Creating a Space for Community

A Conversation with Farmers Market Manager Claire Austin

Some spaces are built for efficiency. Farmers markets are built for connection.

Claire Austin, the Ypsilanti Farmers Market Manager, knows this better than anyone.

"At the height of summer, I watched kids playing checkers on the pavement while their parents enjoyed ice cream from a local vendor. It was one of those moments where the whole market just felt easy—people were present, together, unhurried. That’s what makes this market special. It’s not just about food—it’s about creating a space where people can exist in community, stress-free."

But creating and maintaining a space like this takes effort. And as the market moves downtown to Washington Street this year, accessibility and sustainability are at the forefront of that work. I sat down with Claire to talk about what this transition means, why farmers markets are more than just places to shop, and how Friends of the Market can help ensure this space continues to thrive.

"A Space That Works for Everyone"

Julius Buzzard: Moving the market downtown is a big shift. What excites you most about this transition?

Claire Austin: Accessibility. At the old location, getting around with a stroller or wheelchair could be tough. This move makes the market more navigable for everyone—with better handicap-accessible parking and smoother pathways.

It’s also closer to more people. We have so many seniors who love the winter market, and now they’ll be within walking distance during the summer season too. And with the market being more visible downtown, I expect to see a lot more folks discovering it for the first time.

More Than a Transaction

JB: Farmers markets are often thought of as shopping spaces, but they’re so much more than that. What do you think makes the Ypsilanti Farmers Market different?

CA: It’s about relationships. You’re not just picking up produce—you’re meeting the people who grew it, who know the story behind every tomato and head of lettuce.

It’s also a place where people can just be. You don’t have to spend money to feel welcome here. I love seeing folks who come just to chat with vendors, build friendships, and be part of something bigger than themselves.

Food Access as a Core Mission

JB: Food assistance programs are a big part of this market. Why is that such a priority?

CA: It’s in our mission statement: to increase food access.

We accept SNAP, WIC, Senior Project Fresh, Prescription for Health, and Double Up Food Bucks—because fresh, local food should be for everyone. And the best part? Your money goes further at the farmers market. When food prices are unpredictable, shopping local gives people more consistent access to affordable, high-quality food.

Why Friends of the Market Matter

JB: For someone who’s been to the market but never thought about becoming a Friend of the Market, what would you say?

CA: Keeping this market running takes real resources. It’s like supporting a local library or community center. You might not think about what it takes to sustain it, but without support, it can’t grow—or even exist.

When you become a Friend of the Market, you help:

✔ Keep vendor fees low, so small farmers can continue doing this work

✔ Expand food assistance programs, making fresh food accessible for all

✔ Maintain a safe, welcoming space where our community can gather

"I want this market to still be here for generations to come. That only happens if people step up to support it."

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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Georgia Gilmore & The Club From Nowhere

By Julius Buzzard • February 18, 2026

During the Montgomery Bus Boycott, when formal fundraising was surveilled and criminalized, Georgia Gilmore organized something deceptively simple: a kitchen network . Known as The Club From Nowhere , Gilmore and other Black women sold pies, cakes, and home-cooked meals to quietly raise money for the movement. Their anonymity was protection. Their food was infrastructure. For over a year, as the boycott stretched on, these funds paid for carpools, gas, and daily survival. While history often centers on speeches and marches, Gilmore reminds us that revolutions are sustained behind the scenes by those who feed people, organize logistics, and keep the lights on. Her kitchen was a site of resistance. Her recipes were tools of liberation. At Growing Hope, we honor this lineage every time we invest in food entrepreneurs, incubator kitchens, and cooperative models. When food businesses are community-rooted, they do more than generate income; they fuel movements . Never underestimate what food can do. And never forget who has always been doing the work.

Fannie Lou Hamer & the Freedom Farm Cooperative

By Julius Buzzard • February 11, 2026

“If you have 400 quarts of greens and gumbo soup canned for the winter, nobody can push you around.” Fannie Lou Hamer said this not as a metaphor, but as a lived experience. In 1969, after being evicted from her plantation home for registering to vote, Hamer founded the Freedom Farm Cooperative in Sunflower County, Mississippi. The goal was simple and radical: Black families deserved land, food, housing, and economic independence, without having to ask permission. Freedom Farm grew vegetables, raised livestock, built homes, and supported cooperative ownership. It addressed hunger and poverty at their roots, refusing the lie that liberation could come without material security. Hamer understood what we still grapple with today: political rights mean little without food sovereignty . Voting doesn’t protect you from hunger. Legislation doesn’t replace land. Dignity requires access to the means of survival. This is why Growing Hope centers farming, education, and entrepreneurship together. Food sovereignty is not just about what’s on your plate; it’s about who controls the systems that decide who eats .

The Black Panther Party & Free Breakfast

By Julius Buzzard • February 4, 2026

In 1969, the Black Panther Party launched the Free Breakfast for Children Program , serving tens of thousands of children across the United States every single school day. Not as an act of charity, but as a declaration. The Panthers understood something the dominant systems refused to acknowledge: a hungry child cannot learn, organize, or imagine a future . Feeding children was a political act. It was protection. It was strategy. Volunteers cooked before dawn in church basements and community centers. Children were served breakfast while learning about Black history, self-determination, and collective responsibility. The state noticed and felt threatened. The FBI labeled the program “the greatest threat” to internal security, not because it was violent, but because it worked. And it worked so well that the U.S. government was forced to expand public school breakfast programs nationwide . Mutual aid didn’t just meet immediate needs; it reshaped public policy . This is food sovereignty in action: communities identifying harm, meeting their own needs with dignity, and building power in the process. At Growing Hope, we carry this legacy forward. When we insist on dignified access to food, when we support farmers markets as sites of connection and not extraction, when we center youth and Black leadership, we are walking a well-worn path. When communities feed themselves, systems change.

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