Music filled the Anaheim Farmers Market just in time for their annual Valentine’s Day event, “Cupid’s Row,” on Thursday afternoon.
Held annually on Center Street Promenade and showcasing many small businesses and vendors, the idea began in 2022 and has been a popular event since then.
“Cupid’s Row” is a Valentine’s Day-inspired event that celebrates the theme of love. It features small businesses that sell handcrafted products and thoughtful gifts people can purchase for their loved ones.
“We wanted to incorporate fun themes to our farmers market to kind of draw in a new crowd and make things fun and tie in like different decorations and activities,” said Sierra Serda, the events manager of the farmers market.
The event included handmade products, food and produce, showcasing a variety of products while highlighting small businesses. Vendors were able to join the event by signing up on their website.
“A lot of the times we’ll publish our calendar of events for the year, and vendors will reach out wanting to join certain events,” said Julia Santana, the event and creative coordinator. “If we need a specific type of vendor that we’re looking for, we’ll scout them out on social media or wherever we can find them.”
Some small business owners agreed that “Cupid’s Row” and the farmers market highlight vendors well, such as Dana Martin, owner of Crown Hustle, who shared how vending at the market is a great opportunity.
“This is my first time at the farmers market,” Martin said. “I think this is such a great opportunity for a small business owner to showcase our goods.”
Events like this bring in a new crowd to the market and provide a new type of exposure. Event Assistant George Menjivar shared how “Cupid’s Row” has brought the market more traffic.
“This one has definitely had a higher turnout compared to just a regular farmers market,” Menjivar said.
Aside from highlighting small businesses, the farmers market also has their section of produce that can be purchased. The market also accepts EBT as a form of payment for produce through the market’s program called “Market Match.”
Market Match is a program through the CalFresh EBT program that allows people to use their EBT card at the farmers market. Shoppers head to the information booth and can pull a certain amount of money from their EBT card to use at the market.
The amount pulled is given in EBT tokens and can be used across booths at the market. With Market Match, individuals are able to have up to $15 worth of free produce. This can total to $720 a year worth of free produce.
“It’s essentially a grant that’s given to us by the state, and it helps us to match people’s benefits so that they could get free fruits and vegetables through those market match vouchers,” Santana said.
The Anaheim Farmers Market describes themselves more than just a farmers market, but as a well-rounded environment that serves the community. The farmers market takes place every Thursday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.