2023 Applications are Open!

Vendor applications are now open! We are so excited to head into another season supporting local farmers and makers at our 3 neighborhood farmers markets - Fulton, Nokomis, and Kingfield.

Click here to apply for a market. You'll need to create or log into your Manage My Market profile first. More information and resources for vendors can be found here.

We are always looking for new, innovative and diverse products. BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ and other business owners who are underrepresented in food, farming and small business are strongly encouraged to apply. New for 2023, we're excited to offer scholarships to new and returning BIPOC vendors - more information and application can be found here.

2022 Recap

Hello friend,  

January is a powerful time to reflect on the year before and set goals and intentions for the year to come. After two challenging years, 2022 was a big year for learning, making new connections, and strengthening existing relationships at Neighborhood Roots. We would like to take a moment to highlight some changes and celebrate successes that happened in 2022!

• The Neighborhood Roots board made the tough decision to suspend the Nokomis Farmers Market (read more about that decision here) for the 2022 season to focus on fundraising and strategic planning. 

• The Hale Page Diamond Lake Neighborhood Association and surrounding neighbors stepped up BIG to support two pop-up fundraising markets! These markets were a huge success and raised nearly $4,000! See below for more details about the RETURN of the Nokomis Farmers Market! 

• We saw some staffing transitions this year, and welcomed new Development and Administrative Manager Mara Wack, Market Manager Erica Lanning, and Kingfield Market Day Staff Beth Bambery. All three hit the ground running supporting our vendors, customers, partners, and volunteers!

• We had a dedicated group of volunteers who helped set-up/tear-down market tents, tables and chairs, welcomed market guests, assisted staff at the info booth. 

• Our small but mighty volunteer Board of Directors worked to strengthen neighborhood ties, support staff, build a new website, bring back the annual vendor appreciation breakfast, and volunteer weekly at the markets—along with many other behind-the-scenes tasks.

• We supported just over 70 small businesses and farms over our 50 market days. 

• Between two markets, we saw record-high EBT sales, with approximately $6,000 in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) sales and $9,000 matched in Market Bucks and Produce Market Bucks thanks to our partnership with Hunger Solutions.

• With Twin Cities Food Justice’s help, vendors donated over 5,800 pounds of fresh produce to local food banks. 

• The Kingfield Farmers Market spent its second year at its new home at Rev. Dr. MLK Jr. Park. We are grateful for this space and the connection to the green space, courts, parks, and pool. Thank you to Minneapolis Parks and Recreation for hosting us and to Inner City Tennis for providing us with a space to store our abundance of market supplies.

• Fulton Farmers Market ran for its 13th season at Lake Harriet United Methodist Church. Thanks to LHUMC and Fulton Neighborhood Association for their partnership and support!

• We received record-high donations of over $10,500 from community members and market patrons. You know who you are!

We need to keep this momentum as we go into the 2023 market season! Please continue to sponsor, donate, volunteer, and SHOP at the markets! 

In health,

Neighborhood Roots
https://www.neighborhoodrootsmn.org/

Monthly Winter Markets @ Bachman’s

Join us for 3 cozy indoor markets inside Bachman’s greenhouse! These markets are a great way to support your favorite vendors, not to mention a welcome reprieve from chilly weather. In addition to great shopping, we’re excited to offer beer, music, and fun kids’ activities.

Select Saturdays, 10 am - 2 pm, at Bachman’s, 6010 Lyndale Ave

January 14, 2023

February 4, 2023

March 14, 2023

Vendor Roster (alphabetical):

Amazing Momo: January 14, February 4

Anga Mangia Granola Me!: February 4, March 11

Autumn Carolynn Photography: January 14, February 4, March 11

Atacama Catering: January 14, February 4, March 11

Blugirl Soapworks: January 14, February 4, March 11

Cafe Palmira: January 14, February 4, March 11

Cakejam: January 14, February 4, March 11

Cosmic Wheel Creamery/Turnip Rock Farm: February 4, March 11

Crankosaurus Press: March 11

Davidson’s Farm: March 11

Dancing the Land Farm: January 14, February 4, March 11

DBL Creations: February 4, March 11

Eat Me Bakery: February 4, March 11

For They Skincare & Wellness: January 14, February 4, March 11

Foxtail Farm: January 14

Fruit & Grain: January 14, February 4, March 11

GoGo Glam Household Goods: January 14, February 4, March 11

Groveland Confections: January 14, February 4, March 11

Havlicek’s Orchard: March 11

Heart and Soil Ridge: January 14, March 11

i.e design handmade: January 14, February 4

Johnson Family Pastures: January 14, February 4, March 11

Kiss My Cabbage: January 14, February 4, March 11

Krishna’s Delight: March 11

LoveTree Farmstead Cheese: January 14, February 4, March 11

Mary Dirty Face Farm: January 14

Minnesota Food Forest: January 14, February 4, March 11

MN MAKE: January 14, February 4, March 11

Mr. Fuzz’s Fiery Foods: March 11

Nokomis Knitting Company: February 4

Num Nuts: January 14, February 4, March 11

Peter's Pumpkins & Carmen's Corn: January 14, February 4, March 11

R&R Cultivation: January 14, February 4, March 11

Schmickle Co: January 14, March 11

Squirrel!: January 14, March 11

Sweet T's Bakery: January 14, February 4, March 11

Walsh Ridge Farm: January 14, February 4, March 11

Wild Run Salmon: January 14, February 4, March 11

WOW Kombucha: January 14, February 4, March 11

Wyrd Sisters: January 14, February 4, March 11

Yum Microgreens: January 14, February 4, March 11

Help Bring Back the Nokomis Farmers Market

In Winter 2022, Neighborhood Roots made the difficult decision to pause the Nokomis Farmers Market (read the full story here). After organizational restructuring and a focus on fundraising such as the Nokomis Pop-up Events and sponsor recruitment, the organization is in a better place and is working hard to bring the market back for the 2023 season.

Only 40% of our organization’s operating costs are covered via vendor fees. We keep vendor fees low to help incubate small farmers and new businesses, and we need your help to make up the difference!

There are two main ways to support the return of the market:

• Donations - We are so grateful for the support we received at the September 15th pop-up fundraising event. With the help of the HPDL neighborhood association, we are excited to be hosting one more pop-up event on October 13th! This event will be even bigger, with live music, beer from East Lake Brewery, food trucks, and your favorite farmers’ market vendors! So stop out, eat, shop, and donate! If you can’t attend our pop-up event and still want to donate, you can donate on our donation platform. As a 501c4 social welfare nonprofit, contributions or gifts to Neighborhood Roots are not tax deductible. However, your support is vitally important for the work that we do! Online donations are processed through Zeffy, a free fundraising platform, but you do not need a Zeffy account to donate via your credit card or bank account. Prefer to pay by check? Please send checks (payable to Neighborhood Roots) to P.O. Box 19307, Minneapolis, MN 55419.

• Sponsorship - Do you own a business in South Minneapolis or know someone who does? Consider becoming a farmers market sponsor! Sponsorships range from one-day markets, one market season, winter markets, or sponsoring all our markets!

Once the market returns, it doesn’t mean support should stop. Farmer’s Markets need continued support throughout the market season and the simplest way to support the markets is to SHOP at them! There is a delicate balance between having enough shoppers to support the efforts made by our farmers, crafters, bakers, and makers. We also understand that market goers want a variety of vendors to shop from. With neighborhood support, we can create a market that vendors want to sell at!

Attend the Nokomis Farmers Market Fundraising Pop-up Market!

• October 13th, 4pm - 6:30pm

• 52nd St & Chicago Ave

• Vendors, Artists, Live Music, Food Trucks, Beer from East Lake Brewery

• Thank you to Mark O’Hern Realty for sponsoring!

Ways to Support Your Market - Neighborhood Roots Update

Greetings!

As you may be aware, our organization contracted to one full time staff in 2021 and last winter the board took the difficult step of cancelling the 2022 Nokomis Farmers Market season. As an article in the Star Tribune laid out earlier this summer, we have been especially affected by the pandemic as well as challenged by both our staff leaving between December 2020 and March 2022. In re-hiring this spring, we chose to not re-fill the vacant Executive Director position, and instead focused our efforts on a full-time market manager and a part-time admin/development position. Please know that these structural decisions were not made lightly by the board. Indeed, we took the meaning of a “working” board to a new level as our five directors managed building a new website and selecting a new donation platform; solidifying relationships with the Minneapolis Park and Rec Board (our new Kingfield site hosts); running the last several winter markets of the season; and managing vendor selection and season prep for the 2022 Kingfield and Fulton markets without staff in place. We also successfully filled two long-term positions in time for the market season, Erica (full time Market Manager) and Mara (part time Development and Finance Manager). 

As we close this summer, the board remains deeply committed and involved alongside our fantastic and hardworking new staff. We were glad to recently welcome former market manager Sarah Woutat to the board, and are looking forward to welcoming back Lizzie Strait from maternity leave this month. Alongside our staff, we have seen great increase in year-over-year individual donors and sponsors, and are pursuing grant applications regularly. Kingfield, in particular, has been a terrific success this year at its new location in Martin Luther King, Jr. Park, and we’re proud to have retained many of our long-time vendors as well as welcomed a significant number of new non-white and women-owned farms and businesses to our markets this season. We are also proud to share that we have rekindled a relationship with the HPDL neighborhood association this summer and will lead two fundraisers with them this fall to further our efforts to bring back Nokomis in 2023, and that we will return for a winter market season at Bachman’s starting in November.  

We believe that the way Neighborhood Roots has evolved in 2022 will allow the organization to continue to rebuild and eventually thrive again. However, we are in a delicate situation at this time and we are looking to you, our veteran board members, for help. 

• Hiring multiple staff without a full bench of sponsorships has stretched our organizational finances.

  • Are you able to step up and make a one time donation or become a sustaining monthly donor? Our new donation platform makes this simple and has removed the burden of PayPal fees. Do you own a business in South Minneapolis or know someone who does? Consider becoming a farmers market sponsor! Sponsorships range from one-day markets, one market season, winter markets, or sponsoring all our markets!

• We currently do not keep an office space and are searching for off-season storage solutions.

  • Do you have a corner of a basement or garage that could serve as temporary or long term storage, especially nearby one of our current market sites? Ideally, we would love to secure a portable, enclosed trailer to support our abundance of market supplies.

• Neighborhood Roots is currently most in need of people power, both at markets and on the board to support our staff and plan a strong, vibrant 2023 season with all three markets.

  • We would love to see your name on an upcoming volunteer shift (especially a tear down shift at Fulton), or would welcome your renewed interest in joining the board. We are especially interested in connecting with anyone who would be interested in a leadership opportunity, joining our newly re-formed development committee, or participating in a Nokomis Market working group. Or if you have ideas about a potential new board member or volunteer, we would appreciate your reaching out to them with a personal ask.

If you have space in your life to give to these markets in any way, know that this is a crucial moment to step forward and ensure that these markets will continue serving our vendors and neighbors for years to come.  

Sincerely, 

Emily Ziring and Erin Swenson-Klatt, Co-chairs

Neighborhood Roots Board of Directors

Support Your market Raffle

Neighborhood Roots is excited to bring back our annual raffle after years of not having it due to Covid-19. This raffle is a fundraising event and funds raised will go towards supporting operational costs for the Kingfield, Fulton, and Nokomis Farmers Markets.

This year’s prizes will connect our market customers to the makers, bakers, farmers, and producers they love to see each week!! All prizes were generously donated by our amazing market vendors.

Prizes include:

1. Three-Course Farm-to-Table Dinner for 6 - Hosted by Foxtail Farm

2. Cooking Class for Four - Hosted by Jessica Tijerina w/ Tijerina Global Spices

3. 1 Night Glamping Experience (Monday - Thursday) - Hosted by Dancing the Land Farm

4. Farmers Market Gift Basket 1

5. Farmers Market Gift Basket 2

Each raffle ticket is $5 and patrons can pick which prize they want their ticket to go towards, but we recommend getting a ticket for each of these awesome prizes! ;)

Tickets can be purchased in-person at the Fulton Farmers Market on 7/16, 7/23, 7/30, 8/6, 8/13, or at the Kingfield Farmers Market on 7/17, 7/24, 7/31, 8/7, 8/14.

The drawing will be held on August 15th!

Hiring! Farmers Market Day Staff

Position:  Market Day Staff for Fulton and Kingfield Farmers Markets

Position Type: Seasonal/Part-time May through October

Compensation: $15.00/hour  

Reports to: Market Manager

Due: Priority deadline June 11. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

Start Date: Training begins the week of Jun 18, 2022

Neighborhood Roots operates the Fulton, Kingfield, & Nokomis Farmers Markets in South Minneapolis. Our mission is to bring neighbors together to buy, eat, and learn about local food. We support local farmers, promote vibrant community and locally owned businesses, and affect important changes in food and agriculture policy.

Overview: Market Day Staff assists with the day-to-day operations of the Neighborhood Roots farmers markets in order to serve its vendors, patrons, volunteers and sponsors. Neighborhood Roots oversees 3 community-based markets: Fulton, Kingfield, & Nokomis. Market dates and hours are listed below:

Fulton Farmers Market   Kingfield Farmers Market  

Saturdays 8:30am - 1pm       Sundays 8:30am - 1pm    

4901 Chowen Ave, Mpls   40th and Nicollet Ave S, Mpls    

Saturdays through October 29th        Sundays through October 30th       

Nokomis Farmers Market is on pause for the 2022 season.

Shifts include time before, during, and after the hours the markets are open to the public. Saturday & Sunday shift is 7am – 2:30pm. Shifts may end early if volunteers are scheduled to help. You can apply to one or two markets. Clearly state your preference in your application.

This is an outdoor position. The markets are open rain or shine. This position is suited to people who want to wake up early, spend time outside, and learn about our local food system.

Essential Functions:  

- Assist in physical market set-up and tear-down

- Provide on-site support to all vendors, patrons, musicians, artists, master gardener volunteers, and other community activity providers as needed

- Conduct SNAP-EBT, credit card, & merchandise sales

- Assist with bookkeeping and data tracking

- Support execution of special and weekly events including but not limited to demos, music, and family-friendly activities

- Ensure market supplies are kept well-stocked and organized

- Other reasonable duties as assigned to support the Market Manager and general market operations

Required Qualifications:

- Positive attitude

- Punctuality

- Excellent customer service skills

- Comfortable working outside in all weather conditions (hot/cold/rain/wind/etc)

- Ability to adjust to changing conditions and priorities

- Basic math skills

- Strong problem solving ability

- Able to accomplish tasks with limited direct supervision

- Able to effectively work with individuals from diverse backgrounds

- Must be able to routinely lift up to 50 lbs.

Preferred Qualifications

- Cash handling experience

- Experience working with volunteers

- Interest in sustainable agriculture, food justice, and local food policy

NEIGHBORHOOD ROOTS IS AN EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

committed to providing an environment of mutual respect where diversity is valued, supported and celebrated to benefit our vendors and customers. Women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, people of color, and people from indigenous communities are strongly encouraged to apply.

TO APPLY:

Send a cover letter and resume to erica@neighborhoodrootsmn.org

Star Tribune Article - They may not look like it, but FARMERS’ markets are struggling in Minneapolis

Check out this Star Tribune article that highlights the struggles that many farmers’ markets face… especially when it comes to raising funds.

To help support the market, please remember to donate, volunteer, or become a sponsor!

Nokomis Farmers Market Update

After careful consideration, the board of directors of Neighborhood Roots has decided to take Nokomis Farmers Market on hiatus for the 2022 market season. The organization is focusing on fundraising and strategic planning, as well as on the operations of their two other markets, Kingfield and Fulton Farmers Markets. With the support of vendors, donors, volunteers and other community partners, Neighborhood Roots hopes to bring back Nokomis Farmers Market in 2023.

Farmers markets are vital community gathering spaces. They build connections, improve livability, and provide food and other necessities to those who need them. They strengthen the local economy by growing and sustaining small businesses. We are lucky to have so many farmers markets in the Twin Cities, each with their own mission and organizational model. Neighborhood Roots is a local nonprofit that operates Fulton, Kingfield and Nokomis Farmers Markets. Our mission is to bring neighbors together to buy, eat and learn about local food. We support local farmers and small businesses, promote vibrant communities and affect important changes in food and agriculture policy.

Neighborhood Roots relies on fundraising from business sponsorships, grants and individual donations to maintain operations. Before the 2020 market season, fundraising comprised over half of the organization’s operating revenue. But in 2020, fundraising came in 40 percent below budget—a devastating statistic that dropped to nearly 70 percent in 2021, likely due to the pandemic’s similarly devastating impact on local businesses and their ability to sponsor the markets. To make up such a large budget deficit, the organization’s only options are to increase fees to vendors or to reduce operating expenses.

When deciding where to reduce operating expenses, the board analyzed the revenue and expenses for operating each of the three weekly markets. After extensive discussion, the board has made the difficult decision to suspend the Nokomis Farmers Market for the 2022 season. Putting a pause on Nokomis provides the organization the capacity to reset and strategize about how to come back stronger in 2023 through new and improved neighborhood partnerships, business sponsors and a deep bench of volunteers.

Thank you to our vendors and shoppers for making the market such a special community space for the last seven years. We also want to acknowledge the generous support of our community partners, including Hale Page Diamond Lake Community Organization, Field Regina Northrop Neighborhood Group, Heather’s Restaurant and First Free Church.

The Neighborhood Roots board of directors did not make this decision lightly. Farmers rely on all three markets to sell their produce, and small vendors rely on markets like Nokomis Farmers Market to launch and sustain their business dreams. But without reliable sources of funding for the 2022 season, it would be fiscally irresponsible for the board to continue to operate beyond our current capacity. We fully intend to bring back Nokomis Farmers Market in 2023, but we need your help. Consider becoming a sponsor, volunteer, donor, or board member for Neighborhood Roots. Together we can make the market happen.

Now accepting applications to our 2022 market season!

Applications are now open for our 2022 Neighborhood Roots market season! We are currently accepting applications for Fulton Farmers Market (Saturdays, May 21-October 29) and Kingfield Farmers Market (Sundays, May 22 through October 30). A $25 application fee covers applications to one or both markets. More information about vendor requirements, rules and selection criteria can be found with the applications. Applications are open through Sunday, February 21. Vendors are notified of acceptance by March 7, 2022.