The farm is closed for the season and there are swirling flurries of snow in the air, so what better way to shake us out of hibernation than to reminisce on the fifth season of The Huss Project Farmer’s Market? Since 2020 our market has blossomed into a vibrant gathering space for neighbors to come together and share food, music, art, and community. This year was no exception as we filled each Saturday market with exciting additions alongside traditional favorites. It was a joy to open our doors and our farm for tasting, shopping, and exploring, and we are already pining for and daydreaming of warmer months ahead!
This season’s market featured 16 vendors, and included new additions Elaine’s Herbs and Bees, Bougie Bark’ry, plus a few intrepid kid bakers. Local vendors were on site weekly with produce, scones, maple syrup, cookies, coffee, eggs, spices, and more. The 2024 market season had over $36,000 in gross sales, which continues to steadily rise each year!
This summer the Imaginarium underwent a makeover as we installed French doors opening from the north wall out into the pavilion. Not only did this make accessing the building easier for book shoppers or visits to the restrooms, but it also made it possible to utilize more of the space than ever before. With the new doors in place, we were able to move our baked good vendors inside, provide a second point-of-sale, offer cafe-style seating, and open our community rummage sale.
The Imaginarium isn’t the only part of the Huss building receiving a transformation, though. During our July Second Saturday Farmer’s Market we celebrated with the community as The Huss Project was one of 25 recipients to receive the $50,000 T-Mobile Hometown Grant. This grant money will go toward renovating part of our building for a community bike shop—repairing used bikes with and for our neighbors, developing an “Earn-a-Bike” youth program with partners, and more. As part of the special event, there was a check presentation, bike parade, live music, and food vendors.
While each Saturday farmer’s market we spend together is special, the Second Saturday markets in 2024 took it to another level with live musicians, Three River’s Artist Guild vendors, food demonstrations, local food trucks, musical storybooks, farm tours, and children’s activities. Members of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra performed musical accompaniments to favorite children’s books such as The Pigeon has to go to School and The Carnival of the Animals. Other featured live performers for Second Saturdays were local artists Mick Kolassa, Lvnmuziq, and Faux Beamage.
Our annual Back to School Celebration (once a part of Future Festival) now happens during the August Second Saturday market, and this year was bigger than ever! Events throughout the day included musical performances by the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra and Faux Beamage, a Community Carnival, and Mema’s Kitchen food truck. We featured information and activities provided by local organizations, and even apple barrel train rides for the kids. To top it all off, we were able to hand out 500 backpacks filled with school supplies to any school-aged child in need.
Although our last official market happens at the end of September, we hosted a special market day in October for the 2024 Fall Color Tour. In addition to our usual market fare, we had cider and popcorn, urban farm tours, a book giveaway and scavenger hunt in partnership with Great Start, and even noisy visits with our sheep!
Things are a bit quieter around our urban farm during these frigid Michigan winter months, but we are eagerly anticipating the warmth of spring sunshine, as well as the 2025 Farmer’s Market so we can share more food, art, and music with you, our neighbors. Thank you to everyone who came out to participate in the market this year! Your support is what makes The Huss Project continue to flourish each season, and we could not do it without you.
We will see you in June!