Discovering Eugene's Hyperlocal Markets

By: Kelly O'Brien | September 22 2011
Posted in Eugene - Find It - Eugene

Spencer Creek's small marketplace offers 8-12 vendors a week + live music. Photos by: Kelly O'Brien

“More than just a market. It's a lifestyle,” reads the half-page pamphlet, advertising the Spencer Creek Community Growers Market. This catchphrase nicely sums up the sentiment behind a new trend in Eugene's farm-to-table scene: Hyperlocal Markets. The downtown farmers market certainly still boasts the most vendors and the largest selection, but it's no longer the only game in town for fresh, direct-from-the-farmer products.

Take a stroll around Eugene with The Local Dish as we explore a few of these new pop-up farmers markets!

The Spencer Creek market, now in its second year, was started by Genie and Glenn Harden in an effort to bring their community together for a few hours every Saturday. The market is relatively small, with around 8-12 vendors each week selling their wares under the trees outside the century-old Spencer Creek Grange Hall. There is often live music and always espresso and wifi available. But those are just the mechanics. The experience of this market -- and all of the neighborhood markets that have begun to spring up -- is what makes them special.

“I've had several people come up to me at the market and tell me they come out from town just to get their 'country fix',” says Phyllis Helland, who sells her family's wool and beef at the market. And it's easy to see what she means. Everyone seems to know each other. Conversations about crops and goats and gardening abound. Children run back and forth—half playing, half helping with their parents' booths.

Farmstands at the weekly Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market.

The Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market, although in a much more urban setting, is no less a fixture of the neighborhood. Also in its second year, the Fairmount market was started by the Eugene City Bakery, and it's hosted across the street on the Sun Automotive lot. Rachel Weiner, co-owner of SLO Farm and one of the organizers of the Sunday market, says “the neighbors have been really supportive. We have a lot of core customers come out every week.” One of the market's regulars, has even started a blog where she posts the vendors' weekly offerings and recipes for the meals she creates with her market bounty.

A few miles to the west, on the doorstep of the Fox Hollow Creek Nursery at Friendly and 28th streets, a similar market called Friendly Street Farmers Market has taken root, organized by Michael Kaszycki, who owns the nursery. Both the Fairmount and the Friendly Street markets are small, just 3-4 vendors every week, but Kaszycki says that's part of the appeal. “I've kept myself small. It's easier to handle,” he says. “A lot of the bigger markets can get in trouble, with overhead costs and all that.”

Lively Farms vendors at the Friendly Street Farmers Market.

Weiner also attributes some of the success of the Fairmount market to its size. Although SLO Farm is a long-time member of the downtown market, Weiner says it does have its limitations. “It's incredibly crowded and very limited in customer parking—it makes it difficult for people to shop there, especially families,” she says.

So, perhaps the most valuable thing that hyperlocal markets like these (and many others around town) offer is options. The more opportunities we have to pick up fresh, local products directly from the people who grow them, the easier it will be to change our culture's food habits for the better...and Eugene is off to a great start!

Want to find a growers market near you? Check out TLD's directory of local Farmers Markets or the Willamette Farm & Food Coalition.

Kelly O'Brien is a freelance writer based in Eugene, Oregon. There's little in this life she loves more than cooking, whether it's roasting a chicken for a family dinner, assembly-lining tamales with friends and margaritas, or improvising a solo lunch with whatever she has in the fridge.