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“One of the things that I love about Portland is that three friends with an idea can make something happen,” says Craig Mosbaek.
The idea was the Portland Farmers Market, which now draws around 650,000 people every year in search of fresh food grown by local farmers.
The market is a feast for the senses: the smell of roasting chiles and fresh bread, the sweet burst of local berries, the colorful riot of flowers and produce in all shapes and sizes. Local musicians provide a live soundtrack that mingles with the marketplace chatter.
Today, the market seems as much a part of Portland as beer, bikes, and bridges, but it didn’t take shape until the early 1990s. That’s when Mosbaek, a Reed College grad then working as a research analyst, was visiting markets elsewhere and thought, “If any city would support a farmers market, it’s Portland.”
He ran the idea past a couple of pals: Richard Hagan, who had small business experience, and Ted Snider, an organic farmer. Together, they put in 500 hours and $1,500 and approached Old Town booster Bill Naito. He rented them a parking lot at Albers Mill on Northwest Front Street (now Naito Parkway), and they rustled up 13 vendors for their debut on June 13, 1992.
From there things blossomed like a patch of zucchini. They opened a Wednesday market and moved the Saturday market to its current home in the South Park Blocks at Portland State University.
“We realized that being in the heart of the city had a lot of benefits,” Mosbaek remembers. “There was plenty of room to expand, street parking, and trees providing shade.”
Today, there are five Portland Farmers Markets around the city, supporting 200 local vendors that include farms, nurseries, bakeries, meat and seafood providers, and cheese makers. The market now sees up to 10,000 visitors on a summer Saturday.
The idea was so successful it inspired similar markets, which have sprung up around the city like wildflowers.
While individual shoppers make up the bulk of the customers, “people don’t realize how much farmers markets shaped the Portland restaurant scene,” Mosbaek says. Countless notable chefs visited the market to discover new purveyors for their kitchens. “Whatever the style of food, top restaurants need fresh local produce,” he says.
What’s next? Mosbaek is excited about the long-awaited debut of the James Beard Public Market, an indoor food market slated to open near Pioneer Courthouse Square sometime in 2025. “We need places now more than ever that bring the community together.”
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