The Oceanside Farmers Market allows for local farmers, growers and vendors to come together to sale there produce and other goods. I come here frequently and have never really thought of the concept/tension that came to mind this day. The Oceanside Farmers Market as does every other farmer markets largest tension is big corporate business vs. local economic gain and growth. I will discuss what I noticed this particular day and the effects of this tension on current American Culture.
The people that have come here today have arrived early so to set up their tent and goods to be ready to begin to make money on this fine Thursday morning. The market is open from 9 am – 1 pm, which leaves a small four hour window for money to be made. The first person I come across is a vendor selling fruit; she has oranges and nectarines with a basket full of samples that we can try. I can’t pass up her invitation so Micha and I split one, we then buy 6 to take home with us and hand her $2.00. This money we gave her she will turn around and spend in hers and our local community, bettering our local economy. The next stand 3 feet away is selling hummus, they also have this sample of bread for you to try the hummus with; once again I must sample. This Hummus is made locally in San Marcos, I have never seen its brand before in the store, but it tastes great and I want one to take home. Micha hands over $10.00 for the 3 containers we purchased and we put it in our bag and head on our way. As we near the end of the market there stands a sweet little puppy. This puppy has been brought here by our local animal shelter North County Humane Society. I being an animal lover stop and ask about this sweet little dog. Apparently this “sweet puppy” was found wondering down Mission Ave. in Oceanside a couple of weeks ago and after passing a few tests the humane society will bring a couple of their dogs down to the farmers market to try and find new home for these animals. As I walked away I thought to myself, what a great idea to bring some dogs here to maybe get them to new homes. What I noticed thou is that I spent $12.00 on goods and whoever adopts a dog will spend $100.00 and all of this money is supporting our local economy and its businesses. I have found myself stopping by the “Big Chain Grocery Stores” such as Ralphs or Albertsons because it’s easier and quicker; every time I do that though I am taking money away from my local community and its growth.
I can’t imagine the economic damage that occurred as the big corporate chains started popping up in American and running our local Mom and Pop stores out of business. I think the tension between big corporate business vs. local economic gain and growth will always exist. Our culture today demands that we go fast, make things convenient and time efficient, unfortunately our big corporate businesses offer that, where the Famers market is available to you on Thursdays between 9 am – 1 pm.
