The owners of Lilikoi Boba, a featured vendor at Cal State Monterey Bay’s Farmers Market, noticed an absence of this common milk tea cafe in the Monterey Bay area. To address this, Teresa Villaruz and her husband started their business, where they were surprised by the love from the community.
This local Hawaiian-inspired cafe is one of the eight vendors who make up the Thursday market.
Other sellers include: Castellano Farms, Santa Rosa Flowers, Agua Frescas Barajas, Jocelyn’s Bakery, El Huaraches Taco Truck, Tu Universo Farms and Ivan’s Baked Potatoes.
This market has been hosted since the beginning of the fall semester, every Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Cypress Hall parking lot. The final market for this semester will be on Oct. 8.
The Associated Students coordinate the Farmers Market on campus, collaborating with Jesus Madrigal, the central contractor for the university. He is the primary organizer who decides which vendors are invited to come for this weekly market due to his expertise in the field, as he has supported farmers markets since 2000 in Watsonville.
From his experience, he has curated relationships over time with the vendors he has worked with, helping him evaluate which sellers are most suitable for certain campus events like the Farmers Market.
For example, Gilbert Rangel, a farmer from Castellano Farms has collaborated with Madrigal for around eight years now and is one of the primary growers at the market.
With Rangel’s booth, students are able to pick an assorted variety of seasonal fruits: apples, pomegranates, persimmons, peaches and more.
While produce may be the heart of the market, there are also five food-related booths who create long lines that fill the walkway. Among them was Lilikoi Boba Monterey Bay, the Hawaiian inspired cafe introduced earlier.
Originally from the Bay Area, Villaruz noticed a different culture surrounding boba in Monterey. While milk tea shops are often a part of the fast-paced routine in the Bay Area, she found that the community in the Monterey Bay area was more interested in genuine connection.
“Which is great because, you know, in the Bay Area, the hemisphere there is just totally different, everyone’s on the go, right?” said Villaruz. “When they come to the cafe it’s, ‘give me my drink and I’ll leave,’ But here it’s more like, ‘let’s build a community.’ People come to the cafe, get to know us, you get to know them and it’s just been wonderful.”
Despite not being a food or agriculture based seller, many approached Santa Rosa Flowers with interest and delight over the petal-sized joys they displayed. Ruth and Jose Rangel, the owners of this Watsonville-based nursery, came up with their name from their hometown—Santa Rosa, Mexico—with the term “rosa” complementing their signature items, flowers.
The sense of connection found within the vendors is also felt by those who help bring the market to campus. Robert Gonzalez, a Farmers Market student assistant, shared how it has given him a sense of purpose in the campus community.
“It just makes me feel like I am more fulfilled than I would be if I didn’t have a community to serve,” said Gonzalez. “I am a gear in the larger production of things so we can have a nice, lovely community with everybody working together.”