“I've been coming here since 1975. We used to come over with our wagon. It was half the size back then. Now my son is grown and a huge supporter of farmers markets...because that's how he was raised. ”
- Market patron
The history of the Fulton Street Market is a hundred-years story of civic work and grass-roots activism. From its origin as an answer to high food prices in a growing industrial city to its most recent facelift, the Fulton Street Market has endured as a cherished neighborhood marketplace.
Throughout the 19th Century, local farmers with wagons full of fruits and vegetables were part of the early morning scene on downtown streets in Grand Rapids. By the turn of the century, however, it was illegal for farmers to sell on city streets and they were forced to sell at the huge wholesale market on an island in the river.
By the First World War, a handful of prominent women from the Grand Rapids Federation of Women’s Clubs persuaded the City Commission to open a farmers market on the western bank of the Grand River at Leonard Street. It was an immediate success, and within three years two other farmers markets were also operated by the Public services Department, one on South Division and the Fulton Street Market. By the late 1920s, attendance was well over a million customers a year. The city also provided the markets with lights, walkways, and office buildings with heat and bathrooms during this period. The little brick building which currently houses the Midtown Neighborhood Association is all that remains.
The Fulton Street Market is one of about twenty markets that started around the same time throughout the state of Michigan. Unlike most of these markets, it still operates in its original space and configuration. This is partly because all three famers markets in Grand Rapids were nestled into neighborhoods and not in downtown shopping districts, a unique innovation which has given the Fulton Street Market longevity. The other two markets became parking lots for industries when their neighborhoods succumbed to development and residential decline in the 1960s. The Fulton Street Market weathered almost a century of ups and downs in part because its neighborhood never experienced significant development, but also because of prudent management.
For over fifty years, the Fulton Street Market operated under the Public Services Department of Grand Rapids and was overseen by a city employee that worked under a Superintendent of the Markets. Eventually, the City Parks and Recreation Department assumed leadership and the market officially became a city park. In the late 1980s, funds were allocated to give the market a facelift, improving the walkways and market tables. Around this time, management was contracted to Jeff Dyskstra, whose leadership kept the market successful throughout the 1990s.
In the early 2000s management shifted to the Midtown Neighborhood Association, transitioning to its own non-profit under the guidance of Melissa Harrington. In 2012 the Fulton Street Market went through a large remodel as the property was updated with a pavilion, electricity and water access for all vendors, along with a building allowing a small number of vendors additional space. The addition of the Market Building and Pavilion has increased the ability for year round market vending.
The Market is thankful to have a group of long supporting vendors, with our longest tenured vendor dating back to 1931 (Tanis Orchards). During our 2017 market season (our 95th) the Market Staff asked customers to share their favorite Market Stories. Each season the Market hosts nearly 200 different businesses giving them access to reach the Grand Rapids community. Bringing in Michigan grown and made products from asparagus to Christmas trees.
During the Winter of 2011, the Fulton Street Market officially kicked off its Winter Market which runs January through April on Saturdays, giving both farmers and market patrons an opportunity to support the Market in the traditional off-season.