Did you know?

We’re Looking for a Permanent Location for the Lawrence Farmers Market

We want your input! Scroll down to learn why we’re looking for a new location, what our top priorities are, and how you can get involved.

Project History

The Lawrence Farmers Market currently operates on a city‐owned parking lot in Downtown Lawrence, experiencing significant development pressure.

For over a decade, our Board of Directors & Staff have been working on securing a Permanent Location. You can learn more about this work by exploring a detailed history of the project.

Explore the Historical Project Timeline

A Place We Can Call Home

Lawrence Farmers Market is the oldest operating farmers market in Kansas, starting as a pop-up in the parking lot of the Chamber of Commerce in 1976. Since then, the market has changed location multiple times, always as a temporary pop-up in city-owned parking lots.

Due to ever-increasing pressure from development in Downtown Lawrence, the farmers market has lost visibility, bathroom access, storage access, parking access, and stability for the 75+ vendor members and the thousands of weekly customers. Disruption from construction projects and other community events contribute to the uncertainty and instability for market staff for planning, marketing, and sustainability.

In addition to these various challenges, the increasing volatility of the Kansas weather increases the need for a covered pavilion structure to improve the experience for vendors and shoppers alike.

A Bold Vision for Our Community

A new permanent location with a pavilion structure will address all the issues listed above and enable the Lawrence Farmers Market to host its events on one site, continuing to professionalize, grow, and serve as a welcoming community gathering space for everyone in the Lawrence area.

In addition to the benefits to the market itself, this project can be a mixed-use city-owned pavilion and event space that can alleviate the need to close off downtown streets, benefiting a significant number of citizens and other community organizations.

Our Top 10 Priorities for Our Permanent Location

Our Long-Term Planning Committee has developed the following top ten priorities for our new location. As we begin Phase 1 of our Community Engagement plan, please consider these priorities and share your feedback at one of our in-person engagement sessions or through our online survey (coming soon).

1. Downtown Location
2. Pavilion
3. Permanent Signage
4. Electricity
5. Access to Water & Drainage
6. Parking for Vendors & Customers
7. Community Gathering Area
8. Restrooms
9. Lighting
10. Consistent Stall Sizes

How Can You Get Involved?

The Community Engagement Plan:

Phase 1: Kick-Off & Discovery: Stakeholder mapping, landing page launch, initial conversations and interviews

Phase 2: Listening & Visioning: Workshops, focus groups, site tours, pop-ups, ongoing survey & analysis

Phase 3: Concept Development: Draft concepts, advisory committee reviews, open house for public input

Phase 4: Refinement & Reporting: Refine preferred concept, finalize report & recommendations, present to stakeholders & City

Participate in Our Community Engagement

We invite you, our community members, to share your feedback on our permanent location search. We are planning on 5 months (August-December) of Community Engagement through in-person tabling at events, Community Town Halls, presentations to community groups, and an online survey. See the schedule of Community Engagement Events here.

Donate to our 501c3 nonprofit

Help us keep this project alive and achieve our goal of securing a permanent location, sustaining our local food system, and fostering a thriving downtown. Be a part of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

Now through August 31:

Donate to our mid-year grant through Douglas County Community Foundation.

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Receive updates directly to your inbox via email to stay informed about this project!

Project Partnerships

This project would not be possible without the generous support of the City of Lawrence, Douglas County, Douglas County Food Policy Council, Kansas Healthy Foods Initiative, the Vendor Members and Board of Directors of the Lawrence Farmers Market, and our community like you!

Thank you to Clark Huesemann for countless hours leading the pre-planning, planning, and design phases of this project. Thank you to Wild Acres Media and Emily Henry Photography for all of the work on helping to create and tell our story to the community. Thank you to the Douglas County Food Policy Council for supporting this project for over 10 years!