Saturday Westside Farmers' Market

My Saturday mornings usually start with a 4am drive to San Francisco for the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.  On days I get to stay home I like to take my family to our local Saturday Westside Farmers Market, or as we call it in our house the “Farmers’ Market Pump Track”.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how my family does the Sunday Live Oak Farmers Market in Santa Cruz.  This is how we make it to the market on Saturdays.  First we fill the car with 3 kids, bikes, scooters, helmets and a baby stroller.  Next I drop my wife off at the surf statue or lighthouse on Westcliff Dr. She likes to walk along Westcliff and the baby cruises in the stroller with her.  Sometimes Charlie is up for a bike ride with his mom, sometimes Calvin is up for a scooter ride.  The pathway on West Cliff is wide and runs right along the coast (2.9 miles).  Sometimes the boys and I go straight to the market and hit up the River Café stall for cinnamon rolls.  Once fueled Charlie (5) hits the bicycle pump track directly behind the Dirty Girl Produce stall.  The earlier we get there the more empty the pump track is and Charlie scores a session all alone. 

Last month on my wife’s birthday we incorporated a Wilder Ranch bike ride into our market trip.  We met my parents at the market leaving 2 kids with them and took our 3 year old on Wilder’s Coast Trail via the bike trail that starts near the market.  I measured the round trip from the Farmers’ Market around the Wilder Ranch Coastal Loop and back at 5.8 miles.  I rode my crusty old cruiser pulling Calvin on a trail-a-bike.  We all had a blast riding past draft horses, a historical ranch house, a seal colony, coastal farmland, and the ocean.  It was a good huff and we ended it nicely with a couple chimichurri pulled pork breakfast tacos from Austin and the crew at Back Porch, a New Orleans Iced Coffee from Lulu Carpenters, and live music at the market with friends and family. 

Here are a few more suggestions of activities that you can tie in with your trip to the Saturday Westside Farmers Market:

1)      Visit Natural Bridges State park.

2)      Walk or ride your bike. But if you choose to drive, the Westside market has plenty of easy parking available.

3)      Go to the gym. Toadal Fitness Westside is down the block and they have childcare.

4)      Surf early and hit up the market on your way home.  The Westside and North Coast are loaded with surf spots.

5)      Have breakfast, lunch, or a snack at the market.   

6)      Meet or bring a friend to the market.

7)      Attend a Pop Up Breakfast at the farmers market. 

8)      Stop by the awesome row of warehouse businesses on Ingalls St including El Salchichero Butcher Shop, Santa Cruz Mountain Brewery, and Sawyer Land and Sea Supply.

How do you “make it to the market”—Westside?