Happy Sweet 16 to the Downtown Wabash Farmers Market

The 16th season of the Downtown Wabash Farmers Market is officially here and I couldn’t be more excited to return as the Market’s coordinator! In my second season of running the market, I can’t help but look back on how much fun the 2022 season was. Let’s take a trip down memory lane, shall we? 

2022

The Downtown Wabash Farmers Market came in hot for its 15th season. The Market had new logos following the rebrand of Downtown Wabash, Inc., the nonprofit Nationally Accredited Main Street Organization that oversees the market, and me, a new market coordinator! We embraced all things new & exciting and the outcomes were nothing short of success.

We had a record-breaking number of 47 vendors join our Market. Together, those vendors brought in more than $150,000 in revenue, making a significant financial impact. According to American Express, 67¢ of every dollar spent at local farms and small businesses stays within the local economy. Along with more vendors came more people shopping at the Market. We saw record-breaking attendance with nearly 1,000 people (and their dogs) shopping on the hottest days in July!

It was our first time hosting kids activities. Eleven kids activities were hosted throughout the season by community partners and the Downtown Wabash Farmers Market vendors, staff and volunteers. We partnered with Babe of Wabash County to offer Babe coupons to children aged 0-5 who participated in the activities. (My favorite activities were the taste-testing stamping map during National Farmers Market Week and when Floyd from Hill N’ Dale farms brought his farm animals.)

We also moved the Downtown Wabash Farmers Market to Paradise Spring Park on August 20 in conjunction with the Kunkel Cruise-in. It was a fun experience for vendors and shoppers!

I learned a lot in my first year of running the Downtown Wabash Farmers Market but I think my favorite part was understanding what makes this market so special.

Through this new venture I was taking on, I got to see my community through a whole new lens. The Farmers Market isn’t just a place to buy fresh produce or a handmade necklace on Saturday mornings. In Downtown Wabash, Indiana, it’s so much more.

For vendors, it’s an opportunity to share their passions with the community and form mutually beneficial relationships with customers and other vendors. They’ll lend a hand wherever they can. There were multiple mornings where I struggled to get the tent set up for the Information booth on my own and my neighboring vendor, Jim McAdams from My Dad’s Sweet Corn, would always be willing to help (Jim, if you’re reading this, I got a brand new tent this year!).

Many times, I would see vendors helping other vendors by trading or purchasing their goods from each other or sharing tips and tricks about one another’s area of expertise. They share their expertise with customers too, giving them the best advice on how to start a garden, how to crochet, or how to get their cookies to be more chewy rather than crunchy.

They know their customers by name and always remember to ask how their plans went from the weekend they saw them last. The same went for me, too. During the season last year, I won First-Runner Up in the Wabash County Festivals Scholarship Pageant. At the Market the following day, many of the vendors and their kids excitedly congratulated me, and exclaimed, “We were rooting for you!” 

In short: the vendors care. While these entrepreneurs come to make a livelihood, it’s not necessarily their first priority. Connecting with one another and the community is.

For Farmers Market goers & shoppers, it’s part of their summer routine to experience the Downtown Wabash Farmers Market on Saturday mornings. Families are making memories and learning experiences for their children in the town they’re growing up in. For the Olson Family, this especially reigns true. Grandmas are doing their last-minute shopping before family comes into town for the annual summer picnic.

On girls’ day, nothing is more perfect than strolling the market with your bestest friends, in summer dresses, with a Sweet Brews coffee in hand before hitting up the rest of the shops in Downtown Wabash, Indiana. While there are many specific reasons why people come to the Downtown Wabash Farmers Market, no Saturday is alike.

You never know when you’ll run into an old friend, if RiverRidge Farms finally has tomatoes in for the season, or if there are actual, real farm animals present.

The bottom line: in this community, one of the best parts of summer is the opening of the Downtown Wabash Farmers Market.

In 2023, let’s focus on the highlights:

• We are excited to welcome more than 32 unique vendors to the market this season with handmade, homemade and homegrown products! 
• Be sure to follow along on Facebook & Instagram as we announce what vendors will be with us this season.
• Emmett’s Paddywagon will be returning to offer hot & fresh breakfast each week.
• Local musicians will play live music this season, with Tony Hopkins playing from 10 a.m.- 12 p.m. on opening day.
• Kids Activities will be returning to the Market and will happen every other Saturday.
• We are proud to continue our partnership with BABE of Wabash County this year and will offer BABE coupons to children aged 0-5 that participate in the kids activities. 
• SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits have been able to be redeemed at the Downtown Wabash Farmers Market for many years, but the incentive just DOUBLED in size! Our Market received a $5,000 grant from Double Up Indiana to offer free Double Up Incentives. Double Up Indiana is a program that provides Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) customers free fruits and vegetables when they use their SNAP/EBT card. For each $1 spent in SNAP at the market, customers earn $1 in Double Up incentives to buy fruits and vegetables at the same market. Each customer is limited to earning $20 per day in Double Up incentives.

Grow Wabash County will feature young entrepreneurs in their booth space weekly, to highlight the talent of the next generation of entrepreneurs. We thank Grow Wabash County for providing this opportunity through their generous Top Level Sponsorship. 

The Downtown Wabash Farmers Market could not be made possible without our generous 2023 sponsors. In addition to Grow Wabash County, we’d like to thank WEOC, Parkview Wabash, Terrell Realty Group and Halderman Farm Management. 

I can’t wait to see what this sweet 16th season has in store for the Downtown Wabash Farmers Market and all who make it what it is: our vendors, sponsors, volunteers and most importantly-our community. 

Interested in becoming a vendor? Registration is still open!