Del Mar Farmers Market: A Saturday Afternoon Market in a County That Does Mornings
Noon to 4 on Saturdays at the Del Mar Civic Center — a 40-year-old non-profit market that runs when everything else has packed up, and gives its proceeds away.
Overview
Two things make this market worth a specific trip rather than a default one.
It runs in the afternoon. San Diego County does farmers markets in the morning — Little Italy 8 to 2, Poway 8 to 1, Oceanside 9 to 1. Del Mar goes noon to 4 p.m. If your Saturday mornings are spoken for, this is the market that still works.
It's a non-profit that gives the money away. The Del Mar Certified Farmers Market is a 501(c)(4) that routes proceeds to the Del Mar Library, Del Mar Community Connections, the San Dieguito River Valley, and vendor and farmer scholarships. Its own accounting puts that at over $200,000 returned to the community across 32 years.
It's been running since November 22, 1986, which by the organizer's reckoning makes it the second-oldest market in the region.
One honest note on scale: of roughly 40 listed vendors, six are certified farmers. The bulk is packaged food, prepared food, and crafts. Come for an afternoon, not for a produce haul.
What You Need to Know
When: Saturdays, 12–4 p.m. Year-round
Next market: Saturday, September 26, 2026
Where: Del Mar Civic Center, 1050 Camino Del Mar, Del Mar, CA 92014 — in the lower outdoor parking lot
Cost: Free to attend
Certified: Yes — registered with the County as the Del Mar Certified Farmers' Market
Structure: 501(c)(4) non-profit; proceeds go to local causes
Vendors: Roughly 40 listed, six of them certified farmers
Parking: Free in the Civic Center garage — not the outdoor lot, which is the market itself on Saturdays
Info: delmarfarmersmarket.org
The Hours Changed — Check What You're Reading
The market historically ran 1 to 4 p.m. It now runs 12 to 4 p.m.
That extra hour is well documented: it appears in the County of San Diego's certified-markets registry dated August 17, 2026, in the previous December 2025 edition of the same list, on the organizer's own homepage, and in San Diego Magazine and Patch coverage from 2026.
But the old 1 p.m. start is still live in several places, including two that look authoritative:
- sandiego.org still says 1–4 p.m.
- The City of Del Mar's own calendar has entries from 2017 and 2018 still showing 1–4 p.m., and the 2017 one gives the address as Upper Shores Park, 225 9th Street — a temporary venue the market used during Civic Center construction
- The market's own news page has a post from 2016 that still says 1 to 4
If you show up at 1, you'll have missed an hour. Not a disaster, but the good produce is a six-stall proposition here.
Parking: Use the Garage
This trips people up because the obvious lot is the market.
The free Civic Center garage at 1050 Camino Del Mar has nearly 100 spaces and is open 24 hours, including four EV charging spaces and four accessible spaces (two of which have chargers).
The outdoor lot is not available on Saturdays. The City states plainly that the outside slots are reserved for market vendors. That's roughly 40 spaces you can't use, and the market footprint itself.
Transit: the organizer publishes none — its guidance is "walk, bike or drive." For context rather than as official advice, NCTD Breeze Route 101 runs the coastal Oceanside–UTC corridor through Del Mar village seven days a week. The nearest rail is Solana Beach, not Del Mar.
Don't Confuse It With the Neighbors
This corner of the county has four markets within a few miles, and the listings sites mix them up constantly:
- Carmel Valley Farmers Market — Sunday, Torrey Pines High School, 3710 Del Mar Heights Road. Its address contains "Del Mar," and aggregators routinely file it under the city of Del Mar. This is the most common mix-up
- Solana Beach — Sunday, noon to 4, 444 S. Cedros Avenue. Same hours, different day, three miles away
- Rancho Santa Fe — Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Del Rayo Village
- Corona del Mar Farmers Market — Orange County. Unrelated, and it dominates search results
There's also a Delmar Farmers Market in Delmar, New York, whose domain is one character off from the California one.
Good to Know
Six farms out of forty vendors. It's certified, and the produce is real, but the market's weight is in packaged goods, prepared food and crafts.
The afternoon slot is the feature. Nothing else in the county fills it on a Saturday.
The money goes somewhere. If you care where your market dollars land, this is the one in the region with a published answer.
The morning alternative is the Poway Farmers Market, 8 to 1 around a historic park. See the whole week in our guide to San Diego farmers markets by day.
