Shelby Wild and the Route One Farmers Market

Optimism for a Small Market with Big Potential in Lompoc

Imagine gathering weekly with friends and neighbors in the Sunday morning sun. There’s a common thread; most guests are there to buy farm-fresh produce, baked goods or a healthy juice. A curly-haired woman greets repeat and new visitors, answering questions and pointing the way to specific vendors.

That friendly woman is Shelby Wild, a native of the Lompoc Valley, and the founder and executive director of the Route One Farmers Market, held weekly in Vandenberg Village. Her passion is supporting the Central Coast farmers who farm healthy food, and, in turn, keeping fruits and vegetables easily accessible for local residents.

“We want local food to be available seven days a week,” Wild said. Even in the face of rising costs for the most basic of foods, she’s optimistic about getting area residents to eat healthy whenever possible.

In 2017, the Lompoc Valley Community Health Organization (LVCHO), a nonprofit dedicated to boosting community health, hired Wild to support its food-access program. “I was the grant facilitator.”

When the Village Farmers Market suddenly closed in June 2018, Wild applied anew for required permits, brought back vendors and debuted the Route One Farmers Market in May 2019. “No other nonprofit wanted to step up and take it over,” she recalled.

Route One was a team effort between the Healthy Lompoc Coalition, LVCHO, the HEAL Advisory Cabinet, the Public Health Department’s Nutrition Obesity Prevention Program, the Santa Barbara Foundation and various advocates across the Lompoc Valley.

Like its predecessor, Route One market is also held on Sundays but in a new location: in the parking lot of the Vandenberg Village Community Services District.

When Route One’s first anniversary rolled around in May 2020, the Covid pandemic was in its third month. Wild arranged curbside pickup for masked customers in search of fresh produce but hesitant to leave their vehicles.

Grow it here; keep it here; eat it here.

Today, the nearly 6-year-old Route One is the only farmers market between San Luis Obispo and Solvang to offer both CalFresh EBT and Market Match. The latter enables consumers who spend $10 at the market to double their dollars and earn an additional $10.

Route One also owns a Mobile Market truck—the only such vehicle to operate in the Tri-County region; similar mobile trucks are operated in South Los Angeles and in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, but most are foodbank-based and not managed by a nonprofit such as Route One, she explained.

In order to provide hyper-local, fresh produce to local consumers, “we want to pay our vendors and not ask them to donate.” Wild, who remains vigilant toward keeping healthy food convenient, said, “We strive to set the groundwork for real systems change, not just temporary solutions.”

The weekly market, she emphasized, has “never not been the right thing to do. Customers routinely thank me for being here, and people are super positive.”

The sheer potential for continued success “is a big part of what keeps me going.”

And Route One is a boon for the Lompoc Valley, Wild said. “Lompoc gets overlooked so often or only looked at for negative things. The need is still very present.”

Wild is frustrated that a huge percentage of produce grown in Santa Barbara County—and California—gets delivered to consumers around the world instead of those in our backyard. “We ship everything we grow to other states and other countries.”

Her motto: “Grow it here; keep it here; eat it here.”

More than a year ago, Wild was featured on the Bottom-Up Revolution podcast, part of the stories featured by the Strong Towns movement. The podcast features regular people who have stepped up to help make their communities more economically resilient. “Systems change was my focus during that podcast,” she recalled.

Every Sunday, Route One hosts seven farmers. In addition, seven non-agriculture vendors (purveyors of juice, baked goods, flowers or spices) participate, and the market has 10 crafters who sell their wares on alternate weeks, Wild said. In other words, every week includes 14 vendors.

“We stay small because we are between the South Coast, which hosts eight markets each week, and San Luis Obispo,” she said.

Route One’s vendors participate for one of two reasons: The smallest ones come with just one truck and just one employee or owner. A larger vendor likely owns multiple trucks and has enough staff to work several different markets on the same day. For example, Rocking Chair Farms participates in four different markets every Sunday, Wild said.

“Little markets count, too, as we are a platform for smaller vendors who cannot get into a larger market.”

Wild, 45, lives in Vandenberg Village with her husband, Tom Brown, and their two daughters, Leyna Brown, 19, and Maizy Brown, 16.

But for her 15-hour-per-week intern who helps staff the market and with administrative tasks, Wild is a one-woman show. She voices gratitude for the persistent and vocal support from weekly visitors to the market, especially in the face of uncertain federal funding.

“Our customers keep telling me Route One is like a return to community, a place where we check on our neighbors and take stock.” And return to our roots with seeds of optimism for the future.