Voices from CV's Farmers' Market

For now,  is safe.

But management is wary of lackluster turnout, which could become a problem further into the season.

“If the customer base drops low enough,” market manager Josh Assink said, “there is a threshold at which you can’t hold the market any more.”

The market, which includes about 30 vendors, is held Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the parking lot of the Castro Valley BART station, from May through September. Assink said that in past years the market has started out with great attendance but dwindled during the last weeks of the season.

“My biggest desire is to make sure the vendors are able to maintain their livelihood," Assink said. "These guys work hard, man.”

Turnout this year has been “OK," Assink said, but he is concerned.

“It’s a chicken or the egg situation,” he said. “If there aren't enough vendors, then people aren’t going to come. If the customers aren’t coming, the vendors are not sustainable.”

Part of the problem is that the Castro Valley market is seasonal, while other local markets in places like Hayward and San Leandro are year-round, he said.

“People, they develop an affection for their local market,” Assink said. “They develop a relationship with the vendors.”

Castro Valley resident Susan Hersch, a regular at the market, said the BART station is a good location because it offers convenient parking, but she thinks it would help if the market were easily visible to southbound motorists on Redwood Road.

"Also the location of the signs is a problem because most of the pole signs are obstructed by trees. It needs to have more visible signage," she said.

Castro Valley's seasonal market runs from May through September at the Castro Valley BART station from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.