Farmers Market 2025 update

WAUPACA – The Farmers Market in downtown Waupaca had fewer visitors than in previous years but vendors still realized an uptick in their overall revenue.
Ryan Brown, the planning and zoning director for Waupaca County, was present at the Jan. 6 city council meeting to discuss the 2025 Farmers Market season, calling it a very successful year.
Brown said about 1,344 people visited the Farmers Market on Saturdays over the summer, with the majority coming from the surrounding area and ten percent coming from out of state.
Brown said there is no data as to where the ten percent are coming from but attributes those tourism dollars to most likely by people visiting the Chain O’Lakes.
Currently there are about 22 vendors that set up consistently and about five to six vendor spots that are there for one or two Saturdays a summer.

Brown said there were several Saturdays over the previous season that were completely full.
The variety of items, Brown said, are approximately 84 different things that people can purchase at the market, from food to bird houses.
“We try as hard as we possibly can to have it be food focused, that is the whole point of it, to have a local source of food,” Brown said. “But we also have bakers, Bob’s Bird Houses, candles and a lot of things that people make and bring to it, we’re very happy about that.”
Brown said the average Farmers Market visitor will spend about $32.60 each, and roughly $43 at neighboring businesses.
Brown said there was approximately 600 fewer people coming into the city for the market last summer then there was the previous summer, a number that he, along with Farmers Market volunteers hope to increase for next year.
Brown said their plan is to increase the marketing and social media presence to increase that Saturday visitor number back up to 2,000.
Despite the slight decrease in numbers, Brown said vendors reported increased revenues from the previous summer.
Brown also said that they want to work with more local businesses and with the arts community to help bring in more visitors as well as increasing community involvement.
Currently, Brown said they work closely with the local library, and hopes to work with more organizations in the coming summer.