Downtown Phoenix’s newest farmers market debuted Wednesday at the Arizona Center, hosting around 35 vendors selling local food and homemade goods.
The mid-week market, which will be held from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. each Wednesday in the grotto of the Arizona Center, mainly offers food items, but jewelry, beauty products and crafts are in stock, too.
The market also provides another opportunity for downtown residents to shop locally.
“When you spend your money locally, the money stays here,” said Salomon Aliser, an organizer of the farmers market. “We’ve come to add to Phoenix… to add more opportunities for our vendors to be in front of people.”
Aliser has a passion for the vendors he works with. “Everyone has a great story,” he said. “I see their struggles, I see their victories. It’s just a great feeling.”
At the farmers market, vendors and patrons alike shared in their passion for the local and handmade.
Phoenix resident Alyssa Paz, who frequents other farmers markets around the Valley, heard about the new market on social media.
“It’s usually better quality and sometimes a lot cheaper,” Paz said of the local marketplaces. Paz added that she enjoys the community aspect of the events as well.
Sarah Richetto of Crooked Sky Farms stood at her booth, a plethora of greens, citrus fruits and vegetables laid out on the folding tables.
“We love the farmers market,” said Richetto, who works as a farm manager for the Phoenix-based company. “We try to [pick] most things for the farmers market that day because then it’s the ultimate freshness.”
So far, Crooked Sky Farms is the only produce vendor selling at the market along with two vendors who specialize in microgreens. Aliser hopes to expand to include more vendors and farmers as business begins to grow.
According to the USDA, farmers markets can play an important role in increasing access to fresh produce, especially in low-income areas.
Some farmers markets accept SNAP benefits, formally called food stamps, for fresh produce. Aliser says he intends on applying to accept the program.
Because of the city’s rapid growth in recent years, he’s optimistic that a mid-week farmers market is viable and thinks the Arizona Center is the perfect location to host such an event.
The Arizona Center Farmers Market is not the only open-air grocery available to downtown residents. The Phoenix Public Market off of Central Avenue and McKinley Street opens every Saturday morning, year-round since 2005.
“You see everybody’s craftsmanship, their art, their skill,” said Chloe Matthews, a vendor who makes hand-crafted candles, “I feel at home every time I’m at the farmers market.”
Contact the reporter at Madeline.Ackley@asu.edu.
Madeline is the community editor for Downtown Devil and is a senior studying at the Walter Cronkite School. She is a local freelance journalist who primarily covers politics, policing, immigration and business. In 2019, she won first place in her category in the national SPJ Mark of Excellence Awards for her reporting on deported veterans in Tijuana, Mexico with Cronkite News.
