SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Farmers markets are in full swing around the Lake Tahoe Basin and stocked full of fresh produce and food from local farmers and unique creations from local artisans.

After a previous summer filled with challenges for the South Lake Tahoe community that ranged from COVID restrictions to fire evacuations, Ski Run Farmers Market Manager Bridjet Orr is excited to bring back the Ski Run Market for the second time since she took on the role as manager. 

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“I really believe in trying to help the local community shop locally and support the locals,” said Orr. “You can order stuff online, but it’s not supportive to the people that live and work here … I just think that’s really important.” 

The Ski Run market is held from 3-8 p.m. on Fridays on Ski Run Boulevard, and features a variety of vendors that include food trucks like Get Rad Pizza, Crepes and Craft, Soil to Soul, and more. Additionally, there are packaged food vendors, live music, and a long list of artisans with special crafted creations. 

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“I really enjoy the music and the kids dancing” said Orr. “It’s just a nice community event… especially after the shutdown for a couple of years, people need community and it was really difficult not having those kind of things going on during COVID. So it was exciting to have it back and really just get to chit chat with people.” 

The market is a California Certified Farmers’ Market, which means all of the food the producer sells is made by that producer and sold directly to consumers. In addition to the Ski Run Market, South Lake Tahoe is home to two other certified markets, including the El Dorado County Farmers Market and the Meyers Mountain Market. 

The El Dorado County market runs from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesdays in the American Legion Hall Parking Lot, and features vendors from all over the area. Along with fresh produce, handcrafted jewelry and art is available, with bakers and packaged food options available, including products from Tahoe Jerky Company. 

A relatively new market to the Meyers area is the Meyers Mountain Market, which is also certified and held at Tahoe Paradise Park from 3-7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays. The Abravanel family started the Meyers Market in 2021 after seeing a need for a market in the Meyers community. 

The market is still growing, but is filled with multiple arts and crafts vendors and packaged food vendors, with live music and a place for the kids to play and food trucks to enjoy for dinner. 

On the North Shore, Market Manager for the Incline Village Farmers Market Steve Rozier is celebrating 10 years as a business after opening in 2012. Rozier has enjoyed running the market for so long and witnessing the pipeline of vendors to small businesses in the area. 

“The farmers markets are great test markets and the challenges of getting farmers up at the market is always fun from year to year,” said Rozier.

This year, along with a rotating list of vendors for locals to enjoy, the market will now have two vendors that offer seafood, both local and Alaskan. 

Rozier said the market is always filled with locals, and gives them a great chance to gather as a community and stock up on locally grown foods. It runs currently from 3-6 p.m. at the Incline Village Library at 845 Alder Ave.

“It’s special,” said Rozier. “It’s a sense of community where, in these areas, there isn’t much sense of community. There is no downtown area. So to bring a community event for at least three hours a week is really fun. We’re building a mall once a week, and we rotate different vendors in, so it’s a different mall every week, whereas Reno will have two or three malls going.” 

In addition to the summer market, Lake Tahoe Markets runs delivery services year-round, and offers vegetable bags in small, medium, or large sizes, along with local eggs and meat, with new businesses added as often as possible. 

“The customers like that because they come to our markets on Thursday and then we deliver on Mondays and Tuesdays in the basin,” said Rozier. “So it’s a way for them to really re-up their fresh produce.” 

In Tahoe City, the Tahoe City Farmers Market, managed by Daphne Hougard, is offering a place for locals, second homeowners, and tourists a place to gather together and find common ground in their love for great food and conversation. 

The market is from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Thursdays on Commons Beach and offers lake views while shopping for fresh produce. 

“I’m really committed to building a healthy community,” said Hougard. “At the market, you’ll see we have musicians, we have farmers, we have craftspeople, and it’s a certified market.” 

The Tahoe City market offers a variety of locally grown products, including food from Little Roots Farm in Truckee, which offer mushrooms, greens, and edible flowers, among other foods, among other vendors. 

Hougard has been running the market for six seasons now, and is passionate about continuing to bring food security to her community. 

“I’m personally interested in food security, and it’s strongest when produce is distributed locally,” Hougard said. “Locally grown food is fresher, it’s more nutritious, and it builds a local economy because the money circulates when we’re budding directly so it can go straight to the farmers and the businesses in the area.”  

Check out the full list of links to the different farmers markets in the basin: 

Incline Village: https://nevadagrown.com/events/incline-village-farmers-market/

Tahoe City: https://tahoecityfarmersmarket.com/

Ski Run: http://www.skirunfarmersmarket.com/

El Dorado County: https://eldoradofarmersmarket.com/Meyers: https://www.meyersmtnmarket.org/