American Farmland Trust kicks off its 16th annual America’s Farmer’s Market Celebration today. The event celebrates and ranks the top farmer’s markets in the U.S. as voted on by the public.
Since 2008, the America’s Farmer’s Market Celebration has highlighted the key role farmers markets play in communities across the nation while celebrating the farmers, staff and volunteers that make markets possible. While they have long served as pillars of local food in urban centers and town squares, in recent years, farmers markets have gained the national recognition they deserve as essential businesses that power farmers and communities to thrive.
“Farmers markets are a fun and delicious way for everyone to get the freshest food available, connect with farmers and learn the story of how the food has been grown. In so many cases, these markets are critical to ensuring the economic success and longevity of the farms and ranches around us,” said Beth Sauerhaft, American Farmland Trust acting president. “So this week and every week, please go visit a farmers market and support these folks who grow our delicious and nutritious food!”
The 16th annual celebration will run on a condensed timeframe in 2024, between June 1 and July 31, 2024, on its newly redesigned and branded website. The summer event is a fun competition that helps farmers’ markets across the country earn national recognition and local prestige. Markets can join the celebration and encourage their customers to vote on who should win a piece of the $15,000 prize pool.
The breakdown of prize money is as follows: $5,000 for first, $2,500 for second, $1,500 for third, $750 for fourth, $250 for fifth, and $100 for first in each state. In addition to the prize money, the top markets also receive national and local press coverage, complimentary American Farmland Trust, No Farms No Food gear, and other surprises!
The event also identifies the top markets in each state and the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, and Pacific regions.
“The excitement that this competition created was something like I have never seen before at our farmers market,” said Chris Delprince, Market Manager at North Tonawanda City Market, the 2023 first-place winner. “From the farmers, vendors, media, community, businesses, and people both young and old, everyone was all on board. As the Market Manager, for me it was all about the creation of a tremendous marketing opportunity that would generate great exposure for the market. It was such a beautiful thing to see how people came together to support our market. Thanks to the American Farmers Trust for providing us with a platform to showcase all the incredible happenings at the North Tonawanda City Market. The exposure from this has brought in shoppers from all over the Western New York region that have never been to our market.”
New this year, AFT staff will be on the road popping up at farmers markets across the country, and new America’s Farmer’s Market Celebration merchandise will be up for grabs for everyone through a sweepstakes with Edible Communities coming soon.
AFT has implemented modified rules for the 2024 event, which includes vote buying being strictly prohibited and enforcing respectful behavior among all participants.
The America’s Farmer’s Market Celebration database and interactive map on markets.farmland.org is one of the largest listings of farmers markets in the United States, containing more than 7,000 market entries.