The Woodcrest Saturday: How Two Farmers Markets, Six Decades Apart, Set the Rhythm of the Weekend

Woodcrest does not need another generic weekend roundup. Its more interesting story can be found in two specific places: the outdoor grounds of Woodcrest Public Library and the Gless Ranch Farmer’s Market on Van Buren Boulevard.

These markets serve different purposes. The Woodcrest Market Collective creates a short, twice-monthly window for meeting small producers, makers, musicians, and food businesses. Gless Ranch offers the consistency of a produce market open every day, backed by a Woodcrest farming history that reaches into the early 1960s.

Together, they make a useful point about local life: Woodcrest’s Saturday routine is not controlled by one destination. It works because a newer community market and a longstanding agricultural business fill different parts of the morning.

The Saturday essentials

• Woodcrest Market Collective: First and third Saturdays, 8 a.m. to noon
• Location: Outside Woodcrest Public Library, 16625 Krameria Ave.
• Gless Ranch Farmer’s Market: Open daily, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Location: 19985 Van Buren Blvd.
• Planning note: Vendor attendance at the Collective can change, so check @woodcrestmarketcollective before heading out.

Start With the Market That Has a Closing Bell

On first and third Saturdays, the practical order is simple: visit the Woodcrest Market Collective first.

The Collective closes at noon, while Gless Ranch remains open until 6 p.m. That makes Krameria Avenue the time-sensitive stop and Gless the flexible one.

Groovy Gopher Lavender Farm’s current organizer page lists the Collective from 8 a.m. to noon in the outdoor area at Woodcrest Public Library. Those are its summer hours, which began in June 2026. Older community listings may still show the former afternoon schedule.

As of July 11, 2026, the next regular market under the first-and-third-Saturday schedule is July 18. A quick check of the market’s social account is still wise because there is no fixed public roster for that date.

The outdoor timing matters for another reason. Woodcrest Library currently opens from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, after the market has closed. Plan on the market as an outdoor stop unless the library announces special access for a particular event.

This is a collective, not a produce-only market

The name tells you how to approach it. The Woodcrest Market Collective brings together farmers, makers, food vendors, musicians, and small businesses. Its organizers offer several vendor formats, including informational tables, standard 10-by-10-foot booths, and spaces for food service.

Local reporting from April 2026 documented a mix that included fresh produce, açai bowls, clothing, jams, nut butters, and vapor-distilled water. Named businesses at that market included:

• Groovy Gopher Lavender Farm, with farm-grown lavender goods and raw honey
• Whitegates Country Cottage, known for jams, jellies, and nut butters
• Viuearth Water, an Irvine-based vapor-distilled water company

Groovy Gopher’s broader product range includes lavender soaps, massage and body oil, lip balm, sugar scrubs, essential-oil products, and raw honey. The variety gives residents a reason to browse rather than arrive with a rigid grocery list.

Vendor attendance rotates, so those examples should be treated as a picture of the market’s character, not a promise about a particular Saturday.

The Collective Began With a Closed Farm Stand

The market’s origin is as local as its setting.

Riverside resident Laura Wright and her husband, Brandon Wright, own Groovy Gopher Lavender Farm. They first tried operating a small farm stand at their property. It was shut down after only a few weeks.

Laura Wright turned that setback into a larger idea: create a shared marketplace where small businesses could meet customers directly. The Woodcrest Market Collective officially launched in December 2025 in partnership with Woodcrest Public Library.

That origin explains why the market feels broader than a row of produce tables. It was designed to give small operators a place to introduce their work, tell customers how products are made, and build recognition without maintaining a permanent storefront.

The library grounds are a fitting setting. The Woodcrest Library began as a bookmobile stop outside Stater Bros. in 1999. It moved into a Woodcrest Plaza storefront in 2001, then opened its current purpose-built facility in 2007. The site’s role has expanded again, this time as a twice-monthly gathering point for local commerce and conversation.

Then Follow Woodcrest’s Agricultural Timeline to Gless Ranch

After the Collective, the second stop offers a different experience. Gless Ranch is less dependent on a particular Saturday because its Farmer’s Market is open daily. Its importance comes from continuity.

The “six decades apart” in this story refers to the roots of the two enterprises, not the opening dates of their current market formats. Gless Ranch began as a family farming business in 1958. The Woodcrest Market Collective launched in 2025, approximately 67 years later.

The detailed Gless timeline shows how that older enterprise became part of Woodcrest:

The Saturday detail from 1977 gives the two market stories an unexpected connection. Long before the Collective set up outside the library, direct sales at Gless Ranch also began as a modest weekend experiment.

Brisk roadside sales led from the station wagon to a trailer and then to a permanent stand. The present market at 19985 Van Buren Blvd. carries that direct-to-customer tradition in a more developed format.

What the Gless Stop Adds to the Morning

The official Gless Ranch history lists locally grown fruits and vegetables alongside artisan foods, gifts, craft beer, wine, and specialty groceries. The ranch reports growing oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, limes, lemons, dates, avocados, and figs across Riverside, the Coachella Valley, and Kern County.

The 2026 Fresh and Local guide from the Riverside-Corona Resource Conservation District independently confirms the main market’s daily 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. schedule. The guide also lists a separate Gless Ranch fruit stand at 1372 Washington St., open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Woodcrest’s connection to citrus was shaped in part by water access. According to the Riverside-Corona Resource Conservation District’s history, Colorado River water became available to local growers through Western Municipal Water District pipelines in the late 1950s. Citrus plantings then expanded around Woodcrest and nearby agricultural areas.

Gless Ranch reports that many farmers who followed the family into Woodcrest citrus have since left the area. The ranch continues farming locally, and its original Number 1 grove remains at Iris and Gamble.

That staying power has received wider recognition. John and Janet Gless were named 2024 Citizens of the Year by the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce. Raincross Gazette’s coverage credited the couple with pioneering citrus farming in Woodcrest and supporting the preservation of Riverside agriculture.

One Local Baker Connects Both Stops

The clearest proof that these markets complement each other comes from Alero Gourmet Treats.

Alero says it attends the Woodcrest Market Collective every first and third Saturday. Its products are also available inside Gless Ranch Market.

That creates two ways to encounter the same small business. At the Collective, residents can meet vendors during a limited community event. At Gless, selected products can remain accessible beyond that four-hour window.

Alero makes small-batch cookies and other desserts from scratch. Its broader menu includes chocolate-chip, snickerdoodle, ginger-spice, peanut-butter, red-velvet, oatmeal, and toffee cookies. Availability at either market can vary, but the business connection itself reveals how Woodcrest’s local retail network works.

A new market can introduce a producer. An established market can provide another place for that producer’s goods to be found. Each one strengthens the usefulness of the other.

A Better Way to Plan the Woodcrest Saturday

For residents searching for things to do in Woodcrest Riverside, the best plan depends on which Saturday is on the calendar.

On the first and third Saturday

1. Begin at Woodcrest Market Collective between 8 a.m. and noon. Arriving there first protects the limited part of the schedule.
2. Browse before building a shopping list. The Collective’s changing mix is better suited to discovery than a guaranteed weekly inventory.
3. Continue to Gless Ranch before 6 p.m. Use the second stop for produce, fruit, specialty groceries, and other available market goods.
4. Check current details before leaving. The Collective’s vendors can rotate, and event plans may change.

On other Saturdays

Gless Ranch remains the dependable market stop because it operates every day. The Collective does not meet every Saturday, so a second, fourth, or fifth Saturday should not be planned around the library market unless organizers announce an extra event.

This alternating rhythm is part of what makes the pairing work. Gless gives Woodcrest continuity. The Collective adds anticipation twice a month.

The Weekend Rhythm Is Old and New at the Same Time

Woodcrest’s two markets did not emerge from the same era, and they do not ask residents to choose between them.

Gless Ranch represents a direct line from a 1961 orange grove and a 1977 Saturday fruit sale to a market that still operates on the same Number 3 site. The Woodcrest Market Collective represents a newer path, turning one closed farm stand into shared space for growers, makers, musicians, and food businesses.

The connection is practical rather than sentimental. One place helps people discover small businesses. The other offers a stable retail home where some local products can be found beyond event hours. A vendor such as Alero Gourmet Treats can participate in both.

That is the real Woodcrest Saturday: a morning shaped by agricultural memory, small-business experimentation, and two market stops that understand their roles.

Klybarra Realty has spent decades paying attention to the details that make Riverside communities distinct. If a neighborhood conversation turns into a future home decision, Kimberly Ybarra is ready to offer clear guidance and attentive local support.

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