At the Farmers Market: The Past and the Future

With the Victorian Festival celebrating our history, take a quick look at how our Farmers Market has grown and changed with our town.

At the end of the Victorian era and early 1900s, Northville had business and manufacturing, as well as the farms and orchards in the outlying areas.  Farmers brought their  produce, milk and eggs into town to the streetcar depot to be shipped.  Housewives living in town could buy farm fresh produce at B.A. Wheelers grocery store.

This picture is the earliest record we have of an actual farmers market in Northville.  The market was located in the Opera House that once stood on Center Street, about where Rebecca's is now located.  A grand and ornate building when finally completed in 1879, the Opera House had financial difficulties, and rented out space on the street level.  In 1924 the Northville Farmers Market was located in the Opera House.  It had ornate surroundings and sawdust floors.

Since then, the Market has moved around town.  In the 1970s the market was located in the town square, and several faded pictures still exist of vendors and shoppers in bell bottom pants, bushy sideburns and big moustaches.

Generation after generation of farmers return to our Market.  Two of our current vendors are the third generation to work at the Market.

With all the changes througout the decades, one thing remains consistent.  Whether it's in the grandiose atmosphere of the Opera House, downtown in the square, or in the Downs' parking lot, our Farmers Market has provided the freshest and best local produce to shoppers for many decades.

See you at the Market!

www.northville.org/events/farmersmarket

Facebook: Northville Farmers Market