Farmers' market becomes year-round event | Business

The Kaiser Permanente Farmers' Market hosted a special grand opening ceremony on Thursday with a Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting.

The Grand Opening celebration will mark the farmers' market launch as a year-round event.

This year, Kaiser Permanente is proud to be working with the Southland Farmers' Market Association. The association was founded in 1983 as a 501(c)(6) mutual benefit nonprofit corporation by the Los Angeles Interfaith Hunger Coalition to assist small farmers' by organizing the first farmers' markets in California.

"We are delighted to help Kaiser Permanente Kern County create a high-quality, certified farmers' market that features locally grown, farm-fresh produce and products," said Howell Tumlin, executive director of the Southland Farmers' Market Association. "These markets are a way of demonstrating Kaiser's commitment to good nutrition and a healthier lifestyle."

The Kaiser Permanente Kern County Certified Farmers' Market will feature locally grown fruits and organic vegetables, including strawberries that are currently at the height of their season, raspberries, blueberries, citrus, apples, tomatoes, squash, lettuce and much more. The market will also offer farm fresh eggs, grass-fed beef, bakery products and locally grown olives.

In addition to the assistance of the Southland Farmers' Market Association, the market will be managed by Tome Webster.

"Farmers' markets are great. I've been to well over a dozen across the state and have always found them enjoyable and the food amazing," Webster says. "When the chance came along to be involved in working both with an established farmers' market and a group like Kaiser, I jumped at the chance."

The farmers market will open from 3-7 p.m. and continue every Thursday at the Ming Avenue Medical Office Building, 8800 Ming Ave.