YEAR-ROUND ALLEN FARMERS MARKET EVERY WEDNESDAY
Every week at the Allen Farmers Market is a little different. To learn more about this week’s activities, what vendors to expect and for more information click on: THIS WEEK AT THE MARKET.
Connect with us on social media! We’re actively posting on Instagram and Facebook and love engaging with our neighbors there.
APPLY FOR THE 2024 SUMMER SEASON!
This year marks the 20th summer season of the Allen Farmers Market!
The season starts May 15 through October 30, 2024 and the Market takes over both the parking lot under the beautiful mural on the corner of Shepard and E Kalamazoo Streets as well as inside the Greatroom (1629 E Kalamazoo). You can expect weekly live entertainment, diverse food and produce vendors, community partners and engagement and an overall fun vibe to do your weekly shopping at.
Are you interested in adding to our Market? Applications are now open for produce vendors, food producers, craft vendors and entertainment! We are always accepting applications, however, greater consideration will be given to the submissions we receive by March 10, 2024, so don’t delay and apply today! Please follow the appropriate link below for consideration:
Farmer/Food Vendor Application
Entertainment Application to Perform at the Market
Craft Vendor Application
Any questions and/or for more information, you can contact Market Manager, Jenny at (517) 999-3911 or email jennyw@allenneighborhoodcenter.org.
2024 WINTER SEASON
Allen Farmers Market is Lansing’s only year-round farmers market with 13+ diverse food vendors to shop from. We are in our Fall/Winter Season (November 1, 2023 – May 8, 2024), in which you can find us in the Great Room indoors every Wednesday from 3 – 6:30 pm.
Visit us for your weekly grocery shopping for fresh produce from urban and small rural mid-Michigan farms, the highest quality meat, cheeses, artisan baked breads and gluten-free baked goods, eggs, coffee and more.
Meet a friend for dinner in the mezzanine looking over the farmers market, or in the conference room near the market bank before or after your grocery shopping, with an array of different dinner options to choose from in the Rathbun Accelerator Kitchen and Maker Kitchen powered by Lake Trust; such as Ethiopian/Eritrean food from Teff-rific, Chinese food from Hong Kong Restaurant, a variety of vegan, vegetarian and non-vegetarian sandwiches and burgers from Picnic Food Truck and occasionally Southeast Asian fusion foods from Handheld Food Co.
Buying your groceries from the market strengthens your local food system by providing direct support to local growers and producers while ensuring that you’re getting the freshest food available, complete with a dose of community engagement and connection.
We accept a variety of payment options including debit and credit cards, SNAP, EBT, Double Up Food Bucks (matching up to $20!) and once Summertime approaches, we accept Senior and WIC Project FRESH.
Sign up for our weekly Market Alert to find out who and what will be at the market each week. For the indoor 2024 season, you can expect to see these vendors:
- Garner Food Group/Soulsa
Varieties of salsa - G3Food 4 All
Gluten-free & dairy-free baked goods, pizza crusts & a rotating menu - Grazing Fields
Eggs, pork, lamb, honey & maple syrup - Hillcrest Farms
Asian salad mix, kale, microgreens, baby lettuce salad, carrots, potatoes, onions, apples, beet greens, romaine & brussel sprouts - Hickory Knolls Farms Creamery
Goat & cow milk cheeses, goat milk & (pre-ordered) goat meat - Hometown Hone
Knife, scissors & tool sharpening - Mycophile’s Garden
Wild & cultivated mushrooms, mushroom tinctures, mushroom jerky, mushroom tea blends - Nature’s 92
Wildcrafted sea moss products: smoothies, gel, soap & more - Naughty Goat Farm
Hand rolled pasta, jams and jellies, freeze dried produce & candy - Picnic Food Truck
Vegan, vegetarian, and non-veg sandwiches, burgers & fries - Stone Circle Bakehouse
The freshest breads and pastries - Teff-rific
Ethiopian/Eritrean cuisine (prepared in our Incubator Kitchen) - The Fresh Grinds
Single cups of brewed coffee & bags of roasted coffee - Titus Farms
Root vegetables, dry beans, onions, potatoes, leeks, cabbage & more - Tomac Pumpkins – Starter plants, maple syrup, honey
If you are interested in applying to be a vendor or entertainer for the 2024 Summer Season (May 15 – October 30, 2024) please follow the appropriate links below and keep in mind that while we are always accepting applications, greater consideration will be given for submissions that we receive by March 10, 2024:
Farmer/Food Vendor Application
Entertainment Application to Perform at the Market
Craft Vendor Application
For folks that may want to be involved in the Allen Farmers Market as a food vendor, or for more information, contact Jenny at (517) 999-3911 or email jennyw@allenneighborhoodcenter.org.
FIND THESE VENDORS IN THE ACCELERATOR KITCHEN:
Mr. Leslie’s Cheesecakes
Different varieties of cheesecake
Tantay
Authentic Peruvian Cuisine
Hong Kong
Chinese food, including dumplings, steamed buns, and crab rangoons
It’s the support from our stakeholders that allow us to provide resources and activities for our community each week and improve the functionality and accessibility of the Market. Thank you to our 2023 Allen Farmers Market Sponsors!
Festival Sponsors
Day Sponsors
COVID-19 Precautions
- We encourage mask wearing however, they are not mandatory.
- Please be mindful of your proximity to others and limit touching of products as well as the number of people in your shopping party.
- Practice patience & grace with your neighbors.
- Thank you for shopping local!
Our Mission
We will create a sustainable market that, as part of a larger food system, will provide a) all Eastside residents with access to affordable, locally-grown produce and other locally processed foods and b) small local farmers and artisans with an economically viable market for their goods. Most importantly, we will build rural-urban connections and grower-neighbor friendships that contribute to a secure and equitable food system.
Our History
Our first market season in 2004 was just 10 weeks long, featuring 4 female farmers. In 2005, we became the first market in Michigan to accept EBT/SNAP food assistance! We have increased our accessibility to our widely diverse neighbors by accepting a variety of payment options, including SNAP/EBT, year-round Double Up Food Bucks, WIC and Market Fresh coupons, and credit/debit cards.
Allen Farmers Market has grown into a thriving weekly market that provides our neighborhood with access to fresh produce and other delicious products, a convivial atmosphere to visit with neighbors, and opportunities to engage with each other and share diverse resources and perspectives.
Our Values
- Place. We seek to serve the residents of the Eastside and the growers closest to Lansing’s urban center and to strengthen Eastside neighborhoods and the local economy.
- Diversity. We seek to offer a diversity of produce and products for sale at the market, and to ensure that the vendors, volunteers, and shoppers reflect the economic, demographic, and cultural diversity of the Eastside neighborhoods.
- Inclusiveness. We seek to engage the rich diversity of our community, and will not tolerate behavior that discriminates on the basis of age, race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, physical handicap, national origin, ethnicity, citizenship, marital status, parental status (including pregnancy), disability, height, weight, political affiliation, and membership in any labor organization.
- Balance. We seek to balance economic, social, environmental, and educational concerns in all market decisions and activity. No single set of concerns will dominate; each will improve the others.
- Scale. We seek to maintain the “personality” of the market. The market will not grow beyond what is necessary to fulfill its mission. We will grow slowly in order to retain a friendly, intimate atmosphere.
- Justice. We seek to build a food system that provides healthy, affordable food to low income urban residents and a fair return to small and/or organic farmers, populations that have been largely ignored by the industrial food system.
- Community. We seek to create a social space in which neighbors can make and strengthen friendships as well as a forum where urban consumers can build relationships with rural growers.
CONNECT WITH US!
Sign up for our Market Alert to find out who and what will be at the market each week.
For more information about the Allen Farmers Market, contact:
Jenny Wagemann, Farmers Market Manager at 517-999-3911 or jennyw@allenneighborhoodcenter.org