Produce after Dark

For my trip to San Luis Obispo, the one event I looked forward to with the most anticipation and curiosity was the Thursday farmers market, held from 6 to 9pm.  In March that equals dusk to dark, mostly.  Markets in my area target daylight-only hours, reducing their season if they start in the afternoon.  How would they keep the customers, once the light got sketchy?

As it turns out, there are four parts to the answer:

1. A street fair atmosphere - music and performers at several locations.
2. Open, lit businesses on either side of the closed-to-traffic downtown blocks.
3. Lots of hot food vendors, providing an after-work supper to shoppers.
4. Great local produce (such as the kiwis in the photo, from the only local farm growing them), at tables that often added their own lighting as the sun set.

As spring ripens and summer blooms, I expect the decent offerings of produce will expand to a real bounty.  As it was in mid-March, the greens from "America's salad bowl" were plentiful, with accompaniments of local citrus and other odds and ends.