.Best Bang for Your Buck at a Farmers’ Market

If you’ve never considered traveling east of the Caldecott Tunnel to
pick up your veggies, there are a few things you should know: The
weather’s warm all summer, the parking in the garage next to Todos
Santos Plaza is free, and the city of Concord knows how to party. By
day, Todos Santos is a sleepy, square-block oasis of green grass where
kids climb at a small playground and teenagers sip Big Gulps near the
stage. Thursday nights from May till September, a rockin’ street
festival ensues around a dozen or so produce vendors. Jazz, blues, or
zydeco bands juice up the atmosphere, music fans lay out picnics on the
lawn, shoppers peruse ripe tomatoes and Asian greens without long lines
or urban price tags, and diners line up at food booths for Moroccan
chicken and strawberry lemonade. You’d think that by August locals
would be tired of whooping it up, but that’s when they add a weekly
movie to the roster, right after the music ends, around 8:15 p.m. On
Tuesdays, the action starts again, with market and music at noon.