05/09/2026
🍎 Small Market, Big Heart: The Magic of Ellettsville Farmers Market! 🥕
Behind every vibrant Saturday morning in Ellettsville, there is a dedicated team of volunteers working tirelessly to keep our community fed and connected. Today, we’re pulling back the curtain to share why this market is so special—and why we need your help to keep the positivity growing.
🚜 Supporting Local Roots
We are thrilled to see more and more local farms joining us for our 3rd season. From fresh-picked produce and eggs to local meats these vendors bring the very best of Indiana right to your doorstep. Vendors such as Birdie & The Bees Farm , Stanger Farms, Harvest Moon Winery & Farms , Deck Family Farms, Brothers Produce and others will join us as the growing season moves forward and more vegetables become available. This is a first for the market to have so many farms join us and we are thrilled they have chosen us. Just because they don't have some items now, doesn't mean they won't at future markets. These farms are local, within Monroe and Owen Counties, keeping your money supporting your neighbors.
💸 A Boost for All of Ellettsville
The impact of the market goes far beyond our vendor stalls. When you come downtown for the market, you aren't just buying vegetables, crafts or sweets; you’re grabbing coffee nearby, visiting local shops, and keeping our downtown area bustling. The existence of the market drives foot traffic that benefits all our neighboring downtown businesses. When the market thrives, Ellettsville thrives!
❤️ Keeping it Accessible (But Not Free to Run)
We want to be transparent: The Ellettsville Farmers Market is free for both vendors and the community because it's sponsored by a local business. We believe in removing barriers so our local economy can thrive. However, "free" to attend doesn't mean it's free to run. To keep the market safe and successful, our sponsor manages costs for:
Essential Insurance (to keep our space safe for everyone)
Advertising (so we can bring in more shoppers for our vendors)
Logistics & Support (the hard work that happens behind the scenes)
⚠️ A Critical Moment for Our Market
Lately, we’ve noticed a bit of negativity circulating. We understand that growth comes with challenges, but we want to be very direct with our community: Without your active support and a shift in momentum, this market will cease to exist at the end of this season.
Our volunteers put in many hours a week responding to questions from existing vendors, new vendors and guests while doing their full-time jobs. Sometimes over 100 emails will be answered in a week and maintaining a schedule for over 75 vendors that move in and out of our market throughout the season and adding new ones too. We do not require contracts or minimum days to set up like in other nearby cities. Our vendors show up every week because they believe in Ellettsville and want to offer their items to our community but the online negativity towards the market by calling it a craft fair or saying there is never any produce means we cannot continue without the full backing of the town we serve. Losing the market wouldn't just affect our vendors—it would mean less foot traffic for our entire downtown and sending dollars to other areas that our community desperately needs here.
🙌 How You Can Help
Our volunteers and vendors show up for you every week. You can show up for them by:
Coming to the market! Buying local is the best way to support our vendors and downtown.
Spreading the word! Like, share, and tag a friend who needs a market trip. Your positive word of mouth helps more than anything.
Choosing Kindness! A simple "thank you" to a vendor for setting up each week goes a long way.
Let’s keep Ellettsville and the Ellettsville Farmers Market growing together—while we still can. 🌻
