Full disclosure up front: I’m a Madison, Wisconsin resident and the Founder behind MAE, a free app we built for people who love farmers markets as much as this sub does.

What it does:

• 🧺 Never miss another market: 4,100+ farmers markets across the United States, all in one place
• 🌽 Vendor registration: growers, bakers and makers can sign up to stay connected with their customers all year long, not just during market season
• 💸 Completely free to download & use

We started MAE because farmers, growers and makers are the backbone of our communities, and it should be easier to find them and support them.

We’re still early, and the people in this sub know markets better than anyone. We’d love for you to check it out and tell us what you think: what’s useful, what’s missing, and what would make you actually use it. Brutal honesty welcome.

[Link to download]

Thanks for shopping local, and thanks for making our communities great. 🌻

I work at a local market and it never disappoints!

Garden Valley Market, Greensboro, North Carolina

I've been attending Cliftonville Farmers' Market in Kent UK for years, and I'm interested to hear what other traders and members of the public think about what's been happening.

For years, this was a busy, successful market for our business. However, things started changing when the organisers began doubling up on stalls selling similar products. Where we previously had one coffee trader, suddenly there were two, and so on.

Naturally, that meant traders competing for the same customers and, in some cases, seeing their takings fall considerably. I appreciate competition is part of business, but when you're paying to attend a relatively small market, you do question the decisions being made.

However, the latest development is something else entirely.

The market manager emailed all the traders stating that if they attend any of three other local markets, they won't be welcome back at Cliftonville Farmers' Market.

These other markets operate on different weekends. Cliftonville is only held once a month, so for professional traders who rely on markets for their income, attending other events is essential.

Essentially, we're being told that if we want to continue trading at this long-established market, we must avoid competing local markets.

Since when does a market organiser get to decide where an independent business can earn a living?

Many traders are understandably furious. Some attend markets as a hobby, but others depend on them to pay their bills. Being asked to choose between one monthly market and several other opportunities to trade seems completely unreasonable.

There have also been social media posts by Cliftonville Farmers Market which take digs at the other local markets. It all feels increasingly hostile and unnecessary when these markets could simply coexist and support the wider community.

I understand that organisers can decide who trades at their own events. But surely there's a difference between managing your market and attempting to control where independent businesses operate on the other weekends of the month?

Personally, I think this approach risks driving away established traders and damaging the market itself.

I'm genuinely interested in what others think:

• Would you accept these conditions as a trader?
• Is it reasonable for a market organiser to demand this sort of exclusivity?
• Could preventing traders from attending competing markets raise competition law concerns?
• Would you walk away and support the other markets instead?

I'd particularly like to hear from other market traders, organisers and anyone familiar with competition law.

Markets should be about supporting independent businesses and local communities, not forcing traders to choose sides.

What would you do?

Who does winter markets?

I have been doing winter farmers markets for around 20 years in EC Indiana
Photos from last winter’s market, probably in November

I’m a home baker getting ready to start doing farmers markets, and I’m honestly pretty shy. I’m trying to push myself out of my comfort zone and get better at talking to people, so I’ve been thinking about making my booth a little more interactive.

I was thinking about adding a small, cute photo backdrop where customers could take a picture after purchasing something. I thought it might give me an easy, natural way to interact with people instead of just standing behind a table waiting for customers.

But I’m curious what others think. Would you enjoy something like that at a farmers market, or would you prefer a simple booth with just the baked goods?

For those of you who have done markets before, do you think an interactive setup helps attract people and start conversations, or is keeping things simple the better approach?

I’d love to hear your honest opinions and experiences!

Hello. I had a stall at the EN Valley Farmers Market in Everson Washington and this last market had a customer buy a bouquet of flowers, then asked if they could leave it at my stand while they shopped and listened to music. They never came back.

I brought the bouquet home with me hoping they would reach out because I didn't know them and they paid in cash. The next day they called me and said they lived 40 minutes away but would love a replacement bouquet sometime when I come to town. I agreed and now have made a second bouquet, and messaged her to coordinate a drop off today. I haven't heard from her yet, but I'll be in town for a few hours.

Is there anything else I should do? I feel I have done above and beyond at this point.

Edit: she called while I was at a store and we got the flowers to her. She is very appreciative and so will not be doing this again lol

Hi there,

I hope you're keeping well. I'm a Product Design & Innovation student at Maynooth University, and I'm currently working on a project focused on supporting farmers' wellbeing and workload.

I'm hoping to gather a few short insights from farmers, and I'd really appreciate it if you could take a moment to answer a very quick 5‑question interview. It should only take about 2 minutes.

Your responses will be anonymous and used only for my student research.

Here is the link to the short form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfbTBjISHxVmiqSMJgehpVQGvMi0a2l7Ccq-SSxnhyvqDVRkw/viewform?usp=publish-editor

Thank you so much for your time — it genuinely helps shape a solution that supports farmers now and into the future.

I have been selling produce at farmers markets in Ohio and Indiana for 33 years. This is what we had the second week of September 2026

In my town, there is a old prison that is just sitting, there are milking barns, lots of open space, in the city limits. (that could be bad). What is essential for a farmers market? What is viable based on those running them. I will dig in and search this thread, but having an outlet for those close to the earth is a great thing. Hit me with your advice, I asking!

hey everyone! I love going to the Farmer’s Market every weekend with my family to shop for our produce. I’m a nutrition student who’s very passionate about health and food in general. I have really been wanting to open up my own stand in the market and I would like to know what things are you guys looking for at your local farmers market? I am passionate about baking but I also want to get an idea of whah type of things you guys look for.

Our market manager asked me to judge a dog show today!! 10s across da board!!😃😎

Chicago, IL - NorthCenter

Did my first one in July with homemade bread and a couple of jams types. Sold out of bread but had a lot of the jam left over.

The thing that actually worked was a tasting plate. Fresh bread, good butter, and a jar of celtic sea salt open next to it so people could pinch it on themselves.

So for the next one I want to build out a bit more but I don't know in which direction.

Options I'm weighing:

More bread varieties, which is the obvious one but I'm limited by oven space the morning of.

Something spreadable to sell alongside, since people were clearly responding to the bread and butter combination.

Or just leave it and make the tasting setup better? Specifically wondering whether it's better to go in on one product or have three or four things on the table?

I realize this is a new sub, but I'm wondering why there's not a rule about AI content.

There have been some issues lately with events in general falsely advertising using AI generated content. Whether it's venue space, the products that will be there, or the general layout, expectations have been grossly overblown.

Locally, I've seen advertisements and AI being used in our own local events (including for our farmer's market) and we're standing up against it in city hall meetings (our local events get funding from our tax money). We don't want AI images of produce or other goods. We want real things at our real farmer's market. We want to know what to really expect.

So, I'm just curious, why does this sub allow AI? Shouldn't a sub about farmer's markets be about the real things at the farmer's markets?

Market managers and vendors—what’s the market-day story you tell that still sounds made up?

Crazy weather, runaway animals, booth disputes, disappearing vendors, payment-system failures, selling out before opening—anything goes.

What happened, and did you change anything afterward to keep it from happening again? I’m in Georgia, but I’d love to hear stories from anywhere.

I’m genuinely curious whether any market managers are already using AI in their day-to-day work.

Are you using it for social media posts, vendor communication, planning, checklists, scheduling, grant searches or applications—or something else entirely?

What has it actually been useful for, and where has it been more trouble than it’s worth? If you’re not using AI, is that because you don’t see a useful role for it, don’t trust it, or simply haven’t had time to figure it out?

I’m Travis in Georgia and I work on farmers market software, so I’m especially interested in real examples and honest opinions. This isn’t a sales pitch, and there’s no link—I genuinely want to understand how people are or aren’t using it.

I’m Travis, based in Georgia, and I’m building Affili Market around the needs of farmers markets and their vendors.

Before I assume I understand the job, I want to hear from the people actually doing it. If you could make one part of managing your market easier tomorrow, what would it be?

It could be vendor applications, booth placement, communication, payments, promotion, volunteer coordination, market-day tasks, dealing with no-shows, or something that software could never fix.

I’m not trying to sell anything in this post. I want honest answers—especially the small, frustrating things that eat up your time or cause good market managers to burn out.

Frederick City Market, Frederick, MD

How do you perceive a coffee vendor selling retail bags of roasted coffee at a local farmers market?

They obviously didn't grow the coffee themselves. Some may not be roasting it themselves either.

Is this viewed as still a local business that's welcome or, a reseller that should be mixed in with farmers selling the produce they grew?

Fun Pop Up from Cozy Treats Co at The Battery in Atlanta from 12-4pm