Capital City Public Market

Boise actually has two of these Saturday outdoor markets, and this one runs right up to the capitol building. It’s the hip thing to do on Saturday for Boise urbanites. The vendor management of this market is actually complex — I’m told that great pain is undergone to ensure that this little or no redundancy in booths, so it is worth going end to end in this market, since you will see a great variety of food, goods, and services for sale.

I love farmers markets and have been to many in the western states. I mostly enjoy being able to purchase vegetables and fruits from farmers. Boise’s Farmers Market has been a bit disappointing in this area. Where are the farmers?!? Where are my fruits and vegetables?!? I could count on one hand the vendors that actually sell things they grow!
However, this market does have many hot food vendors, crafts, and art to shop from. We always grab a bit to eat while strolling around. But this does not fill the void of farmers selling their produce for me.

It seems like this has gone a little down hill in the past couple years. It could be cause of all the new construction and what not going on downtown I am not sure. It’s alot more spread out then what it use to be and a little less organized then what it use to be. they still have the mini donuts which is amazing of course without them the place would be a 2 star. lol

Love the Saturday Market! It’s a must-​go if you’re in Boise in the summer. The new layout is great, I love that it’s more stream-​lined. I did like it better when it ran into the Grove, though. The street is a little crowded, but not terrible or unmanageable. The variety of vendor booths is great; there’s produce, artwork, handmade goods, food trucks, etc! It’s a great way to get immersed into Boise!

Although this market names among the things it is «…a magnet for tourists and tourism», as tourists who plan ahead for visits to places we go, we knew nothing about Capital City Public Market until we were trying to get to our Saturday morning brunch reservations at Fork in downtown Boise. That’s when we learned about this huge market (spanning about six blocks and lining both sides of the street in some of them) and had to park near city hall given street closures.
All good as we got to walk through some of the market before brunch and explore more of it after. Our favorite of all we saw and experienced was the string trio on one corner doing a fantabulous job of playing Beatles tunes. Lovely market music while we looked at local crafts and artisan products and produce and…
I live in a small city that has 80,000 residents and 2.5 MILLION tourists a year. So I realize when I read Unilocal reviews in my city that visitors sometimes have a different tilt on things than locals. I imagine it may be the same for Boise.
With that in mind, I offer up as a tourist that while this market was fun for a walk through, by 12:30 or so it was so crowded, it seemed nearly shoulder to shoulder in some spots which made it more of a chore than a pleasure to navigate. Were my husband and I locals we’d likely pop in here right at opening maybe once a month to experience the fun. But we’d shop every week with the farmers and vendors at the new and more easily navigable Farmer’s Market held in the parking lot at roughly 11^th and Grove.
Different strokes for different shoppers. Sometimes bigger with the addition of arts and crafts as here is not better for farmers markets. As a street fair I’d say 5 stars. But as a farmers market to buy locally grown /​raised agriclture and animal proteins or artisan food products this market works less well for me. For pure farmers market I’d say 3 stars here. Splitting the difference I’ll call it 4 for this review. .
Still, we love Boise’s downtown and enjoyed this market. We’d recommend it to other visitors to Boise.
THIS N THAT:
HOURS: 9:30 — 1:30. Roughly April into December.
LOCATION: Six blocks in «T» formation. 8^th Street from Bannock to Grove and Idaho St between Capital Blvd and 9^th street.

Every Saturday half a dozen blocks are devoted to local farmers and vendors. The produce is amazing, the meat and eggs are fresh and delicious. There are local wineries, artists etc. Grab some dumplings from Momo and enjoy a Saturday morning at the market!

Awesome place for fresh, local produce, meats and odds & ends. Get there early to avoid the crowds. Be sure to check out their service that holds on to your purchases for you so you can pick them up later.

My mom and I got a wild idea and decided to drive up to Boise from Salt Lake over a long weekend. Mom found a listing for the Farmers Market and it didn’t take her much effort to convince me to check it out with her.
Boise’s Farmers Market is H-​U-​G-​E. There was tons of fresh produce, fresh flowers, hot food vendors. My mom & I purchased Iris bulbs, sage & lavender plants, handmade candles, made from scratch fudge, a bottle of BBQ sauce, and even a tub of cat food made from bison heart, trout and other high protein foods. Had we not had a long drive ahead of us, we would have gotten a bunch of produce as well.
The produce variety was mind boggling. We saw everything from lobster mushrooms to 18 inch long zucchinis to Japanese eggplants. In addition to produce vendors, there were vendors selling Kobe beef, goat cheese, sheep cheese, breads, and beverages such as mint limeade and fresh brewed root beer.
Many of the vendors accept credit cards, however, there are ATM’s at nearly every corner surrounding the market, and the market sells wooden coins that you can purchase with your credit card and redeem at the booths that don’t accept credit cards.
Boise’s Farmers Market is an absolute must-​do. We’ll be coming back again before the end of the season.

This Farmers Market was a lot bigger than i thought it would be. It looked like they close down the street to have it. I sort of thought there would be more produce and hot food carts, but its seems like its more craft and other stuff. It felt more like Portland’s Saturday Market and not a Farmers market. A lot of people were there and it is worth checking out.