey to about 500 residents in April asking whether they wanted a new market and if so where. The association received a hearty 38 percent return from the mailing, Gail Hayden, CFMA’s director, said.

The new location, at Saratoga High School, has grassy areas nearby where kids can play and has parking that will give customers easy access to their cars, enabling them to buy more fruits and vegetables. Cooper added, in an interview with the Saratoga News, that more vendors are attending this year’s market because they don’t have to unload and then reload their trucks at the end of the day.