Who's Who: Jean Thompson, Manager of the Farmer's Market

Name: Jean Thompson

 Age:  68

Occupation: manager

How long has the El Cerrito Farmer's Market been here? 16 years.

How did it get its start? The shopping center had all of the stores closing – the Emporium, Woolworths. It was in decline with all the vacancies. The merchants' association of the shopping center, with the blessing of then Lucky's, started this Farmer's Market on Tuesdays. Then it was only about a year before they added Saturdays. We used to be inside the mall in the walkways until the renovation started about ten years ago and we were moved out into the parking lot.

How many vendors are here now? We have about thirty on Saturdays – from Watsonville, Fresno, Santa Cruz, all over.

How many are organic? We only have two organic.

Is the market open to more organic farmers? We just don't have space. The current owners bought this property (the El Cerrito Plaza) about ten years ago and then they did the renovations, moving us out here about six times back and forth from the front to the back (of the parking lot). This is all the area they'll give us. We use to have more area to have more farmers. A good many of these farmers have been here the sixteen years. It's like family.

Have you been helping since the beginning? I've been out here about ten years.

How did you get involved? I put my name in for the job of market manager. It just so happened they had a market manager on Tuesday and one on Saturday and they both quit at the same time. I came out very quickly.

There's also a raffle here at noon every Tuesday and Saturday? It's worth about thirty dollars in value. Nobody pays anything. You just ask for a ticket. And it's kind of a meeting place where people come and they see people they know. A lot of people have made friends out here from the raffle. If someone isn't here, people say, "Well, are they sick?" We know when the farmers have babies, when their kids get married …We had a woman with polio who came out here ten years or so ago. She couldn't get around Lucky's, but she could come out here and she made friends with all these people. It's not just selling something. We're doing more than selling – it's a community thing.

Are you local to El Cerrito? I'm from Oakland. And my dad was a farmer.