Saturday Santa Barbara Farmers Market opens at its new location on Carrillo Street
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Saturday Santa Barbara Farmers Market officially moved to its new location on Carrillo Street from Anacapa and Chapala Street.
The market relocated from its longtime location on Cota Street in Downtown to its new location due to the site being converted into the new Santa Barbara Police Department headquarters.
"This is our grand opening, its gone relatively smoothly, I'm getting a lot of positive response from the community." said Santa Barbara Certified Farmers General Manager, Sam Edelman. "People are really coming out to support the local growers and its got a really great feel here. We've got the tall trees, big buildings wide open street. So, so far so good."
With many surrounding parking lots, the relocation of the farmers market didn’t keep visitors away from their produce and shopping.
Some vendors are optimistic about the new change and the chance to build more relationships with locals
We asked one local vendor about the change of location and the hope that comes with it.
"We're really excited to be at this market , you know its a new location and its new energy and we can't wait to you know help out the community and take care of them," said Lily's Eggs vendor Rico Ochoa. "I'm very optimistic I'm always looking forward to a new change. Yeah, so we're just gonna look out for the best."
According to General Manager Sam Edelman, the setup logistics is still an improvement as the market moves forward.
"The logistics of the setup, there's a very complicated setup, a lot of infrastructure to be put in place so the safety barriers the detour route," said Edelman. "So I think once we hone in and just used to the system, things will go a lot more smoothly. But in all in all, for a first day we've been doing a really good job."
You can find the Saturday Santa Barbara Farmers Market at its new location on Carrillo Street every Saturday morning from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.