Beyond Buying

Councilmember Desiraé Simmons on the Power of the Farmers Market

Farmers markets exist at the intersection of economy, food justice, and community. They are spaces where fresh food meets real relationships, where small businesses take root, and where local purchasing power turns into collective impact. But beyond that, they are spaces where time slows down, where neighbors reconnect, and where a local economy is built—not through policy alone, but through people showing up, week after week.

Councilmember Desiraé Simmons, who represents Ward 3 in Ypsilanti, has seen firsthand how markets like this shape the way a city moves forward. We sat down with her to talk about the economic, social, and cultural power of farmers markets, and what it means for Ypsilanti as the market moves downtown this season.

"A Farmers Market is an Economic Engine"

Julius Buzzard: We hear a lot about supporting local economies, but often that conversation is focused on big development projects. From your perspective, how does a farmers market serve as an economic engine for Ypsilanti?

Desiraé Simmons: There are so many ways! One of the biggest is that it allows small, home-based businesses—cottage food makers, bakers, growers—to sell their products directly to the people who live here. It’s accessible entrepreneurship in action.

It also builds consumer confidence. People know exactly where their food is coming from, who grew it, how it was made. When people have that level of trust, they’re more likely to shop in a way that aligns with their values.

Access, Choice, and Food Justice

JB: The Ypsilanti Farmers Market has been a leader in making fresh, local food accessible. What’s the broader impact of that work?

DS: One of the most powerful things about this market is that food assistance doesn’t limit choice. If you’re using SNAP, WIC, or Double Up Food Bucks, you’re not just taking what’s given to you—you’re choosing the food that’s right for you and your family.

That choice is huge. It means people are getting fresh, high-quality food, even on assistance. And it creates this incredible mixed-income space where everyone, regardless of how they pay, is shopping side by side, interacting, and being in community together.

A Market That Moves With the City

JB: This year, the market moves downtown—a big shift. From a city planning perspective, what does this move mean for Ypsilanti?

DS: We’ll miss having the market in Depot Town—Ward 3 has loved hosting it. But moving downtown means the market becomes more central, more accessible, and more visible.

It’s part of the bigger picture of making downtown Ypsi vibrant and full. With the market here, people won’t just shop for food—they’ll explore other local businesses. I’m really excited to see how those connections grow.

Farmers Markets as a Gathering Place

JB: Sometimes, government work can feel removed from the day-to-day lives of residents. But markets like this are a place where policy meets people. How do you see that playing out?

DS: Farmers markets are spaces of assembly. They bring people together in ways that influence how we think about community needs and solutions.

It’s hard to imagine Ypsi before the market—it’s such an integral part of the city now. And when you look at how it started, it’s a great example of a community-driven solution to food access and economic development. That’s why it’s still here, growing, expanding, evolving.

On a personal level, I love how the market breaks isolation. I know people who come just to see a specific vendor, or to reconnect with folks they might not see otherwise. That’s a powerful thing.

What to Notice at the Market

JB: If someone were visiting the market for the first time—not just to shop, but to understand its role in the community—what would you tell them to look for?

DS: I’d tell them to just watch.

Watch how people move through the space. Notice the rhythm of it—the ritual of showing up, chatting with vendors, seeing what’s in season. Notice the conversations, the small moments of connection.

The market changes how we relate to food, but it also changes how we relate to time. It slows us down, even just for a moment. That’s something I want people to see.

Join Us in Growing This Market

This season, the market is evolving—a new location, new opportunities, and a growing community.

📍 NEW LOCATION: 16 S. Washington Street

🛍️ Opening Day: May 3, 2025 | ⏰ 9 AM – 1 PM

💛 Want to help keep this space thriving? Become a Friend of the Market today. Your support keeps this market accessible, equitable, and deeply rooted in Ypsilanti.

👉 Join Here

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Rooted Again: A National Farmers Market Week Reflection

By Julius Buzzard • August 1, 2026

Beloved community, As we enter the final weeks of summer and back into the rhythm of the school year, it’s impossible not to recognize how hard it’s been to breathe as of late (in every sense). A few short weeks ago, smoke drifted down from wildfires burning across Ontario and settled over Southeast Michigan with force. As air quality alerts stacked on top of heat advisories, everyone from youth to elders was advised to mask up or otherwise remain indoors. In the same stretch, Michigan’s cyclospora outbreak kept climbing past six thousand confirmed cases. Understandably, many have been left feeling paralyzed. Clean air and safe food are not amenities; they are the foundation on which we build food sovereignty. Right now, it feels like that foundation is beginning to crumble, and crumble beneath some more than others. The folks breathing the worst air and eating the least trustworthy food are disproportionately Black, brown, Indigenous, low-income, elderly, young, or some combination of all of it. This pattern is known as environmental racism, meaning the way pollution, contamination, and environmental harm land hardest on communities of color and low-income communities. Whether it’s a decision about a permit, protective rights, or a pipeline, this happens by design. Last month, for example, Michigan's environmental agency approved permits allowing Enbridge to build a new tunnel for the Line 5 pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac, locking in another 99 years of fossil fuel infrastructure running beneath the largest freshwater system on the planet. While this devalues, or even ignores, the long-term health of our climate, economies, and water (another foundational element to life), the environmental harm of this decision is just the tipping point. Construction threatens ground that includes Native American burial sites, and tribes are being handed what one Native American Rights Fund attorney representing Bay Mills Indian Community called an agonizing choice between digging up and recovering their own ancestors before bulldozers arrive, or leaving that work to the state once construction starts. That same attorney, David Gover, put it plainly: "What is more sacred than how we treat our dead?" The grief, rage, and anxiety showing up in our community as a result of these compounding factors is real, merited, and inextricably tied to what’s happening to the land, water, and air on which we, and our food, depend. But it’s not the end of the story. Behind Growing Hope's mission is a strongly rooted belief that communities deserve autonomy within the entirety of their food system. You cannot separate a just food system from a just relationship to place. The cure to systems that poison our air, contaminate our food chains, and desecrate sacred ground is hope that is deeply seeded in community. It's in building a local food system that celebrates the growers, land stewards, and makers that paint a portrait of a vibrant local food system. And that's what a farmers market is, when you get down to it. It's a supply chain you can see with your own eyes. It’s names you know and fields you can visit. It’s fresh produce that arrives from caring hands just moments away from home. It's food grown by people accountable to this community. And when we feel betrayed by the very air and food we need to survive, this is all more important than ever. That’s why I’m excited that this is reaching you right on the edge of National Farmers Market Week, August 2-8, formally proclaimed by the Ypsilanti City Council at their last meeting. Come join us in our weekly celebration of local food at the Ypsilanti Farmers Markets on Saturdays, 9a-1p, at the Ypsilanti Farmers MarketPlace (16 S. Washington St.) Underneath all of it (the smoke, the cyclospora headlines, the pipeline permits) is us. A community vying for a food system where we can gather, cook, and grow together without fear. See you at the market, Julius P.S. Even if you can’t join us to celebrate National Farmers Market Week on Saturday, August 8, you can share your thoughts and help us plan for the future (even get entered to win a great prize) by completing our annual market survey .

From Dream to Legacy

By Julius Buzzard • July 1, 2026

Introducing the growing hope accelerator kitchen!

Return of the Tuesday Market

By Julius Buzzard • June 1, 2026

Beloved community, June is alive in Ypsilanti, and so are we! The farm is buzzing with pollinators, heavy with the first fruits of the season, keeping the produce cart full, and tended by caring hands, sowing hope along with each seed. At the same time, the MarketPlace is filling back up with color and noise with the joy of neighbors who have looked forward to the market all winter. We have so much to celebrate this season! Namely, the Tuesday Farmers Market is back! Starting tomorrow (June 2), the Ypsilanti Farmers Market will run not only on Saturday mornings, but also every Tuesday from 3 to 7 pm, through August, right here at the Ypsilanti Farmers MarketPlace. That means every week we’ll have two opportunities to invest in our local food system while building the community care that makes a market special. This matters more than it might seem on the surface. Many community members have shared that while they love the Ypsilanti Farmers Market, want to support local farmers and makers, and believe in local food, Saturday mornings simply do not work for their lifestyles. Saturday mornings may be reserved for overtime shifts or soccer games, or to recover from a week that didn’t seem to give anything back. For some, they can only get the financial assistance or translation services needed to fully participate on a weekday. For many of our neighbors, Saturday mornings are simply not free. Access can only be actualized when every community member experiences it. It’s as much about time as it is about proximity. We've always said that the Ypsilanti Farmers Market is for everyone in our community, and the Tuesday market is our effort to live that out more fully. The Ypsilanti Farmers Market, in each step toward the future, is a step toward a living vision we have built together. Toward a vision of the Ypsilanti Farmers MarketPlace as a community food hub, an anchor in the life of our city and of our local food system. A place where neighbors come together, build community, and leave united; all while gathering around food. The Ypsilanti Farmers Market is not purely about simple transactions. It’s about practicing what it looks like for a community to feed itself. It nurtures spaces where farmers can move their harvest and where small businesses can grow. The Ypsilanti Farmers MarketPlace is fostering that mid-week run-in with a neighbor, reminding us that we are not alone. We are grateful to the farmers, vendors, and partners who said yes to this. And we are grateful to our entire market team, who make it possible week after week, with devotion and creativity that continues to humble me. This spring, our Teen Leadership Program launched our second Seed Library, located at the Ypsilanti Farmers MarketPlace, which is available to the community at every market. Because everyone deserves a chance to grow. Seeds hold within them the agricultural knowledge of generations, the food traditions of all of humankind. When we talk about seed sovereignty, we are not simply speaking about the practical reality of who controls the global seed supply (the four corporations that control 60% of the seed and pesticide supply). Rather, it goes a level deeper into the question of who and what gets to be remembered. "Farmers are literally archivists of the land." -Abena Offeh-Gyimah Seeds are stories. They are living reminders of all the ancestors who walked before us. When we save and share seeds, we are practicing reciprocity with Mother Earth, and with one another. The seed library that our teens built is just the beginning. Our hope is that it grows into a circular system . We dream of a future where the seed library at the farm and MarketPlace are filled with self-labeled packets of seeds saved from the harvest of our community. We dream of a food future that sits in the hands of the very community that tends it. This is seed rematriation in practice, and I’m excited to grow with you. In solidarity, Julius P.S. Your support makes this food system possible, whether it is financial, volunteer, or saving seeds; we’re in this together. Keep an eye out for future newsletters for a hands-on seed-saving workshop later this year.

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