Community Public Market Returns to Downtown Appleton
The Community Public Market will take place inside the Fox Cities Exhibition Center on Saturday, March 19 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the space will be transformed to present an inclusive and collaborative community event that brings together a sampling of all the great things in Downtown Appleton.
This FREE community event will create an environment similar to the outdoor summer farm market on College Avenue, where community neighbors come together and offer various products and services. The vibe of the event will feel familiar but will bring many new discoveries.
As attendees walk the Community Public Market, they will stroll down themed streets to enjoy a wide variety of live music, retail shopping, tasty food, and family-friendly activities:
- Tasty Trail features ready-to-eat food and delicious finds from local eateries
- Retail Road features your favorite locally-owned businesses that are the heartbeat to Downtown Appleton
- Wellness Walkway features products and services for mental and physical well-being
- Artisan Alley features handcrafted and artisan products from vendors
- Play & Learn Lane features family-fun and life-long learning activities
- Farm Market Square features fresh fruits and vegetables, meats and dairy, breads and baked goods from farm market vendor favorites
“The Community Public Market is a complete mash up of all that makes Downtown Appleton One Great Place,” says Abby Reich, Appleton Downtown Inc.’s Marketing and Communications Manager. “It brings together small business retail shops from downtown, favorite coffee shops and eateries, local attractions with activities for the family to enjoy, live music and entertainment, and local farm market produce and art vendors. This new event will bring not only the vendors from the community-favorite Downtown Appleton Farm Market but will also have a familiar summer vibe of walking the Avenue.”
In addition to a wide variety of vendors to shop with, the Community Public Market will feature an entertainment stage, family-friendly activities that will excite the entire family. The Community Public Market will pose as a great way to break cabin-fever over the winter months and explore Downtown Appleton all under one roof.
“You can make an entire day out of it,” says Reich. “You can get some shopping done, get your weekly fresh produce and baked goods, listen to some music, make an art project, grab a bite to eat…all in the same building”
Just like the Downtown Appleton Farm Market, WIC/EBT/SNAP Cards will be accepted at many vendors in Farm Market Square. Signs are posted at participating vendors. Another farm market activity that will continue at the Community Public Market is “Kids Market”. Local children will have booth space to sell their handcrafted items teaching them entrepreneur skills and providing them with experience at a young age.
Another new feature to this year’s Community Public Market is the COVID-19 vaccination clinic. This clinic will be provided be Walgreens and will have Pfizer adult and pediatric doses available onsite from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m., all you need is your health insurance information and your CDC COVID-19 vaccination card if you have already received any doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Community Public Market is presented by Tundraland and is supported by Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region, AZCO, City of Appleton, Walgreens, Outagamie County Rescue Plan, WPR and TDS.
Follow Appleton Downtown on Facebook for updates on vendors, live entertainment, and more exciting programming that will be featured at each of the three dates. Click here for more details!