Sonoma County Farmers Markets

There's a reason Sonoma County is famed for its agricultural bounty, as you'll see when you explore the region's many farmers' markets and discover the infinite variety of local produce, artisan specialties and heirloom treasures.

Sonoma County's farmers' markets center around locally grown produce, artisanal work, and community.

Although the farmers' markets center around locally grown produce, they offer far more for a discerning palate and community minded clientele. People come to buy a juicy peach or a mouthwatering tomato, but also a fresh-baked red velvet cupcake from Crumb Hither Gourmet Cupcakes and Specialty Baking of Santa Rosa, or handcrafted pancetta from Franco's One World Sausage Co. of Healdsburg.

They seek out seedlings and flowers from Daffodils, Dahlias and Lilies Oh My of Santa Rosa. They swoon over beautiful hand carved wood bowls from By the ElvinMoon of Petaluma, and stock up on fresh roasted coffee and beans from Run Around Brew of Sebastopol. 

Locals and visitors also love Sonoma County farmers' markets as delightful places to meet their friends and hang out, listen to live music from homegrown talent or just watch the world go by. These are wonderful places, too, to grab a meal, from food trucks like the one from Rosso Pizzeria, with the pizzas baked in a mobile wood-burning oven.

For each unique experience, one thing unites most of the destinations – they are Certified Farmers' Markets, meaning vendors are required to produce their own products (no trucked in merchandise here!).

Some markets operate from spring and into fall, while some run year-round.  

Farmers Markets in Sonoma County:

(updated for 2019) 

Santa Rosa Farmers Markets

• Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market, Wednesdays and Saturdays (year-round): 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Road
• Santa Rosa Community Farmers Market at the Veterans Building, Wednesdays (year-round): 9 a.m.-1 p.m., plus Saturdays (year-round): 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 1351 Maple Ave.
• Santa Rosa Downtown Market, Wednesdays (May-August): 5-8:30 p.m., Courthouse Square, Fourth Street from Mendocino Avenue to E Street
• Oakmont Farmers Market, Saturdays (year-round): 9 a.m.-noon, Oakmont Drive and White Oak Drive, Santa Rosa

Bodega Bay Community Farmers Market

Sundays (Memorial Day-October): 10 a.m.-2 p.m., 2255 Highway 1 (behind the community center)

Cloverdale Tuesday Farmers Market

Tuesdays (April-November, rain or shine): 3-6 p.m., 225 N. Cloverdale Blvd. (in the empty lot next to Plank Coffee)

Cotati Farmers' Market

Thursdays (June-August): 4:30-7:30 p.m., La Plaza Park (Old Redwood Highway and West Sierra Avenue)

Forestville Certified Farmers Market

Tuesdays (June-September): 4-7 p.m., Forestville's new downtown park, 6990 Front St.

Healdsburg Farmers Market

• Tuesday (June-August, rain or shine): 9 a.m.-1 p.m., on the downtown Plaza
• Saturday (May-November, rain or shine): 8:30 a.m.-noon, West Plaza Parking Lot

Occidental Community Farmers Market

Friday (June-October): 4 p.m.-0dusk, at the south end of downtown Occidental

Petaluma Farmers Markets

• Petaluma East Side Farmers Market: Tuesdays (year-round), 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Lucchesi Park, 320 N. McDowell Blvd.
• Petaluma Theatre District Farmers Market: Wednesdays (June-August), 4:30-8 p.m., on 2nd Street between B and D Streets
• Petaluma Walnut Park Farmers Market: Saturdays (May-November), 2-5:30 p.m., in Walnut Park, on the corner of D Street and Petaluma Boulevard

Rohnert Park Farmers Market

Fridays (June-August): 5-8 p.m., library parking lot, 6250 Lynne Conde Way at Rohnert Park Expressway and State Farm Drive, Rohnert Park

Russian River Farmers Market

Thursdays (May-September): 3-7 p.m., the Plaza, Guerneville

Sebastopol Farmers Market

Sundays (year-round): 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m., in Sebastopol Plaza on Weeks Way in downtown Sebastopol

Sonoma Farmers Markets

• Tuesdays (May-September): Sonoma's Tuesday Night Market, 5:30 p.m.-dusk, in front of and behind City Hall on the Sonoma Plaza
• Fridays (Year-Round): Sonoma Valley Certified Farmer's Market, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m., in the Arnold Field parking lot at 241 First St. W.
• Sundays (June-December): The Springs Community Farmers' Market, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., the plaza at Boyes Boulevard at Highway 12,, next to the post office, Sonoma

Windsor Certified Farmer's Market

• Sundays (April-December): 10 a.m.-1 p.m., on Windsor Town Green, 701 McClelland Dr.
• Thursdays (may-September): 5-8 p.m., same location as Sunday

What to Get When:

In spring, you'll find baby artichokes, red-and-white striped beets, young garlic, baby favas, tender lettuces, colorful cauliflowers, broccoli rabe, a rainbow array of herbs, and bouquets of edible flowers.

Then the apples appear on the trees, starting with Sebastopol's famed Gravenstein variety with its tart, juicy flavor. Before you know it, berries are plentiful, and then the summer stone fruits arrive, in a bounty of apricots, plums, peaches, nectarines, cherries, and plums.

Soon after in fall, gardens brim with near-endless zukes and cukes, and vines grow heavy with tomatoes that might be red or yellow or green or even black.

Just as this cornucopia fades away, another spills over in squash and melons and corn and pumpkins, nuts and grapes and beans. Even in the quietest days of winter, you can relish an abundance of local broccoli and bok choy and lettuces, chard and endive and mushrooms.

Looking for farms? Find more info on Farms & Farmers Markets, Restaurants, and Lodging in Sonoma County.