Two employees managing the Irvington Farmers Market in Fremont were fielding questions from vendors and discussing payment problems. “Here, vendors really take their time,” one said to the other. “They don’t have markets tomorrow, so they’re trying to get rid of the produce that was picked this morning.” It was a Sunday, and the market had closed 15 minutes prior; new customers were still arriving, still traveling to reach this space, still gathering despite the posted hours of commerce.
The Niles district in Fremont feels more “Niles” when their farmers market is buzzing on a Saturday morning. That parking lot fills with vendors, but nearby Niles Plaza fills with families. That side of Niles Boulevard becomes connected: a taco truck, social-club-hobby-garage, restaurant with a long line, LEGO store, all interwoven when the farmers market is going.
A “third place” is a public place where people regularly connect with others over a shared interest or activity. Neither a person’s home nor their workplace, the term “third place” was coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg. In his many books written in the 1990s, he argued we were quietly losing such places in America. Today there is no shortage of armchair-city-planners on Tik-Tok and YouTube reminding us how much that loss has impacted us.
The Ohlone College Flea Market was long-absent, but is now revived. Every second Saturday of the month on the college’s Fremont campus, people wander and find each other among the bric-a-brac. Neighbors bemoan local sports and city ordinances; dog-walking friends stiffen and slack their leashes. One vendor said he met his wife while selling at the flea market before it originally went away.
People go to these open-air markets to see and to be seen. Grass-fed beef and collectible Elvis plates are a pantomime; elbow-bumping is the true motivator. If American society needs more third spaces, as sociologists and city-planning enthusiasts say we do, farmers and flea markets are a start.
Oohhh Love This Highlight for Fremont! Thank you!