About Little Italy Farmers Market
San Diego has some of the best year-round produce in the country because of its weather (and because just over the mountains site Imperial Valley, essentially the winter breadbasket of the nation), so you know that San Diego’s farmers markets are second to none. On top of that, among all the farmers markets in San Diego, the Little Italy Farmers Market (aka the Little Italy Mercato) is by far the biggest and best. So does that make it the best farmers market in the country? That’s not for us to decide.
Stroll down the six blocks of stalls and peruse what’s on offer. We can’t list everything they have, but we’d say JR Organics for fruits and vegetables, Ruth’s No. 5 Salsa is hands down the best salsa we’ve ever had in our lives, Masala Cottage has delicious and filling samosas, and E&P Boulangeries makes damn good cookies and pastries. There used to be an entertaining little dog that drove around in a remote control car at the Little Italy Farmers Market, but he must have died?
We suggest you get to the Little Italy Farmers Market early because they do sell out. Also, don’t drive there if you can avoid it. And bring a cart because you might get your entire weeks grocery shopping done. The big market happens Saturday mornings, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., but there is also a decent sized one on Wednesday’s 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. though they do not have all of the vendors.
Great For
• Soaking up the sun
• Parents visiting
• Supporting small business
A Closer Look
The Little Italy Association is the development committee that is behind this neighborhood’s revitalization. And we realize that the term “revitalization” is loaded. In the 90s, the Little Italy Association petitioned, successfully, to make Little Italy a Business Improvement District which essentially means they could push for planned development of apartments, public spaces, shops, and restaurants.
Now, opinions vary (and strongly we might add) about how these business improvement districts affect the city. To some, these districts have broken up single family home neighborhoods in favor of high end apartment buildings and increased consumerism geared mostly toward folks not from the neighborhood itself. To others, these districts have benefited the city and neighborhoods they are in with increased density, more communal spaces, and more support for local businesses. Fall where you like on the spectrum – it is a complicated subject and we refuse to paint it as black and white. Both things can be true at the same time.
To us, cities are living breathing organisms that change and grow and we can only hope that what happens within neighborhoods and the city itself benefits as many of the people living in it as possible. We are pro community, anti elitist. Pro local, anti greed.
