There is a farmers market running somewhere in Santa Barbara County six days a week, every week of the year. Most people know about one of them — Saturday downtown — and half of what they know about that one is out of date, because the market moved.
Here is the full circuit: where each market actually is, when it runs, and what is worth showing up for. All six weekly markets are run by the Santa Barbara Certified Farmers Market Association, a growers’ association that has been at this since 1983, with about 120 member farms. Certified means the person behind the table grew the thing on the table — not a reseller flipping wholesale produce.
The weekly schedule at a glance
| Day | Market | Hours | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | Old Town Santa Barbara | 3:00–6:30 pm | Lower State St, between Cota & Canon Perdido |
| Wednesday | Solvang | 2:30–6:00 pm | 400 block of First St, downtown Solvang |
| Thursday | Carpinteria | 3:00–6:00 pm | 800 block of Linden Ave |
| Friday | Montecito | 8:00–11:15 am | 1100–1200 blocks, Coast Village Rd |
| Saturday | Downtown Santa Barbara | 8:00 am–1:00 pm | State & Carrillo Streets |
| Saturday | Fishermen’s Market (seafood) | 6:00–11:00 am | City Pier, Santa Barbara Harbor |
| Sunday | Goleta | 10:00 am–2:00 pm | Camino Real Marketplace, 7004 Marketplace Dr |
Markets run year-round, rain or shine, with exceptions only for major holidays. Afternoon market hours can shift slightly with the season — winter closes come earlier — so if you are driving any distance, a quick check of the association’s site is cheap insurance.
Saturday downtown: the flagship — and it moved
If you have not been since 2024, the Saturday market is not where you left it. For decades it filled the Cota Street commuter lot; that lot is now the site of the city’s new police station, and the market relocated to the intersection of State and Carrillo Streets — stretched along Carrillo between Chapala and Anacapa, and down State between Canon Perdido and Figueroa. Hours are 8:00 am to 1:00 pm.
The move put the market in the middle of downtown proper, which means more foot traffic and tighter parking. The city garages on Anacapa and Chapala are your best bet; the first 75 minutes are typically free, which is enough time if you move with purpose.
This is the biggest market in the county and the one where the serious producers show up. It is where you will find Rancho San Julian — the 1837 family cattle ranch out of the Santa Ynez foothills — selling grass-fed beef by the cut. If you have read our quarter cow math, the Saturday booth is the low-commitment way to taste the product before you commit to 115 pounds of it.
Our directory listing for the market, kept current, is here: Santa Barbara Saturday Farmers Market.
The rest of the week
Tuesday — Old Town Santa Barbara, 3:00–6:30 pm. The after-work market, on lower State Street between Cota and Canon Perdido. Smaller than Saturday, easier to park for, and the stalls are the same farms. If Saturday mornings are impossible for you, this is the same food with a fraction of the crowd.
Wednesday — Solvang, 2:30–6:00 pm. The Santa Ynez Valley’s market, on the 400 block of First Street by Solvang Park. Wine-country tourists walk past it; valley locals shop it. Stone fruit and vegetables come in from the valley floor, which runs hotter than the coast — different growing conditions, different produce peaks.
Thursday — Carpinteria, 3:00–6:00 pm. The 800 block of Linden Avenue, a few blocks from the beach. Carpinteria is still a working greenhouse-and-avocado town, and the market reflects it.
Friday — Montecito, 8:00–11:15 am. Coast Village Road, 1100–1200 blocks. Short and early. The smallest of the six, and the one where you are most likely to see a celebrity buying arugula.
Sunday — Goleta, 10:00 am–2:00 pm. Camino Real Marketplace parking lot. The family-schedule market: late start, weekend crowd, room to move a stroller. Good week-starting produce run if Saturday got away from you.
The Saturday market most visitors miss
While the downtown market is setting up, the Saturday Fishermen’s Market is already running down at the harbor — City Pier, 6:00 to 11:00 am, year-round. This one is not run by the farmers association; it is commercial fishermen selling straight off the boat: rock crab, spot prawns, sea urchin, black cod, whatever came over the rail that week. The limited items — crab, lobster in season — go to the people who show up at 6:00, not the people who stroll in at 10:30. Bring a cooler and cash, and get there early.
Hit the pier at 6:30 and the State Street market at 8:30 and you have done the best food shopping available on the South Coast in a single morning.
What to buy right now (August)
Late summer is the strongest stretch of the year at these markets. Right now that means dry-farmed tomatoes, stone fruit at full ripeness, figs, melons, peppers, and the first winter squash by month’s end. Dry-farmed anything is worth a detour — no irrigation means smaller fruit and concentrated flavor, and a handful of local growers specialize in it.
Beyond produce: pastured eggs, grass-fed beef, and fresh-off-the-boat seafood are the protein backbone of the circuit. Every market in the association takes CalFresh EBT, WIC, and cards, and the Market Match program doubles EBT dollars on produce — the rare subsidy that points at real food instead of packaged calories.
Frequently asked questions
What time does the Santa Barbara farmers market open on Saturday?
8:00 am, closing at 1:00 pm, at State and Carrillo Streets downtown. The seafood market at the harbor opens earlier — 6:00 am.
Is the Santa Barbara farmers market still on Cota Street?
No. It moved in September 2024 to State and Carrillo. Old maps and older blog posts still point at the Cota commuter lot.
Are the markets open year-round?
Yes — all six weekly markets run all year, rain or shine, skipping only major holidays.
Which Santa Barbara farmers market is best?
Saturday downtown for range and the full producer lineup; Tuesday Old Town for the same farms without the crowd; the harbor on Saturday if seafood is the point.
What this means for SoCal
A county that feeds itself six days a week from farms you can drive to in under an hour is not a nostalgia act — it is infrastructure. Every dollar handed directly to a grower at one of these markets is a price signal that keeps land in food production instead of waiting for a rezoning. The markets are also the front door to everything else in our Santa Barbara County guide: find a rancher at a booth, and the relationship can grow into a cow share, a standing egg order, a reason to care whether that ranch survives.
Start with one morning. The Saturday circuit — pier at dawn, State Street by mid-morning — will recalibrate what you think food is supposed to taste like. Then work outward through the full markets directory.