By: Norafiqin Hairoman for The Dirt
For many Davis residents, the farmers market is not an event so much as a habit. It is where weekends begin, where familiar faces reappear week after week, and where the seasons are measured not by calendars but by what appears on the tables. This year, that routine carries added weight: the Davis Farmers Market is marking 50 years as a fixture of community life, a milestone that speaks as much to continuity as it does to change.
As the City moves through the anniversary year, the market is reflecting on what it has represented to Davis since its founding in 1976. Through generations of students cycling through UC Davis, shifts in agriculture and evolving food systems, the market has remained a steady presence at the heart of downtown. Rather than centering the celebration on a single day, the milestone is unfolding gradually, much like the market itself.
Founded by UC Davis alumni with just three vendors, the Davis Farmers Market began as a modest experiment in connecting local farmers with local residents. Five decades later, it has grown into a weekly gathering of more than 100 sellers and thousands of attendees. The scale has changed, but the premise has not: food as a connector, and the market as a space where relationships are built over time.
That continuity is reflected in both leadership and legacy. Executive Director Randii MacNear has led the organization for more than four decades, guiding it through growth, regulatory change and shifting economic conditions. During that time, the market also became one of the first Certified Farmers Markets in California, helping shape how farmers markets developed statewide and nationally. Through early involvement in nutrition initiatives and farmers market networks, the Davis Farmers Market contributed to practices that are now common across the country.
The market’s influence extends well beyond Central Park. Its location has made it an anchor for downtown Davis, drawing steady foot traffic that benefits surrounding businesses. On market days, the downtown core feels more alive, with shoppers moving between stalls, cafés and shops. The result is a shared economic ecosystem that supports not only farmers and artisans, but the broader downtown district.
Food access has long been central to the market’s role in the community. The Davis Farmers Market accepts SNAP benefits and offers a matching program that increases purchasing power for participants, supporting fruit and vegetable sales while expanding access to fresh food. WIC and diabetic vouchers are also accepted, reinforcing the market’s place at the intersection of agriculture, nutrition and public health. These efforts reflect an understanding of the market not just as a place to shop, but as a community resource.
The human stories behind the market remain its most enduring feature. Many vendors have been selling there for more than a decade, forming relationships with customers that extend beyond transactions. Three of the original founding farms are still present today, now represented by children and grandchildren who grew up behind the tables. In a time when agricultural continuity is increasingly difficult to sustain, the market has become a rare space where multi-generational farming traditions persist.
At the same time, the market continues to support newer farmers entering the field. All of its farmers and purveyors are based in California, most traveling from within a two-hour drive of Davis. That regional focus supports a localized food system while offering first- and second-generation farmers a visible, stable platform to connect with customers who value seasonal, locally produced food.
Environmental pressures have only heightened the market’s relevance. As climate change reshapes growing conditions across California, those shifts are reflected each week in what appears on the tables. Shortened seasons, altered crop availability and the realities of drought and extreme heat are visible not in abstract terms, but in the food itself. The market has become an informal space for environmental learning, where conversations about sustainability unfold naturally between farmers and shoppers.
While a small gathering earlier this year marked the beginning of the anniversary, the centerpiece celebration is still to come. On Saturday, August 1, 2026, the market will host a community-wide celebration at Davis Central Park featuring family-friendly activities, interactive games, historical visuals, a photo booth and a cooking demonstration by a local chef. As always, the market’s sellers will remain at the center of the experience.
The August celebration is intended not simply as a look back, but as an affirmation of what the market continues to be. It will highlight the farmers, producers and artisans whose work sustains the market week after week, while inviting the broader community to reflect on how deeply the market is embedded in daily life in Davis.
50 years on, the Davis Farmers Market stands as an example of how local institutions endure not by remaining static, but by adapting thoughtfully while holding fast to core values. As the City looks ahead to August, the market continues its weekly routine. Vendors set up before sunrise. Shoppers arrive with familiar lists and spontaneous cravings. Conversations resume where they left off the week before.
In that sense, the Davis Farmers Market has already celebrated its anniversary in the most fitting way possible—by doing what it has done, reliably and collectively, for half a century.
