FOLLOW THE FERRY
CUESA lands at Jack London Square
In Oakland’s controversial boom times, sometimes there’s a win for everyone. That’s the case as the nonprofit CUESA (Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture) follows the ferry from its home base at the San Francisco Ferry Plaza to a new outpost at Jack London Square.
In taking over operation of the Sunday Jack London Square Farmers’ Market (from Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association, which started and ran the market since 1989), CUESA will be replicating many aspects of the educational youth programing it created in San Francisco such as Foodwise Kids, Schoolyard to Market, and field trips to local farms. The organization will also be helping to build more school gardens in the East Bay.
There’s plenty for grown-ups to enjoy too, with farm tours, dinners, evening parties, and the Market to Chef program, which helps chefs increase visibility for their sustainable-sourcing work.
We caught up with CUESA’s executive director Marcy Coburn to learn more about that programming, as well as what to expect at the market stalls.
“All current sellers are invited to stay, and we expect to double the size of the market,” she says, adding that the Ferry Building market’s sellers have been invited to come over. But the focus of the expansion will be on diversity, “especially women, people of color, and immigrants,” she says. “We’re making sure we’re resonating with the community.”
—CAK
