Thursday Night: Inside Running a Booth at San Luis Obispo's Weekly Farmers' Market

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A large crowd at the weekly Downtown SLO Farmers Market on March 6, 2025.
A large crowd at the weekly Downtown SLO Farmers Market on March 6, 2025. 
(Photo/Roman Noravian)
BY: ROMAN NORAVIAN

Every Thursday night at 6 p.m., five blocks of Higuera Street in downtown San Luis Obispo turn into a bustling hub of activity, with Cal Poly students, locals, and tourists all packing the road.

This is the Downtown SLO Farmers Market, which has over 100 booths and runs year-round, according to Downtown SLO’s website. At the market, attendees can purchase a wide range of products, including produce from local farmers, food, and jewelry.

“It takes about 20 hours [to prepare offsite], and then once we get here, we have the setup [down] super quick now, probably around 15 minutes,” SLO Meltdown owner Jenny Thompson said.

Even though each booth only has around a three hour window to sell their products, Poke Morro owner Carmen Leyva said they don’t view one another as competitors.

“I can go to any booth and ask for any dish and they won’t charge me for it,” Leyva said. “I think it’s more like a little family getting together and throwing a party and everybody [brings] a dish of a different food.”

Check out the video story about the farmers market below.






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