Travel Inspiration: Salem is The Most Oregon Part of Oregon

Blueberries, raspberries, loganberries, blackberries and Marion County’s own marionberries — oh, my! July is peak berry season in the Willamette Valley and the Salem area’s local markets and U-pick farms are bursting with juicy berries and fresh berry treats. Whether you want to browse the heaping pints at a farmers market, go berry-picking with the kiddos or enjoy a slice of fresh-baked marionberry pie or a blackberry milkshake, here’s how to have a berry-licious summer in the Salem area.

7/15/26

Bauman's Farm & Garden

LOAD UP AT LOCAL FARMERS MARKETS

The Salem Saturday Market is an excellent place to find locally grown berries and berry treats from all over the Willamette Valley. Running every Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., the market features multiple farms — but fresh berries are a hot item, so arrive early for the best selection. On Thursdays from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., the smaller West Salem Farmers Market also has berry vendors and goodies galore.

On Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., the Silverton Farmers Market is in full swing, offering freshly picked raspberries, blackberries and blueberries from growers in the Willamette Valley. Or cross the Willamette River and fill up your reusable bag with berries from the Independence Farmers Market. Get a few pints on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and gobble them up at Riverview Park.

FILL UP ON FRESH-MADE BERRY TREATS

It isn’t summer until you’ve had a handmade shortcake or biscuit loaded with fresh berries from the Shortcake Stand at Salem’s E.Z. Orchards Farm Market. Add a scoop of French vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream and enjoy it at a picnic table in the grassy area. Then pop into the market for berry jams.

If freshly baked pie makes you perk up, the nearby Willamette Valley Pie Company serves berry pie made with farm-fresh fruit and all-butter crusts, plus berry scones, cobbler and smoothies. Bring the family and kick back in the dining room, overlooking the fields. You can also buy whole frozen pies to bake at home, including an excellent sugar-free marionberry pie.

Not only does Bauman’s Farm in Gervais sell by-the-pint seasonal blueberries, red raspberries, obsidian blackberries, loganberries, gold raspberries and tayberries picked fresh from their fields, their bakery whips them into irresistible treats. Try the loganberry bars and marionberry pie squares. Or sip a thick marionberry milkshake — or a seasonal loganberry hard cider.

PICK YOUR OWN BERRIES

U-picking is a wonderful way to load up on sweet berries for less and spend quality time with your family. Many Salem-area U-pick farms prefer cash and ask you to bring your own containers; check the individual websites before you head out.

Put on your sun hat and hit Salem’s Fordyce Farm for a morning of picking boysenberries, blueberries and glossy kotata blackberries (an Oregon blackberry, loganberry and boysenberry hybrid). In addition to its cute name and family-friendly vibes, Salem’s Thank You Berry Much Farms has five varieties of blueberries, plenty of parking and amazing prices. Just 10 minutes from downtown Salem, Minto Island Growers offers certified organic U-pick blueberries and wood-fired pizzas from their food cart, in case all that berry-picking makes you crave something savory.

Boones Ferry Berry Farms, located about 20 miles north of Salem, is a great place to fill your containers with big berries and the kids can feed the cute farm goats. The blueberry bushes and raspberry and blackberry vines are loaded with berries and the fields are almost never crowded at Jefferson’s Greens Bridge Gardens, about 20 miles south of Salem. In Dallas, Perryhill Farm has nine different varieties of blueberries and Cascade Delight raspberries, ripe for the picking.

CATCH A MARION BERRIES BASEBALL GAME

Even the ballpark snacks are berry-centric at a Marion Berries game at Salem’s state-of-the-art Chemeketa Baseball Field. Salem is so proud of Marion County’s signature marionberry they named a baseball team after it. As part of the summer collegiate West Coast League, you can take the kids to a thrilling home game and enjoy a burger topped with marionberry jam washed down with a marionberry milkshake. Tickets start at just $10.

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