Red River Market & Downtown (Fargo, ND)

Happy First Day of Spring, friends, and summer is not far behind! This means that farmers markets will be popping up again in the Midwest, where we can find locally grown produce, baked goods, handmade crafts, flowers, and much more. Last fall I took a trip to Fargo, ND and visited that Red River Market where there was so much to see and do. Come along as I share all about the Red River Market!

The Red River Market was established by a group of volunteers in the spring of 2015 because of two key issues: the lack of a centrally located, accessible place to access locally grown food, and the lack of shared public space in the Fargo Moorhead community. Since 2015, the Red River Market has grown from 800 to 8,000 weekly attendees.

The Red River Market is North Dakota’s largest farmers market representing over 90 local farmers and makers. The Red River Market provides free community programming including live music and cultural performances, educational cooking demonstrations, and children’s activities. The Red River Market currently hosts 21 public market events per year with over 120,000 total attendees.

The market vendors represented provide items such as produce, floral, bakery, pantry, hot food, beverages, household, and artists/makers:

• Produce: Becky’s Plants and Flowers, Cows and Co Creamery, Dandelion Creek Farm, Dig It Produce, Family Roots Farm, Gottenborg Apple Orchard, Hildebrandt Farm, Ladybug Acres, Midheaven Garden, New Roots Incubator Co-op, Nourished by Nature, Prairie Soul Mates, Red River Garlic and Produce, Uncle Jesse’s Produce, and Wolff’s Suffolks
• Floral: Exit 44 – Flowers + More, Plants for Patients, The Plant Supply
• Bakery: Baker’s Wagon, Breadsmith of Fargo, Innate at Home Bakery, Jen’s Bakery, Michele’s Table, Pies ‘N More, Preheat Pastry Shop, and Sour House Breads
• Pantry: Chai Moto, Farmented Foods, Hairy Hippie Pickling Company, Kanji Naturals, Morningside Heights Provisions, Off the Deck Hot Sauce, and Three Bears Honey Co.
• Hot Food: Ade’s Cuisine, Adibon, Deb’s Corner Foods and Catering, Duchessa Gelato, Everest Tikka House, French Taste LLC, Heart-N-Soul Community Café, Maria’s Homestyle Mexican, Milk Made, Penny’s Breakfast, Saigon Kuisine, Soultaco, Top Dog Hot Dogs, and Windsor Waffles
• Beverages: 4E Winery, Bear Creek Winery, Cottonwood Cider House, Drekker Brewing Company, Fargo Brewing Company, Flannel Fizz, Juice Box Fargo, Prairie Rose Meadery, Proof Distillers, Steep Me a Cup of Tea, Thunder Coffee, and Twenty Below Coffee Co.
• Household: Bark’N Biscuits, Brewz Chewz, Dakota Tallow, Hand & Stone Sharpening, Honey B Soap Company, Rarissime, Soapwerks Naturals, and Ten Seven Acres
• Artists & Makers: The Beautabode, Bohemian Blu, Franklin Ugochukwu Arts, Hometown Woodworking, Jenny Sue, Ladygypsy Jewelry, Livin’ the Dream Pottery, Market Vibes by Lost in Fargo, Modern Renewal, Nowelle’s Kreation, and Rising Dawn Ceramics

The Red River Market highlights and supports local musicians and cultural performers by providing the community with one of the only free, all-ages live performance stages. In 2021, the market booked 74 paid musical and cultural performances featuring 225 local performers ranging from the Fargo Moorhead Symphony Orchestra to Penny and Pals kids’ sing-along.

The Red River market educates its visitors on seasonal and local eating by providing two educational cooking demonstrations per market day with local chefs and dietitians. Each cooking demonstration uses ingredients purchased from the market vendors. All of the cooking demonstrations are free, and openly accessible on the main stage.

The market creates a platform to provide exposure for local non-profit organizations working to solve key issues in the community. Each market day, two non-profit organizations are featured to share their mission with the community at interactive informational booths. The organizations interact with visitors by providing educational family programming.

The Red River Market is a fiscally hosted project of Impact Foundation. Impact Foundation has over a decade of experience and proven track record of equipping nonprofits with the knowledge they need to accomplish their missions and master fundraising. The Red River Market operations are contracted by Folkways, a local community building organization with over seven years of event design experience. Red River Market strategy is overseen by an Advisory Committee formed by its original founders. In addition to paid staff, over 100 volunteers provided 200 hours of service each year to fill roles on event day.

What’s so great about the Red River Market is that it’s located in downtown West Fargo, so you can also check out the shops, restaurants, food trucks, bison statues, Broadway Square’s Interactive Water Feature, and the Fargo Theatre!

The Red River Market will start up again on Saturday, May 13, 2023. Visit downtown West Fargo where vendors will line up on Sheyenne Street in front of the POW/MIA Plaza. Shop from over 40 local vendors including hot food, bakery, pantry, household goods, art, and more. Enjoy friends!