Montavilla Farmers Market

The mission of the Montavilla Farmers Market is to provide a vibrant marketplace where our diverse community has access to high quality, local, healthy food. We create opportunities for our vendors and customers to support and learn from each other, which strengthens our local economy.

Guiding Principles
The Montavilla Farmers Market values the following principles for our vendors, volunteers, board, and staff:

Respect, dignity, and equity
Nourishment, wellness, and health
Sustainability
Creativity, innovation, and an entrepreneurial spirit
Professionalism
Celebration, gratitude, and recognition
Volunteerism and partnerships
Fairness and affordability

The Montavilla neighborhood began as a rural farming community over 100 years ago, just east of what were then the city limits of Portland. In the mid-1880s, residents of Montavilla began to develop a new business district along Stark Street. By 1890, a bustling new Montavilla boasted “three grocery stores, a couple of meat markets, a livery stable, a privately owned bank and two blacksmith shops”.

In recent years, Montavilla has had a resurgence of locally-owned businesses that have sprouted up along Stark Street between 75th and 92nd Streets. Montavilla residents now enjoy a coffee shop, movie theater, pet supplies store, bike shop, yoga studio, diverse restaurants and bars, custom clothiers and housewares, and other small shops which are creating vibrancy on our main street. This revival of the historic Montavilla neighborhood was the impetus for the Montavilla Farmers Market (MFM).

The Market was founded by a grassroots collection of neighbors who were inspired by visions of a fresh, local food market in a shared community space within the growing Stark Street business district. This dedicated group opened the Market in just 10 short months with a small amount of grant funds and a generous outpouring of donations from local businesses, friends, and neighbors. The tireless energy of these un-paid visionaries and countless other volunteers allowed MFM to open its first Market on Sunday July 22, 2007 with 17 vendors and over 2000 visitors!

SE Stark & 80th Streets, 1939 (City of Portland Archives)
The Market has expanded each year of its operation. For the 2015/16 season the Market will have as many as 60 vendors on its roster and a season that covers 26 weeks, operating every Sunday from May 31st through the end of October, in addition to a Thanksgiving Market on November 22rd, and Winter-Stock Up markets on December 20th, January 10th, and February 14th. This season we look forward to Market highlights such as monthly Taste of the Market, a Canning demo, Kids POP Club, music, and our Everybody Eats bonus match of $10 per customer.

In Montavilla we see the social, economic, and environmental value in providing a venue to support local agriculture. The Montavilla Farmers Market is a community asset and means to a healthy lifestyle, increased neighborhood livability, and productive regional economy.