Sacramento’s Oak Park Farmers’ Market closes due to low attendance and fewer farmers.
SACRAMENTO, Calif — Weekend shoppers in Sacramento will need to find a new place to find fruits and vegetables over the summer as the Oak Park Farmers’ Market is shutting down.
The market was paused in 2022 while it searched for a new host and was provided with a $500,000 grant from the state to help bring it back.
The Food Literacy Center took over operations of the market, which ran on Saturdays from mid-May to the end of October, in 2023.
Both low attendance and a loss of participating farmers were among the reasons the center gave for the closure, the center said.
“Without customers, very few farmers can afford to stay at the market. And without farmers, customers don’t come. It’s a cyclical problem,” said the center’s CEO, Amber Stott, in a statement.
It came down to the data, according to Stott. The center was spending around $10,000 per market and was only reaching about 40 EBT customers per week.
“We’re closing the market, but our commitment to battling food insecurity continues,” Stott said in a social media video explaining the closure.
The center is shifting its focus to expanding its elementary school cooking and nutrition programs. which Stott says will help them help more families more cost-effectively.
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