Cedar Rapids Downtown Farmers Market celebrates 20th season with continued growth, expansion

CEDAR RAPIDS — Every other Saturday throughout the summer, a city within a city pops up to bring downtown Cedar Rapids to life.

This year, the Downtown Cedar Rapids Farmers Market celebrates its 20th season of bringing farmers, vendors, artisans and families together from across Eastern Iowa.

Today’s biweekly event is bigger and more diverse than ever. But at its core, it gets back to the basics.

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The event tens of thousands of attendees see today includes dancers, jugglers, martial arts performers, live music, face painting and balloon animals. But no matter what’s sold, seen or sung on the streets, the people who make it happen say it’s about something that can’t be commodified: the people.

“Twenty years ago, we set out to create a place where our community could come together around local food, art and culture. Two decades later, the Cedar Rapids Downtown Farmers Market has grown in to a beloved tradition that brings thousands of people downtown,” said Jenn Draper, events contractor at the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance. “These experiences make the market a vibrant, family-friendly destination and a true celebration of Cedar Rapids.”

Here’s what longtime vendors, producers and volunteers say about the summer staple that has become an annual tradition bigger than fruits and vegetables.

If you go:

Where: The Cedar Rapids Downtown Farmers Market will have vendors encompassing Second Avenue SE, Third Avenue SE and Fourth Avenue SE from Second Street SE to Fifth Street SE.

When: The first and third Saturdays of each month through September from 7:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Details: For details on vendors, entertainment options, interactive market maps and more, visit crdowntownmarket.com.

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Mushrooming growth

In the early 2000s, organizers of the Downtown Cedar Rapids Farmers Market envisioned something bigger than the one held at the Roundhouse in the Czech Village, which served as one of the city’s primary farmers markets for over 40 years.

In 2006, the downtown market started with just a few dozen vendors. Today, it has grown to over 200.

As the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance assumed control of organizing the market, it grew with a design inspired by the popular Dane County Farmers’ Market held around Capitol Square in Madison, Wisconsin.

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Vendors came to include not only produce farmers and bakers, but artisan food products, artists, and purveyors of many types of merchandise. Vendor applications are rated based on product quality, application quality, their history at the market and their reliability as a vendor.

One important element, pivotal to making the market what it looks like today, was expanding the scope of a farmers market. Over time, entertainment like live music, face painters and balloon animal artists have become a central part of market life.

“There are lots of great farmers markets in the city that function like a traditional model, where you buy tomatoes from (a producer’s) trunk. What we wanted to do was create a street fair atmosphere to make people feel like they’re coming in and experiencing downtown in a way they normally wouldn’t see it,” said Draper. “Our patrons have grown to expect a community gathering space as much as a place to grab tomatoes for dinner.”

After the flood of 2008, the Roundhouse that shared a parking lot with the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library was forced to close.

Since its inception, the downtown market has adapted to survive floods, a derecho and a pandemic.

The market’s circuit moved away from the bridges after the flood, but was one of the first to return downtown after the water receded. Through the pandemic, it adopted a drive-thru format.

Draper said the market’s endurance speaks volumes not just to what it provides, but what it means.

“For a community, it means we’re continuing to invest in the people who live here and provide a space for our community to come together — even when it’s difficult, even when it’s hard, even when there’s a flood,” she said. “It means a commitment to our community in a way you don’t see very often.”

Relationship-oriented producers

When organizers first recruited vendors and producers, some were hesitant to join the new farmers market.

But Danny and Lea Rehburg, owners of Rehberg’s Pork in Walker, wanted in on the ground level. With a unique type of pork — Hampshire hogs raised using non-GMO grains and no antibiotics — it requires a little more explanation to distinguish it from the average grocery store pork chop.

“We had such a unique product. It’s pork, but with the uniqueness of our pork, we were way out of the box when we started this,” Danny said.

Nearly 20 years later, they’re glad they joined. The market “started out gangbusters” and played a big part in their farm’s growth. And as their farm has grown, they’ve watched the circle of life play out in their customers’ families each summer.

“I call it the farmers market family,” Danny said. “We’ve seen families grow from getting married and having kids to watching college graduations, careers, and (having grandchildren.)”

The pork farmers also sell at other smaller markets around the Corridor. But some other markets, Danny said, stay stagnant.

One key distinction that brings the Downtown Cedar Rapids Farmers Market to life is that it’s not just a market — it’s an event.

“It’s getting to be … almost like a circus down there. But that’s fine,” he said. “It’s a farmers market that draw attention, but it’s a community event.”

They continue to come back not just for the reactions from customers trying their pork, but to hear from the ones who visit them only to say “hi.”

For Randy and AJ Schnebbe, owners of RS Welding in Victor, the market’s average attendance of 12,000 people rivals the population of Iowa County.

Since they started selling their welded metal sculptures at the market in 2008, their pieces have taken residence across the country. They have pieces hanging in the Pentagon, and in offices of legislators from Des Moines to D.C.

“The exposure you get and the people it draws in is amazing,” Randy said. “Our stuff is all over the U.S. It’s a relatively cheap way to get exposed to a whole lot of people.”

The first year, they took their goods to market with a van. The following year, they needed an extra trailer to help supply the demand.

They’ve found that many attendees, Iowans from small towns like theirs, appreciate the art of a conversation as they browse or graze their way through the market. There, the spectacle of friendly faces, human connections and down-home type entertainment is a town of its own.

“It’s very rare that people go to the market and they’re scowling or unhappy. It’s a fun time for everybody,” Randy said.

It’s also a source of ideas for the artist couple, who is known for popular pieces like ants sculpted with metal and rocks, which they’ve made over 20,000 of.

The daily exchange of not only sales, but ideas, serves as another way customers invest in their community.

“We have a number of customers who give us ideas,” he said. “When you (create) that, they almost take ownership in your business, in a way.”

Theresa and Jim Grieder, who sell produce and baked goods, have discovered the power of the market in moving goods year-round — even after the market closes in September.

“You wouldn’t believe how many calls I get during the off season from people wanting my produce, recipes or kolaches,” Theresa said. “What makes us come back is the people who come up, buy our product and compliment the quality of our product.”

And it’s a two-way street for many vendors, she said. Even as some grocery stores have raised the price of tomatoes upwards of $4, theirs has remained a consistent $2 per pound.

Producers like them try to keep prices fair at rates they’d be willing to pay at the market — a kind of social contract that fosters fairness and understanding, no matter the challenges of the economy or the food chain.

Longtime volunteers

For volunteers, the market is about daily interactions with vendors who come to know them by name. Some have been volunteering for farmers markets since the Roundhouse market days.

Over time, the larger downtown market has come to rely on stagers at entry points along the route, who organize vendors “parade style,” and lead them to their stations starting around 5 a.m.

For Carl Gloe, the routine involves waiting for offers of coffee from food vendors, who tease him about his lack of caffeine intake. He has been volunteering long enough to remember when the downtown market was located on the Second and Third Avenue bridges — before the flood of 2008.

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“It gives people the chance to get out and see each other. In society, you need to see each other face to face,” said Gloe, who lives in Marion. “When you see somebody face to face and talk to them, it makes a huge difference.”

For Shelly Chagnon, the routine of helping vendors set up involves remembering things like where to leave a spot for Mrs. Jones.

“A lot of people from Roundhouse went to the downtown market, so I just followed the family,” she said. “You see the kids and grandkids that work with their parents and grandparents, and how they grow up.”

Today, they sell a world of things more than fruits and vegetables — burritos, egg rolls and 3D-printed toys, to name a few.

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Whether it’s new products or new construction to work around, she said there’s something different to see every two weeks.

And whether you call it a market, a circus or a street fair, the Cedar Rapids Downtown Farmers Market has undisputably become a summer institution for tens of thousands.

This year’s market

The 20th season of the market, started June 7, features more than 200 vendors. The farmers market runs from 7:30 a.m. to noon on the following Saturdays:

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This year's circuit will have vendors encompassing Second Avenue SE, Third Avenue SE and Fourth Avenue SE from Second Street SE to Fifth Street SE.

Parking is prohibited within the market’s perimeter from 4 a.m. to 1 p.m. on market days. Cyclists can park and lock bicycles with the Bike Valet for free at Third Ave. and Cedar River Trail at Greene Square.

For more information, visit crdowntownmarket.com.

Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or elijah.decious@thegazette.com.