The Portland Farmers Market, founded in 1992, has grown to multiple locations, including Portland State University (PSU), Shemanski, King, Kenton, and Lents International, offering everything from fresh produce to exquisite pastries and ginger shots.
The market provides vendors with a valuable opportunity to grow their businesses and connect with the community. The Portland Farmers Market administrators are the brains behind the operation, working together with vendors and customers so that everyone is satisfied and things can run smoothly. The market secures leases and permits from the city for its five locations. They work to ensure each product sold by the vendors is of the highest quality, as well as making sure the neighborhood culture is reflected through the market. “We have contributed to the success of hundreds of local/regional small farm and food businesses in our 33-year history,” says Stephanie Celin, the communications and marketing manager at the Portland Farmers Market. The market also offers a program called Double Up Food Bucks to customers who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, allowing everyone to obtain fresh fruits and vegetables at their markets. The market organizers also offer a marketing program to vendors to help boost sales and attract customers to their businesses, hopefully allowing them to open storefronts.
At the same time, the markets also prove to be great experiences for students looking for work or students helping out their parents’ booths. Many students help vendors sell on the weekend to earn money and make connections, even if that means waking up at the earliest hours of the day and staying till late afternoon. “I enjoy being involved in making sustainably grown produce available to anyone and I’ve had so many meaningful interactions and experiences there throughout the years,” says Parker Cicilian, a student from Grant High School, who has been working at several of the Portland Farmers Markets since 2021. Will Asaka, another high schooler who helps with his mother’s booth at the PSU location, explains, “My mom’s [bakery] … has been her ambition for the longest time, [beginning her] research in Tokyo, where she practiced French Japanese culinary classes.” Their business, Mio’s Delectables, has been at the market for five years and sells high-end pastries.
“Working at the farmer’s market is important to me because I enjoy teaching others about how to grow their own food and lead more self-sustaining lifestyles,” says Ruby Perron, a student from St. Mary’s Academy who helps with her mother’s stall at the PSU, Sellwood Moreland, and Hollywood farmers market locations. They sell culinary herb plants and tomato plants, which they grow in their basement before transporting them into pots and moving them to a greenhouse outside. They grow about 4,000 plants to sell at the market.
Farmers markets can help transform families’ lives, grow small businesses, promote nutrition, and foster a greener planet, and the Portland Farmers Markets role in the Portland community is living proof of that.
