What are the hours?
The Farmers Market never closes. It's open every day of the year. As a practical matter, most wholesaling (sales to suburban stands and vendors, restaurants, etc.) activity takes place between 4 AM and about 10 AM. Then, the retailing predominates until the end of the later of the end of daylight or about 6 to 7 PM. Many vendors will stay open as long as customers are present but each vendor makes their own decision. If you want to avoid busier days, Monday through Wednesday are the lighter days.
The Jacksonville market is unique because it is both wholesale and retail, is open all day, and is open every day of the year. With the volume, it needs access for semi's and delivery trucks as well as a good bit of acreage. Also, retail customers like the drive-in feature to load their vehicles with their often bulky and heavy purchases. This means a parking space is needed for every customer. Pedestrian access is good but most customers won't want to walk any distance with anything more than a minor purchase. Then, there is the frequent need to haul off any spoiled produce, boxes, etc. To accommodate all this, it is nearly impossible to place the market as it currently operates in a downtown setting.
Its current location is excellent because (1) it is easily accessed from I-95 (Union/King/Beaver exits and entrances) and I-10 (Stockton) which draws vendors and people from all of Northeast Florida, South Georgia, and the Carolinas, (2) it is central to the entire region (3) it helps to serve a neighborhood with no grocery stores in sight, (3) for 70 years people have been coming to this location and would likely be lost looking for it somewhere else, (4) provides 4 lane access on probably the least congested major artery in all of Jax in Beaver Street (U.S. 90), (5) provides jobs and business opportunities to area residents much in need of same, and (6) is located within both an enterprise and empowerment zone looking to attract commerce.
By the way, over the years, much of Beaver Street has been cleared or redeveloped (LaVilla development, Shiloh Church, Load King, Beaver Street Fisheries, Main Recycling, Preferred Freezers, Jacksonville Farmers Market, new and wider via duct over the railroad tracks, to name a few) resulting in the neighborhood facing Beaver Street being much improved. Old impressions die hard but times are "a-changin." If our City leaders would push FDOT to properly upgrade Beaver Street to the federal standards (including making it full width) of a U.S. road with landscaped medians like the rest of town, the whole neighborhood would blossom overnight with added commerce due to increased traffic. But due to being forever relegated to Cinderella status, it remains the ugly duckling awaiting an appreciative audience.
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