History of the Search for a Permanent Location

Written By Emily Lysen

The Lawrence Farmers Market began as a pop-up in a parking lot in 1976 and currently operates on a city‐owned parking lot in Downtown Lawrence, experiencing significant development pressure. In recent years, significant development activity has occurred on adjacent lots, causing disruption, loss of visibility, and uncertainty at the market. The current location lacks many amenities like water, power, community gathering space, consistent marketing, bathroom access, etc. that we hope to alleviate with a permanent location.

Detailed History of the Project

2015 -

  • “The City-Wide Cultural Plan for Lawrence, Kansas” identified “the need to support our local markets as places of cultural diversity”. The plan presents the need for an activity hub, which could use a farmers market as an anchor tenant.

  • Lawrence Farmers Market brought permanent location idea and concerns to the Douglas County Food Policy Council (DCFPC)

  • DCFPC members researched similar communities to Lawrence

  • Sustainability Office staff and DCFPC members researched funding opportunities for a study

  • USDA Farmers Market Promotion Program grant awarded

2016 -

  • DCFPC hired National Consultant SCALE (Sequestering Carbon, Accelerating Local Economies) for a year-long farmers market sector analysis

  • SCALE conducted two site visits and community outreach in Douglas County

2017 -

  • SCALE report released with community workshop: “The Farmers Markets of Douglas County, Kansas: Synopsis of Findings and Recommendations”

    • Recommended Actions:

      • Convene a meeting of the market leaders from all six markets with the goal of developing strategies to strengthen the county’s farmers markets. Building from that meeting, plan and launch a county-wide initiative to substantially broaden the base of ‘local foods shoppers’, with a particular focus on farmers markets.

      • Significantly increase the average purchases existing customers make at farmers markets in the county through a number of strategies.

      • Develop and implement a plan for off-season outreach to the community, including media, social media, joint events with chefs and restaurants, and targeted outreach to 20–30 businesses, civic groups, and informal associations of people.

      • Work with market leadership, key vendors and committed customers to develop improved communications between markets and their customers.

      • Create a working group to definitively deal with the “location issue” for the downtown market within the next two to three years, involving market leaders, vendors, committed customers and key city and county staff.

      • Develop a policy agenda, including both state and local policies and regulations, which promotes local food consumption, and specifically, enables farmers markets and vendors to compete more effectively with more traditional market venues.

      • County markets identified marketing as a priority and created Farmers Markets of Kaw Valley (currently defunct).

  • Lawrence Farmers Market vendor members generated a list of “needed” and “wanted” attributes for their ideal market at the Spring Vendor Meeting

  • Lawrence Farmers Market’s Long Range Planning Committee established 10 Priorities for a permanent location (in ranking order of importance):

    • Downtown Location

    • Pavilion

    • Permanent Signage

    • Electricity

    • Access to Water & Drainage

    • Parking for Vendors & Customers

    • Entertainment/Educational Area

    • Restrooms

    • Lighting

    • Consistent Stall Sizes

  • The Douglas County Food System Plan was adopted, including Policy 1.3.1 identifying the need to “Invest in signage, shared infrastructure, and coordinated marketing to support Douglas County farmers markets”.

  • DCFPC set new full council focus on downtown farmers market permanence

  • Sustainability Office intern initiated a Farmers Market Scan to learn lessons from other farmers markets to inform the path forward for a permanent location of the Lawrence Farmers Market.

  • Sustainability Office staff conducted a survey of other farmers markets and if they contained the 10 Priorities; A convenience sampling technique was used to identify markets that were housed in a pavilion at least one market day a week.

2018 -

  • The draft of “Comprehensive Plan for the City of Lawrence” established Goal 1.5 of Food Systems Development under Chapter 7: Community Resources to, “Guide the expansion of local farmers markets throughout the community as feasible.” *see 2019 adopted plan update for final release & link

  • Sustainability staff and the Long Range Planning Committee prepared to include the Lawrence Farmers Market’s permanent location in the Lawrence Downtown Master Plan.

  • Sustainability Office released SCAN report: “Farmers Market Scan: Key Lessons from Other Markets”: “The report finds market success often relies on public-private partnerships and strong collaboration between the market and community stakeholders for markets to become well established”.

    • Recommended Actions:

      • Markets as a part of community planning efforts

      • Adaptation of public infrastructure

      • Shared financing

2019 -

  • “Plan 2040: A Comprehensive Plan for Unincorporated Douglas County & The City of Lawrence” released. While Goal 1.5 was removed in the final release, there are other goals that still focus on building a permanent location for the Lawrence Farmers Market.

    • Chapter 7: Section E: Food Systems Development:

      • “VISION: Create a robust local food system that enriches producers and consumers, and that bolsters our communities’ health, wealth, and resilience”.

      • Goal 1.1 “Consider the goals and policies of the Food Policy Council when creating land use plans and reviewing development applications”.

      • Goal 1.2 “Strengthen collaboration among public, private, and community partners to ensure a robust food system”.

      • Goal 2.1 “Develop support for economic development and business support services tailored to a diversified agricultural system, including infrastructure and value-added agricultural production”.

      • Goal 3. “Enhance connectivity to the built environment to promote healthy food access through the planning process”.

  • Lawrence Farmers Market awarded a USDA Farmers Market Promotion Program grant “Plowing New Ground:  Capacity building for expansion of the Lawrence Farmers Market” to position the Board of Directors and partners to design a long‐term location for the market.

2020 - Due to many constraints from the 2020 pandemic (job changes, meeting logistics, Board changeover, focusing on adapting the farmers market, etc.), many key partnerships built into this grant and long term project were lost, timelines and goals had to change, and many new relationships had to be forged.

2021 -

  • Lawrence Farmers Market hired Director of Development, first full-time staff member, using USDA funds to work on the permanent location project, expansive marketing, and outreach.

  • Lawrence Farmers Market hired local architectural consultants Clark Huesemann, using USDA funds, to begin the pre-planning phase for the permanent location search.

  • Lawrence Farmers Market’s Long-Term Planning Committee (renamed from the Long Range Planning Committee) reformed.

  • City of Lawrence’s “Downtown Lawrence Plan” released.

    • Pages 78-79: “To resolve these issues, the City should consider investing in a permanent outdoor event space to better accommodate the Farmer’s Market and limit the number of on-street events and disruptions to traffic and safety.”

    • Multiple sites were identified as potential sites for a permanent home for the Lawrence Farmers Market.

2022 -

  • Lawrence Farmers Market lost indoor bathroom and water access when the 888 Lofts sold.

  • Preliminary key stakeholders and partners were identified for helping to identify a permanent location.

  • Director of Development began outreach and engagement with various organizations and partners around the city.

  • City of Lawrence staff determined the Parks Recreation and Culture department to be the key partner for finding city-owned property for a permanent location.

  • Director of Development joined the City of Lawrence’s Unmistakable Identity working group, aimed at helping to advance the Key Performance Indicators of the “City of Lawrence’s Strategic Plan” (adopted 2020).

  • Pre-pre-planning meeting with various City of Lawrence staff to talk about potential site locations for a permanent location.

  • Director of Development joined the Douglas County Food Policy Council.

  • Lawrence Farmers Market established a Douglas County Community Foundation Endowment Fund.

2023 -

  • Director of Development became Chair of the Douglas County Food Policy Council.

  • Lawrence Farmers Market continued outreach and engagement to build partnerships in the community and strengthen educational programs.

2024 -

  • City of Lawrence staff requested a project cost estimate and community engagement through a feasibility study.

  • Lawrence Farmers Market began seeking funding for a feasibility study and community engagement process through various asks and grant applications.

  • Draft of the City of Lawrence “Parks and Recreation Master Plan” included R166.7 “Identify and develop space for a Farmer’s Market”.

  • DCFPC committed to advocating for securing funding and ensuring the permanent location project’s successful completion, communication with stakeholders and partners, and community engagement.

2025 -

  • Through support from the City of Lawrence Parks, Recreation, and Culture staff, Lawrence Farmers Market applied for a Capital Improvement Plan to fund the feasibility study and community engagement process.

    • A rough estimate had to be included for all phases of the project: $5.9 million.

  • The City of Lawrence’s Parks, Recreation, and Culture Department released “Parks Recreation and Culture Master Plan”.

    • Program Recommendations:

      • 4.2 Strengths and Needs: Facility Needs: “Identify and develop space for a Farmer’s Market”.

      • 5.2.3 Potential New Core Program Areas / Program Recommendations: Cooking Classes: “Developing a formalized partnership with the Lawrence Farmers Market could be a great place to start as they offer the venue and built-in ways to connect with local businesses and growers”.

      • Appendix L: Stakeholder Report: Overarching Strategies to Explore to Reach the Vision: Current Signature Events of Lawrence: Lawrence Farmers Market.

  • The City of Lawrence became an official partner on the feasibility study and finding Lawrence Farmers Market a permanent home.

  • Douglas County became an official partner in the feasibility study and in their staff support through the DCFPC.

  • Lawrence Farmers Market was awarded a Kansas Healthy Foods Initiative Predevelopment Technical Assistance grant to fund a feasibility study & community engagement phase.

  • The Long-Term Planning Committee expanded to include more vendor members.

  • The Long-Term Planning Committee created a sub-committee: The Steering Committee to meet more regularly.

  • A Partner Committee was created with city and county staff to meet monthly.

  • August 9th: Community Engagement began with tabling at the farmers market!

Emily Lysen
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Holiday Farmers Market 2024