“A lot of people come but few are shoppers,” she adds. “The number of people coming to the market has been decreasing every year. This is my least productive market,” she adds.

“[It’s] a bit out of the way...and not surrounded by very much,” Allston market customer Gerald Robbins says. “It caters to wealthy people.”

Olmsted says she has been trying to give both of the markets a boost in other ways, such as organizing cooking demos and scavenger hunts.

Attempts to make the market stand out are paying off to some extent at the Harvard market.

Carolina R. Portillo, a recycled glass jeweler at Harvard’s market, praises the market’s organization, saying, “They make it easy in terms of parking, and they set it up so that it’s very affordable [for us].”

Portillo adds that as a tiny local business, commercial advertisement is not a viable outreach option for her. The Farmers’ Market at Harvard, then, provides her with the ideal customers.

“People who are looking for things which are one of a kind,” she says.

FINDING THE MARKET COMMUNITY

Harvard market vendor Casey Cubito points out that the Harvard market gets a wide range of customers.

“You get to meet a lot of different people like students, faculty, and tourists, of course,” Cubito says.

Allston market vendor Pete Silvia says that even with such a small market, it is important to maintain the sense of community.

“It was important to come every week so that the few customers who come know he’ll be there for them,” Silvia says.

According to University Spokesperson Lauren Marshall, though small, the Allston market still serves a specific purpose.

“The market...brings more public programming and activity to the Barry’s Corner area,” Marshall writes in an e-mail. “With every market, there are differences based on location, foot traffic, customer base, number of vendors. The Allston Market...provides an opportunity for small local vendors just starting out to come to the market.”

But noting that the Allston Market is surrounded by Harvard-funded programs such as the Education Portal, batting cages, and an ice rink, Ventura argues that “we do have customers that come who live in the area, and they don’t have that high an opinion of Harvard.”

For Ventura, this community wide effort might merely be “save face and improve [Harvard’s] image in Allston.”

—Staff writer Rediet T. Abebe can be reached at rtesfaye@college.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Nitish Lakhanpal can be reached at nitishlakhanpal@college.harvard.edu.