Most Marin residents have a home market. Sunday at the Civic Center, or Saturday at Marin Country Mart, or Tuesday at Strawberry Village. They go on autopilot, buy the same things from the same vendors, and assume the others are close enough to interchangeable that it doesn't matter.
They're not. Across Marin County this summer, ten markets are running on different days, at different hours, with meaningfully different vendor rosters and social functions. The seasonal markets that just reopened in May don't compete with the year-round ones. They fill in the gaps. Once you see the circuit as a calendar rather than a list of options, it changes how you use all of them.
Here's the full map, then an honest read on what each cluster is actually doing.
Quick Reference: Every Active Market in Marin, Summer 2026
| Market | Location | Day & Hours | Season |
|---|---|---|---|
| Civic Center Thursday | 10 Ave of the Flags, San Rafael | Thu 8am–1pm | Year-round |
| Civic Center Sunday | 3501 Civic Center Dr, San Rafael | Sun 8am–1pm | Year-round |
| Strawberry Village | 800 Redwood Hwy, Mill Valley | Tue 10am–2:30pm | Year-round |
| Corte Madera Town Center | Town Center, Corte Madera | Wed noon–5pm | Year-round |
| Marin Country Mart | 2257 Larkspur Landing Cir, Larkspur | Sat 9am–2pm | Year-round |
| Fairfax Community | Bolinas Park, 142 Bolinas Rd, Fairfax | Wed 4–8pm | May 6–Oct 28 |
| Novato Downtown | Sherman St btwn Grant & De Long, Novato | Tue 4–8pm | May 5–Oct 27 |
| Point Reyes Station | Toby's Feed Barn, 11250 Hwy 1 | Sat 9am–2pm | May 2–Oct 10 |
| San Rafael Summer | 1000 Fourth St, Downtown San Rafael | Fri 5–9pm (monthly) | May–Sep |
| Novato Hamilton Landing | 6 Hamilton Landing, Novato | Tue 10am–2pm | Jun 2–Oct 27 |
The Year-Round Anchors Aren't Identical
The Agricultural Institute of Marin runs the two Civic Center markets in San Rafael, and while they share a parking lot and operator, Thursday and Sunday are not the same market.
Thursday is the chef's market. Local restaurateurs shop it alongside home cooks, drawn by the seasonal depth and the producer relationships built over years. The Thursday market features around 100 local farmers and specialty food purveyors, and the cadence feels deliberate: less foot traffic, more purpose. If you're cooking something specific and need to talk to the person who grew it, Thursday is the right day. The Sunday market at the Civic Center parking lot runs larger. It's been recognized as the third-largest certified farmers market in California, and it shows. The Sunday crowd is families, regulars, visitors from the city who ferry over or drive the bridge to make a morning of it. The scale means broader selection but also more noise.
Strawberry Village in Mill Valley (Tuesdays, 10am–2:30pm) and Corte Madera Town Center (Wednesdays, noon–5pm, year-round) serve the southern corridor. Both are accessible without a parking ordeal and well-suited to a mid-week errand that turns into lunch. Neither has the vendor depth of the Civic Center, but neither requires it.
What Marin Country Mart Has Built Around Its Market
The Saturday market at Marin Country Mart in Larkspur runs 9am to 2pm, rain or shine, year-round. The vendor list is a strong one: Alexandre Family Farm, Anna's Seafood, Frog Hollow Farm, Ramini Mozzarella, Stepladder Creamery, Iacopi Farms, Fallon Hills Ranch, and more than two dozen others focused on organic and sustainably raised products.
But the market is only one layer of what's happening at the Mart on Saturdays. Children's programming starts at 9:30am under the "Mart Littles" umbrella. Live music runs from 11am to 2pm. On Sundays, pony rides operate behind Rustic Bakery through year's end, and free mahjong open play runs under the Big Tent. Thursday storytime for kids happens outside Copperfield's Books. The Mart has structured its weekly calendar so that the farmers market anchors a whole morning rather than a quick stop.
The location matters here. The Mart sits between the Larkspur Ferry Terminal and the SMART Train Station, which means San Francisco residents arrive by ferry on weekends, and it reads in the crowd. That cross-bay audience shapes the Mart's energy and vendor selection in ways that are slightly different from the community-facing tone of the Civic Center markets.
The Evening Markets Are a Different Category Entirely
The year-round markets all run morning hours. Every seasonal market that opened in May runs evenings. That's not an accident; it reflects what the summer circuit is adding.
The Fairfax Community Farmers Market at Bolinas Park opened May 6 and runs Wednesdays from 4 to 8pm through October 28. The setting, a redwood-shaded town park on Bolinas Road, makes it a post-work gathering as much as a shopping trip. Reviewers consistently describe it in terms of community feel rather than vendor selection. You bring a blanket. You stay longer than you planned. For residents of Fairfax, San Anselmo, or the Ross Valley who shop at the Civic Center on weekends, this Wednesday evening slot fills a different role.
Downtown Novato's market runs Tuesday evenings (4–8pm, May 5 through October 27) on Sherman Street between Grant and De Long. A second Novato market opens June 2 at Hamilton Landing, running Tuesday mornings (10am–2pm) with food trucks from 11:30am to 1:30pm.
The newest evening format is the San Rafael Summer Market, which AIM launched on Fourth Street in downtown San Rafael. Dates in 2026 are one Friday per month: May 15, June 12, July 10, August 14, and September 11, from 5pm to 9pm. The market runs alongside the 2nd Friday Art Walk, meaning most of those evenings you get the full downtown circuit, not just the produce aisle. The Pond Farm beer garden is open at the market, Youth in Arts provides children's programming, and live music plays through the evening. It's the closest thing Marin has to a night-market format, and for residents of central Marin who don't want to drive to Fairfax on a Wednesday, it covers the same emotional territory: a reason to be outside on a summer evening, a loose social structure, food you didn't cook.
Point Reyes Station: The One That Requires a Plan
The Point Reyes Station Farmers Market at Toby's Feed Barn (11250 Highway 1) runs Saturdays from 9am to 2pm, May 2 through October 10. It shares a day and hour with Marin Country Mart in Larkspur, which means it's a deliberate choice rather than a casual stop on the way home.
The drive to Point Reyes Station is the point. West Marin's agricultural community is the source for much of what shows up at the county's other markets. Buying at Toby's Feed Barn removes a layer of the supply chain. The setting, Highway 1 against the coastal hills, makes the Saturday trip into something closer to an excursion than an errand. For residents of central or southern Marin, this is the market that earns a plan the night before. Check conditions before going in late summer: the market runs through October 10, and coastal fog can shift the morning experience considerably.
How to Think About the Circuit
If the year-round anchors are your provisioning markets, the seasonal openings are your social calendar. The summer circuit added five markets since April, all of them running in hours and settings the morning markets don't cover. The Thursday chef's market and the Friday evening San Rafael Summer Market are not competing for the same trip. Neither are the Sunday Civic Center crowd and the Wednesday evening Fairfax regulars.
For residents tracking what's happening in their corner of Marin, the full circuit looks like this: something running every day of the week by mid-June, from early morning in San Rafael to 8pm in Fairfax, from Corte Madera to Point Reyes Station. The question isn't whether there's a market nearby. The question is which one you're using for what.
Aviva Kamler serves buyers and sellers across Marin County with the kind of local knowledge that only comes from being genuinely embedded in the community. If you're thinking about what it's like to live here before deciding whether to buy, or thinking about how to present your home to buyers who already do, reach out for a personalized conversation. Request a home valuation or connect directly to talk through your goals.
