Back for its 27th year, the Woodland Farmers Market has served the community since 1996 with good sourced from within an hour of Woodland while supporting local businesses and farmers.

Sonia Mora, who helped create the market 27 years ago and has been managing it for the last 20 years, said the market’s 2023 season started on May 13. Mora said she loves holding the markets “to see the people’s faces and the smiles.”

“I love seeing people walk through eating the peaches or the apricots or whatever they just bought,” she emphasized. “We have a small community, but it’s just really fun. That’s why I’ve been doing it for 27 years.”

Mora also noted that the market still holds its kids farmers market every other Saturday.

“Kids farmers markets are really fun because we give them $5 in play money and we set up a mini market for them,” she explained. “So it’s an educational opportunity for them. They’re learning how to count and they learn how to pay for something.”

The next kids farmers market will be on Saturday, June 10.

She highlighted several new vendors including a bakery shop called EatEmsEats owned by Emily Carrera.

Carrera began her business in October 2022 after quitting her corporate job.

“I used to bake and cook with my grandmother and I always wanted to start my own business,” Carrera recalled. “I make a lot of sugar cookies, custom orders and baked sweets and now I’m tapping into sourdough bread and doing all of that.”

“I really enjoy coming to Woodland and doing all of these farmers markets,” she added.

The business is based in Rocklin but her husband, David Greb, is from Woodland and the couple have many connections to the city.

“The experience from when I was young to now and seeing how Woodland has grown over the years is pretty amazing,” Greb emphasized. “It still has that small town feel to it but it’s starting to turn into a city. It’s just nice knowing what it came from and what it is now.”

To learn more about Carrera’s business, visit eatemseats.com.

The Woodland Public Library also held its Growing Readers and Veggie Eaters event during the farmers market featuring a children’s book reading and a pico de gallo booth aimed at teaching kids how to create recipes with vegetables.

Silvia De Soto, a librarian technician with the library, helped people create pico de gallo salsa during the event. She explained that the library received a grant from the California Library Association to expose children to vegetables and reading.

“So the library created this program — Growing Readers and Veggie Eaters,” De Soto highlighted. “So we’re having storytime and pico de gallo today. We’re going to be here with other things every other Saturday, and it’s just a great program to expose children to veggies.”

De Soto said she enjoyed helping kids create the pico de gallo salsa from scratch.

“It’s about getting to get them to use all their senses to learn about veggies, to try them and to see that they’re fun and they’re delicious.”

The library’s event is held every other Saturday during the farmers market from June 3 to July 29.

“The growing readers and veggie eaters program motivates and empowers children and their families to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables by engaging them in a variety of hands-on activities,” the event’s website stated.

The next event will be held Saturday, June 17, focusing on “produce art.”

To learn more about the library’s programming and events, visit woodlandpubliclibrary.com/202/Programming-Events.

Mansoor Shafqat attended the library’s event with his six-year-old daughter for the book reading and the pico de gallo.

“It’s a really great way to bring the community together,” he emphasized. “It’s a learning experience for my daughter to enjoy some fresh local vegetables.”

Shafqat and his daughter attended the farmers market after getting their pico the gallo to shop from local vendors. He hopes to attend these events with his daughter every other weekend as his schedule permits until it ends on Oct. 14.