A producer-only farmers market on the Shelburne Parade Grounds. Every Saturday, mid-May through mid-October.
The market is where local farms and makers welcome their neighbors and visitors to the best of Shelburne. It's a Third Space — not home, not work — where the community shows up for each other once a week. We welcome vendors of all backgrounds — including New Americans and neighbors who haven't sold here before.
Our Purpose
Uphold a vibrant, financially sustainable space where local agricultural producers and businesses welcome residents and visitors to explore, contribute to and enhance the best of Shelburne.
Our Mission
Create true community wealth
The market puts money directly into local farms and businesses. What people spend here stays here — circulating through the local economy rather than leaving town. A strong market strengthens the whole community.
Strengthen Shelburne's quality of life
Music, neighbors, kids running into friends. The market is the anchor of Saturday in Shelburne — one of those rare places where the whole town crosses paths. It's as much a social gathering as a place to shop.
Close the gaps in the food system
The market connects people to the farms that feed them — and builds habits that last beyond Saturday. When a market-goer starts buying from a farm during the week, the food system gets stronger.
Steward a sustainable, enduring market
The goal is a market that pays its own way through vendor fees, sponsorships, and community support. Financial independence means the market can plan for the long term and weather the years when things get tight.
Impact Indicators
- Access to a vital 3rd Place with food, music & art, community, and economic equity
- Service to those experiencing food insecurity
- Emphasis on farmer value and participation
- Incubation of new businesses and growth of existing ones
- Support from federal, state, and local agencies (e.g. NOFA, Farmers Market Association Board, Shelburne Food Shelf, USDA)
- Stewardship of a self-sustaining financial model — vendor fees, sponsorships, and community support covering the market's costs, with reserves for unexpected expenses and lean years
Our Story
2006 — Founded by the Shelburne Business & Professional Association as a small gathering of local farms and makers on the Parade Grounds.
2020s — Grows to draw thousands of residents and visitors every Saturday through the growing season.
2026 — Management moves to a partnership of the Town and Experience Shelburne to ensure this community treasure continues to thrive in a financially sustainable way.
Market Stewards
A small group of residents and the Town of Shelburne stewards the market on mission, policy, programming, sustainability and community fit.
Kate Elliott
Co-chair
Patricia Carpenter
Co-chair
Sarah Stillman
Market Manager
Andrew Everett
Selectboard Member
Matt Lawless
Town Manager
Chunka Mui
Chair, Experience Shelburne
and Selectboard Member
Market Champions
Market Champions help the Shelburne Farmers Market thrive by advancing its purpose in the small, steady acts that keep this community institution alive. Champions pick the contributions that match their time, interest, and connections.
What Champions do:
- Spread the word. Share the market with friends, neighbors, and visitors; tell its story; bring people for the first time.
- Volunteer on market days. Help at a handful of Saturdays each season — greeter, tree protector, event-day support for Shelburne Day, or another role that fits.
- Recruit and welcome other volunteers. Help the Market Manager fill the roster from across the community, and welcome new volunteers when they arrive.
- Connect the market to the community. Offer feedback, open doors, and make introductions — to schools, senior centers, civic groups, local employers, and anywhere else the market wouldn't reach on its own.
Devin Beringer
Becky Castle
Bob Clark
Susan Elliot
Patricia Fontaine
Carol Parven Hutter
Matt Sleeman
Lucy Srour
Emily Talkow
Alec Webb
Governance and operations rest with the Market Stewards and Market Manager. Champions are the community layer around that work — adding wisdom, reach, connections, and extra hands where they're needed most, and helping the market stay rooted in Shelburne.
If you'd like to become a Market Champion, please contact us.
The Experience Shelburne Partnership
Experience Shelburne is a public/private partnership between the Town's Community and Economic Development Committee and Experience Shelburne Corp., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, with a combined mission to foster collaborative, inclusive and sustainable community and economic development that benefits residents, businesses, and visitors — while preserving and enhancing Shelburne's unique character, community vitality, and environmental integrity for future generations.
