Gladstone Farmers Market closes out lively season
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GLADSTONE -- The Gladstone Farmers Market has officially wrapped up its Market Mondays for the 2026 season.
The city’s last Market Monday of 2026 was held this week, marking the end of a booming year for vendors and shoppers. The community has one more chance to attend a market in Gladstone before the year end, though, as a special Saturday Gladstone Farmers Market will take place this Saturday for Michigan's Downtown Day.
According to Gladstone Downtown Ambassador Samantha Gaudino, last year's farmers market season laid a solid foundation for the Gladstone Downtown Development Authority (DDA) moving forward. Many of last year's vendors returned to the market this year, quickly filling vendor list capacity early this season.
“The DDA was able to take that foundation and turn it into an experience rather than just a place to shop," Gaudino said. "What I witnessed was a lot of people using Market Mondays as a place to celebrate birthdays, retirement and even just girlfriends getting together to catch up and shop from some local artisans and the downtown shops."
Gaudino recalled one of her favorite moments from this season. When the daughter of one of the market's regulars had a birthday, the whole market reportedly stopped what they were doing to sing to the child.
"It really felt like a moment out of a movie with the whole community coming together to make this little girl happy," Gaudino said.
Gaudino also said traffic far surpassed 2025's market season. Cellular data collected from 2025 showed an average of 783 visitors in the downtown on a Monday, versus the 1,000 visitors on a Monday this season.
The attention the Gladstone Farmers Market draws is beneficial for downtown businesses, as well. Some businesses even partnered with farmers market vendors throughout the season or ran Market Monday specials.
Gaudino noted, "This has been such a positive reflection of what the DDA is all about and why they continue to invest into the farmers market."
New this year was the addition of food trucks each week, more variety in live music and beautification efforts done throughout the market square.
Gaudino also said the band stage "got a face lift," the garden bed was mulched and the Gladstone Parks and Recreation Department hung more flowers throughout the area.
The increased traffic and growth has also reportedly allowed the market to support many area causes, including distributing over 100 bike helmets in memory of Colton Remsburg, supporting a fundraiser for childhood leukemia and helping raise funds for the Gladstone Little League All-Stars to travel to the State Tournament in Harbor Springs.
"I think I can speak for all of the vendors and the DDA that we felt we were something bigger than ourselves," said Gaudino. "It wasn't just about supporting small businesses -- it was about the whole picture and how we could use our space to benefit everybody in the community. Market Mondays took on a whole new meaning to so many."
Gaudino thanked the market's set up crew from the Parks and Recreation Department.
Preparation for next season is already underway, with many of this year’s vendors claiming their spot ahead of the off season. Any open vendor spots will be available in March.
"We have some fun projects in the works that we hope to see started next season, some extra beautification efforts and a really good outlook for what's to come," Gaudino added. "Downtown Gladstone is always growing, and that is what is so exciting about my job. There is always something new the DDA is setting their focus on."
With Gladstone’s 2026 farmers market season completed, Gaudino said the DDA's focus is now on The Great Gladstone Harvest Festival -- set to take place Oct. 25 -- and Old-Fashioned Christmas, which Gaudino said will be seeing some changes. A date for this year's Old-Fashioned Christmas has yet to be announced.
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Sophie Vogelmann can be reached at 906-786-2021, ext. 148, or svogelmann@dailypress.net.