After 20 years of bringing together local vendors, volunteers and neighbors in a corner of Jordan Park, the 9th West Farmers Market is coming to an end this season.
The Sunday market is where local brands like Salsitas Mendoza made their first sales and customers like Christy Sapp and Paul Hopper met lifelong friends.
For market leader Melanie Schertz, who started as a jewelry vendor and has served as the event’s president for the past 12 years, it’s where she formed a family, she said.
At first, in 2014, Schertz volunteered to lead the market for a two-year term. Years later, she’s still spearheading it from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each season, along with a handful of organizers.
Now, though, it’s become impossible to go on, Schertz said, citing a lack of volunteers, her declining health and growing competition from bigger and newer markets.
“It’s like pulling teeth,” she said. “After so many years, and not having people you can get to be there on a regular basis and help out, it wears you down.”
(Rachel Rydalch | Special to The Tribune) Volunteers at the 9th West Farmers Market unload supplies and produce for their booth in Salt Lake City on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026.
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Karen Williams has been a part of the market since the very beginning, in 2006, when anywhere from 60 to 75 vendors would show up any given Sunday.
“And then ever since COVID hit, it just kind of went downhill from there,” she said, “and for some reason, nobody wants to really set up here.”
Still, volunteers and neighbors say it’s left its mark on the community.
“We’re also very proud of the market because of the things that we started,” Schertz said.
For example, in its first year, market organizers collaborated with Utahns Against Hunger and became the first in all of Utah to accept food stamps. There are now over a dozen farmers markets across Salt Lake County alone that accept SNAP dollars through the Double Up Food Bucks program.
“Some of the other markets used our template to set up their programs, so that tells you you were doing something right,” Schertz said. “I just, I feel comfortable in saying we’ve made it this far. We have helped so many others.”
(Rachel Rydalch | Special to The Tribune) 9th West Farmers Market president Melanie Schertz helps customers with their produce in Salt Lake City on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026.
(Rachel Rydalch | Special to The Tribune) A hand painted sign for the 9th West Farmers Market is placed on the street near Jordan Park on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026. The sign was painted by Legrand Larsen, a friend of the market who died in 2019.
Throughout the years, the west-side market has also organized pet adoption events, hosted nurses for vaccination events and offered free food to kids.
“Every child is welcome to something to eat, and when we have food vendors there, we’ve made deals with them that they’ll have a kid’s portion size, and we will pay for it,” Schertz said.
According to Schertz, their market isn’t the only one struggling now that Salt Lake City has become “inundated” with farmers markets, she said.
“Other markets are hurting too, trying to get people because there’s at least two markets every day of the week,” she said, “and some days, there’s three or four markets, so it kind of spreads a lot of them out too thin.”
Linnea Mendoza, owner of Salsitas Mendoza, said for local businesses like her own, having markets like 9th West to sell at is “everything.”
(Rachel Rydalch | Special to The Tribune) A 9th West Farmers Market vendor named Judy unloads produce on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026.
“You get access to the farmers, so you build relationships there,” she said. “You’re still getting paid, but what’s more valuable is the connection with all the customers”
Mendoza has also made decades-long friendships at the “unique” event near the Jordan River.
“They’re all just a tight-knit family,” she said. “It’s not a big market. It is a small market, but there’s a big sense of family and connection, community here. … Some of the other markets are more business.”
Another vendor, Rize Sweet Rollz, has only been in business for a few months but joined the market on Sept. 13. According to salesperson Gabrielle Wheeler, all of the company’s employees are formerly incarcerated and working to navigate reentry. Community markets like this one are a key part of that journey.
“It’s just good to meet people,” she said. “It’s good to tell them your story, and when they feel for you, that means the world.”
(Rachel Rydalch | Special to The Tribune) Gabrielle Wheeler, with Rize Sweet Rollz, works at 9th West Farmers Market on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026.
(Rachel Rydalch | Special to The Tribune) Volunteers and vendors gather at the 9th West Farmers Market on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026.
Sapp and Hopper have been visiting the market since their daughter, who is now in her 20s, was a toddler.
Despite it becoming smaller over the years, they still get their weekly produce from the 9th West Farmers Market. Here, the spirit is still the same, Sapp said.
“It can’t possibly compete with the big boys down at Pioneer Park,” Hopper said. “The downtown market doesn’t need our help.”
With its days numbered, the market plans to celebrate its 20th anniversary and say goodbye to the west-side community on Oct. 11 in potluck fashion, starting at 3 p.m.
Attendees are encouraged to bring food to share. Organizers will be raffling different prizes. They’re also planning to sell the iconic 9th West Farmers Market signs made by Legrand Larsen, a friend of the market who died in 2019.
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