The mobile farmers market celebrated their fourth anniversary bringing the community together to support one another.
On a bright, sunny, winter day, Prosperity Market (PM), the mobile farmers market, gathered a host of L.A.’s Black farmers, food producers, chefs, and entrepreneurs for a pop-up market in the parking lot of Hilltop Coffee + Kitchen, located on Slauson, in View Park/Windsor Hills. The event was free to the public.
Featuring 35 Black-owned businesses, PM had originally planned to celebrate their fourth anniversary with an emphasis on Black History Month. In the wake of the destructive wildfires in Los Angeles, the event served to honor the resilience of the L.A. community and provided resources for those affected.
“We thought about it for a little bit and we wanted to frame it as creating a moment of joy in challenging times for everyone,” said Kara Still, co-owner of PM.
“There are so many people who reached out and they were still excited about coming to see us and all of those things, so we said we wanted to create an opportunity for the community to come together.”
Adriana Gasaway is the owner of Ace Naturals featuring soap and body butters she made to be gentler and healthier for skin. She shared how she got started making her products.
“I always made products for myself which was soap bars and body butters since I have sensitive skin and my friends like this so, they were like, you need to start selling it and I started selling it,” said Gasaway.
Ace Naturals featured three different scents of body butters including mango, lavender and sandalwood. Her soap bars have different properties to help with skin health.
Dominique moved out to California from Richmond, VA to pursue his Ph.D. He shared that he observed the popularity in juices and smoothies throughout L.A.
“I lived in Inglewood and it wasn’t anything around,” said Dominique. He started Blacker The Berry Juicery, a lifestyle brand rooted in wellness and community.
“We have juices, all centered around wellness and lifting up the Black community and drawing inspiration from the Black community and Black experiences,” said Dominique.
He added, “What’s carried it is drawing inspiration from the Black community, back at home, here—everywhere.”
BANANE, plantain in Haitian Creole, is a plant-based company owned by Shaëlle Etienne. A political refugee, she started her business as a way to help her country while also being able to help the Los Angeles community health wise.
“We serve L.A. with our snacks,” said Etienne. “We are also on DoorDash, Uber eats with our meal prep and then we have a partnership with Grown in Haiti, which helps with education and wellness in general.”
BANANE offers plantain chips, “that’s what we’re known for,” said Etienne.
They have 5 different flavors and the goal this year she shared is to get them into stores.
Christina and Samuel Williams, husband and wife, are the owners of Station 1923.
“We do small batch rubs and seasonings,” said Christina. “We know that there’s a lot of rubs and seasoning options out there, but what makes ours unique is a couple of different things.
“One, we do them in small batches in-house, we don’t have any third party or outsourced blends, they’re all proprietary original blends that we’ve created in-house. The second thing is that we focus on all-in-one blends because we want folks to cook more at home and gather around tables like we used to do for cookouts and barbecues and Sunday dinners and Saturday brunches.
“We have everything from All Aboard, which is our all-purpose blend all the way through to Tamari Ginger, which is our Asian-inspired blend that’s got soy, ginger, garlic so, literally you can make anything—you can make tacos, gumbo, collard greens, mac and cheese—the entire world is at your disposal.”
“I sell premium organic dog treats that are made locally here in Los Angeles and all of the ingredients are sourced from local farmers that are 100% certified organic,” said Amber Stanford, owner Ambeezy’s Organic Dog Treats.
She shared her product focuses on quality and premium with limited ingredients.
“Less is truly best and all my ingredients are nutrient dense, they’re very high in protein so, a little goes a long way,” said Stanford.
“We need to circulate the dollars within our own communities so when someone else decides that they don’t want to sell our products it doesn’t hurt us,” Carmen Dianne, co-founder of PM. “We really need our own infrastructure and this is the step towards that.
“We need spaces that we can sell our products in and where we can support each other.”
PM invited Angelenos to bring gift card donations (grocery, Visa, Target, Wal-Mart, etc.) to the event, where they will partner with local organizations to distribute to families as they rebuild their homes and restock household essentials.
PM also plans to use its forthcoming mobile trailer to distribute supplies to impacted communities–more details to be revealed over the coming weeks. Part food truck, part farmers market, the mobile trailer will travel throughout Los Angeles several days per week in the Spring 2025, with its shelves stocked with produce and goods from local Black farmers and food producers, and a rotating roster of LA’s best chefs.
Participating vendors included Sherman Produce and IGH; prepared foods like Gorilla Grub and Island Spice; non-food retailers including Rae of Sun (stationery), Khloe Cares (feminine products), and Crateism (vinyl), All Chill Ice Cream, and Gloria’s Shito. 1010 Wine returned for its beverage lounge, and both Teach to Reach and Oak Tree Learning Center had booths and interactive activations.
“We look at our market not just as a place to come have a good time, come get great produce and food, but also a space for people to be able to support each other,” said Still.
For more information on Prosperity Market, visit www.prosperitymarketla.com.
