The Waupaca Farm Market has been a summer staple downtown on the corner of Main and E. Fulton street on Saturday mornings for over a decade. The market has flourished, growing from three or four vendors setting up on the library lawn to over 30 vendors filling up an entire street, offering a wide variety of local foods and handmade goods. 

 

The Waupaca Farmers Market expansion project began in 2016 with the support of the Living the Waupaca Way Coalition. The market expansion project aimed to increase access to fresh local foods to those with limited resources, onboard a farmers market manager, and implement EBT at the market. In 2019 the coalition was awarded a Buy Local Buy WI Grant allowing for the onboarding of their first paid Farmers Market Manager. In July of 2019 the market was proud to officially accept EBT and immediately implemented a nutrition incentive program, allowing EBT and WIC participants shopping with their food benefits at the market to double their dollars up to $10 each Saturday. The double dollars program has been sponsored by ThedaCare and other generous sponsors throughout the years. 

 

The Market has continued to expand over the years with the generous support of our community. In 2023, Be Well Waupaca County (formerly Living the Waupaca Way) successfully transitioned the Waupaca Farmers Market out of the umbrella of the coalition and into a newly established Waupaca Farmers Market Board and became their own 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.