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AOYAMA FARM
Vendor: Raymond & Cheri Aoyama
A cornerstone of the Market, the Aoyama family has been bringing their stone fruit, melons, tomatoes, citrus, and jams to PAFM since it first opened in 1981. Market regulars know to find Sheri Aoyama and her family’s fine produce in the front right corner of the Market. While Sheri runs the stand at the Market (assisted by Emmy Zak), Sheri’s husband, Ray, runs the Aoyama farm, which is located in Orisi, near Fresno. Ray and his family started farming in the 1960s; in 1970, Ray started farming for himself, when he, his brother, and a friend from Cal Poly banded together to form a farming corporation. Occasionally Ray joins Sheri at the stand, but you’ll have to look closely to find him, because “he’s a quiet man,” says Sheri. Ray’s more used to being out on the farm. “He just loves being in a tractor and going,” says Sheri. “He’s always worked for himself.” What makes people return to their stand? Sheri likes to think it’s the quality of their produce as well as the friendships they have built in their years at the Market. The Aoyamas enjoy the friendliness and location of the PAFM, but they especially like our Market because they feel that the people here “have a more genuine caring for us and our welfare” than at other markets. When she says this about caring, Sheri is thinking, at least in part, of a favorite memory she has of the Market, about the Vans. In the 1980s, Mr. and Mrs. Van lived across the street from the Market in a little house (which is still there, tucked away between more modern buildings), where the Vans always kept their door open to Market growers -- to come in from the cold for hot coffee, or for cold, fresh, lemonade in summer, or to use the bathroom, or for their children to come over to play board games with the Vans. With wonderful support and memories like these, no wonder the Aoyamas have been coming to the Market all these years! |
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