Top image: Shoppers at the Mountain View Farmers’ Market at the downtown Caltrain station. Photo: GualdimG / CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Summer gets the attention, but most of Santa Clara County’s certified farmers’ markets keep running through fall and winter, when citrus, persimmons, apples, winter squash and leafy greens take over the stalls. Below is a day-by-day list built from the schedules the market operators publish. Hours and locations can change for holidays, weather and events, so check the operator’s site before you go.
Saturday
- Downtown Palo Alto: 8 a.m. to noon, rain or shine, in the city lots on Gilman Street between Forest and Hamilton avenues, year-round (Downtown Palo Alto Farmers’ Market)
- Saratoga: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., West Valley College Parking Lot 3, year-round (California Farmers’ Markets Association)
- Berryessa, San Jose: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association)
- Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and Willow Glen: Saturday mornings (Urban Village Farmers’ Market Association)
- Morgan Hill: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Caltrain lot at 17295 Butterfield Blvd. The season began May 16; check the operator’s page for the closing date.
Sunday
- Mountain View: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., rain or shine, Caltrain station lot at 600 W. Evelyn Ave. The market, open since 1994, draws more than 80 family farms, according to its operator. On 49ers Sunday home-game dates, it moves to the city lots at 190 Hope St.; the remaining 2026 dates are Nov. 8, Nov. 29 and Dec. 13.
- Los Gatos: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Town Park Plaza at Main Street and North Santa Cruz Avenue, year-round, with more than 40 vendors (CFMA). A Halloween Harvest and Pawlooza event is scheduled for Oct. 25.
- Westfield Oakridge, San Jose: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., year-round, near Thornwood Drive and Winfield Boulevard; formerly the Blossom Hill market (CFMA)
- California Avenue, Palo Alto, and Campbell: Sunday mornings (UVFM)
- De Anza College, Cupertino: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Evergreen, San Jose: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Milpitas: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Alum Rock Village, San Jose: 8 a.m. to noon (PCFMA)
Weekdays
- Tuesday: Kaiser Permanente San Jose, 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (PCFMA)
- Wednesday: Evergreen, San Jose, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; VA Palo Alto, 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (PCFMA)
- Friday: Creekside, Cupertino, 8 a.m. to noon; Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara, 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (PCFMA)
Closed for the season
The Santana Row market in San Jose runs Wednesdays from May through September, according to CFMA, so it is off until spring. Some smaller evening markets also go on winter hiatus, so check before planning around one.
Before you go
Some markets accept CalFresh EBT; ask at the market information booth. Operators post closures for holidays, festivals and severe weather on their websites and social media, so check those first, especially around Thanksgiving and the December holidays.
The long view
Much of the farmland that once surrounded these markets is gone. Santa Clara County was known as the Valley of Heart’s Delight for its orchards, and the Downtown Palo Alto market has been run as a volunteer nonprofit since 1981, according to its organizers. Today these markets are one of the main ways the farms that remain, many of them in South County, the Central Valley and along the coast, still sell directly to Silicon Valley households. Shopping them in December as well as in June is part of what keeps that direct connection going.
Is your market missing or listed incorrectly? Email editor@southbaychronicle.com and we will update this guide.
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