Downtown Tempe's New Farmers Market Took the Sunday Hours No Other Event Was Using

At 8 a.m. on a Sunday, Fifth Street in Downtown Tempe has free parking and almost nothing else on the calendar. The Mill Avenue market, the arts festival and the afternoon shows at Tempe Center for the Arts all start later. Since Oct. 11, the Tempe City Hall Farmers Market has filled that early slot at 31 E. Fifth St. It runs most Sundays from 8 a.m. to noon through April and is free to attend.

That timing explains how the market fits into downtown life. It wraps up just as Mill Avenue's daytime events get going, and it closes on the weekends when downtown's biggest festivals take over the district.

The old Sunday market ran 10 to 3. This one is finished by noon.

When the City of Tempe announced the market, the press release headline said a weekly farmers market was "returning" to Tempe. Its most recent downtown predecessor was the 6th Street Market. That weekly market of Arizona-made goods set up near City Hall at Ragsdale–MLK Park, 24 E. Sixth St., every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. In one season, Food In Root joined it to add fresh food. Tempe Tourism's listing for that market's 2021 spring season, set for Feb. 14 through April 25, 2021, notes that the season was canceled.

The new market is in nearly the same spot but keeps different hours. From October through April it runs 8 a.m. to noon. From May through September it moves earlier, to 7 to 11 a.m. The old market ran into the afternoon. This one is built for the morning and moves even earlier in summer.

Two organizers run it with the City. Jon Przybyl of Proof Bread and Meg Kabotie Adakai, who founded the Flagstaff Mountain Town Market, both bring experience running markets. According to Proof Bread's own history, Przybyl and his partner Amanda joined the bakery in 2017 after finding it at a farmers market. They then sold at Saturday markets and expanded to more market locations. In the City of Tempe's announcement, Przybyl explained why City Hall works for the market. He said Tempe "is centrally located, has the infrastructure to support a farmers market, enjoys free Sunday parking on all the streets, and has a diverse population primed for this kind of event."

The Downtown Tempe Authority has been making a related case about daytime downtown. Speaking to The State Press in October, the authority's business liaison and placemaker, Ally Dykstra, said "the daytime in downtown Tempe is just as wonderful" as its nightlife. She named 2nd Sundays outdoor markets and the new farmers market as examples.

The Sundays it shares and the Sundays it skips

The early hours do the most work on the Sundays when another downtown event is also running. 2nd Sundays on Mill, Downtown Tempe's seasonal outdoor market, sets up on Mill Avenue between Third Street and University Drive from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Its four dates this season are Nov. 8, Jan. 10, Feb. 14 and April 11. On those mornings, both markets are open between 10 a.m. and noon, and Mill Avenue keeps going for three hours after City Hall packs up.

On festival weekends the market closes. The organizers say the first season runs Oct. 11, 2026, to April 11, 2027, and skips the Tempe Blooms and Tempe Festival of the Arts weekends. Here is how that plays out through the end of the year, with a few other Sunday events nearby:

The Dec. 6 closure shows why the market steps aside. The fall Tempe Festival of the Arts runs Dec. 4 through 6 and fills downtown with more than 350 artist booths, along with food, live entertainment and beer and wine gardens. A produce market running the same morning would be competing with that crowd for the same streets.

The new year brings two more festival weekends. Downtown Tempe lists Tempe Blooms for Jan. 23 and 24, 2027, with large floral installations, live mural painting and a floral-inspired market. The spring Tempe Festival of the Arts follows March 12 through 14. The organizers post weather calls and day-of changes on Instagram at @tchfarmersmarket, so check there before heading out on those weekends.

The season also ends on a shared Sunday. April 11 is both the last date on the market's first-season calendar and the final 2nd Sundays on Mill of the spring.

The Fantasy of Lights Street Parade and Tree Lighting comes to Mill Avenue on Saturday, Nov. 28, from 4 to 8 p.m. The Fantasy of Lights Boat Parade, with a holiday market and fireworks, takes over Tempe Beach Park on Saturday, Dec. 12. In both cases, a Sunday market follows the next morning.

Most of the lineup has no storefront in Tempe

The vendors explain why the market is worth an early Sunday. Ahead of opening day, Phoenix New Times listed Ransom Farms Microgreens, Bagelwick, Mortimer Farms, Shelter Dog Coffee, Twisted Bee Honey and Proof Bread among the announced vendors, and said a yoga class and live music would open the first market. Most of those names are hard to buy from in Tempe on any other day.

• Bagelwick makes hand-rolled, naturally leavened bagels. Phoenix Magazine described it as a Tempe home-based bakery without a brick-and-mortar shop. Its weekly pop-up schedule listed the Tempe City Hall market on Sunday, Nov. 1, from 8 a.m. until sellout. Preorders open Mondays at 9 a.m. and close Fridays at 5 p.m.
• Mortimer Farms is a working farm in Dewey, where it runs a farm market and deli.
• Twisted Bee Farms sells local, raw, unfiltered specialty honey from Glendale and offers pickup by appointment or delivery.
• Ransom Farms grows Arizona microgreens and sells them mainly to chefs.
• Shelter Dog Coffee is a small-batch roastery in Phoenix that sends 5% of its wholesale revenue to animal-welfare work. By default, that money goes to Heidi's Village.
• Proof Bread is the exception. It has storefronts in Mesa, Phoenix and Litchfield Park, plus one at 699 S. Mill Ave., Ste. 117.

So for a Tempe household, the market pulls Dewey produce, Glendale honey and a Tempe bakery that has no shop into a single four-hour window at City Hall.

The roster is still being built

The lineup is still filling in. On their Tempe page, the organizers list the vendors they want to recruit. That list includes farmers, ranchers, mushroom growers, beekeepers and Arizona foragers. It also includes makers of grocery items and hot food, local pet treat vendors and Arizona antler chews, plus face painters, sketch artists and typewriter poets. They are also looking for musicians who can play "gentle farmers market morning vibes for tips."

Two details suggest the market is aiming for regulars. Vendors who commit to coming every week get a founders rate, and applications take at least two weeks to process. In other words, the stalls you see in March may include names that were not there in November. The City was still promoting the market as an ongoing Sunday event in its Oct. 26 Tempe This Week newsletter, which invited residents to make it "part of your Sunday tradition."

Parking, restrooms and payment before noon

The City's market page covers the logistics:

1. Street parking is free in Downtown Tempe on Sundays.
2. The City Hall parking garage at 117 E. Fifth St. is free for the first hour. That covers a quick produce run but not a morning that continues to 2nd Sundays on Mill.
3. The Brickyard parking garage at 98 E. Seventh St. is close by and costs $4 per hour.
4. Restrooms inside City Hall are open to market customers during market hours. There are more public restrooms at the Tempe Transportation Center at Fifth Street and Forest Avenue.
5. EBT and Double Up Food Bucks are not accepted yet. The City says organizers are working on accepting them.

The garage's free hour fits the market's hours. If you're making a short stop for bagels and greens, the City Hall garage costs nothing. If you're staying from 8 a.m. through a 10 a.m. start on Mill Avenue, free street parking is the better choice. On Nov. 8, that is the main parking decision.

If your Sunday walk to City Hall is part of why you love where you live, I'd be glad to talk about what your home is worth in today's market. Reach out to Camille Kennard for a free home valuation.