Farmers markets in Sedona

These two are both called markets and they have almost nothing in common.

Sedona Community Farmers Market is the produce one. It runs every Sunday, year-round, in the Wells Fargo bank car park at 2201 West State Route 89A in West Sedona. The hours flip with the season, and this is the detail people get wrong: 8 a.m. to noon in summer, from early June to late October, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in winter, from November to the end of May. Turning up at nine in January gets you an empty car park.

Oak Creek Overlook Vista Native American Crafts Market is something else entirely. It is at the Oak Creek Vista overlook at the top of the SR-89A switchbacks, where Native artists sell jewelry and craftwork directly. There is no food and no produce. It has been part of that overlook for a very long time, and for many visitors it is the only place on a trip where they buy directly from the maker rather than from a shop.

If you are going to the overlook

It is at the top of Oak Creek Canyon, about half an hour north of Sedona up the switchbacks, and the view back down the canyon is the reason most people stop. Oak Creek Vista does not appear on the Forest Service’s list of sites requiring a Red Rock Pass, though we could not reach a page stating its fee position outright, so carry a pass if you have one.

Buying directly is the point here. Ask the maker about the work; most are happy to tell you, and it is a better souvenir for knowing.

The rest of the valley

Camp Verde has the valley’s oldest and largest growers’ market, Saturdays 8 to 11 from May to October, under the ramada by Fort Verde. Cottonwood has a Friday evening market with music in Old Town for part of the summer. The farmers markets guide sets out all of them with seasons and the hours that change.