Filling a Gap

Lafayette Farmers Market’s mission goes beyond fresh produce

By Holly Bowers

It’s mid-afternoon on a Thursday, and Peter Wanberg’s wife, Margo, has just called him three times in a row. Worried, he ducks out of a meeting to call her back. He’s laughing when he returns—a pile of traffic barriers has just been delivered to their house, and Margo’s wondering what to do with them. “Just normal starting-a-farmers-market things,” Peter Wanberg says.

The Wanbergs are no strangers to starting-a-farmers-market things; they opened the City Park Farmers Market (shown in photos) in Denver in 2021. When they moved to Lafayette, they saw the same hunger for local food access and community connection. 

The seed for the Lafayette Farmers Market was planted in discussions with local business leaders and at city council meetings. Peter Wanberg recalls a presentation from Boulder Valley School District about the growth of East Boulder County schools as more families have moved into the area. The pair viewed the growing family population as the perfect opportunity to foster better local food access and awareness.

The city’s demographics aren’t the only factor that makes Lafayette fertile soil for a farmers market. Boulder County is home to many farms and food and agriculture startups, so the couple was confident they could source enough growers and producers for a market. And vendors have jumped at the chance—the Lafayette Farmers Market has more than 70 vendors signed up to participate in its inaugural year. 

The Wanbergs knew it wouldn’t necessarily be easy, however. Others have tried to start a market in Lafayette but never succeeded. Looking at the lessons of those previous attempts, the couple chose to site their market on Public Road, right in the heart of downtown Lafayette. They also decided to hold the market on Sundays so it wouldn’t compete with established markets in Boulder, Louisville or Longmont. 

The Lafayette Farmers Market also comes with a deep-rootedness in its mission. The market aims to make fresh, local food accessible to the community, so the vendor list centers around local farmers, food producers (e.g., baked goods, packaged goods, take-home meals, jarred products) and on-site prepared foods (e.g., food trucks, coffee vendors). Shoppers will find only in-season produce, and each entrance will feature “What’s in season?” signs.

Beyond the produce itself, the Wanbergs place a significant emphasis on building platforms for vendor stories and building connections with the community. “We want to connect people to where the food is coming from, and not just where the food is coming from but also to know the people behind where it comes from,” Peter Wanberg says. 

While the market is the most tangible aspect of that mission, storytelling is another big part. The market’s social media channels share farm tours and videos of vendor stories. The newsletter features “the farmers of the farmers market” sections where readers can get to know the vendors selling them food. 

Growers often lack the time and resources to do this kind of storytelling and community engagement, a tension that the Wanbergs understand as former small business owners. So, they see their role as helping to tell those stories and build those bridges.

The result is—hopefully—stronger networks of local growers and community members, adding up to increased local food resilience. “Food is so intimately a part of our days,” Peter Wanberg says. “Consuming consciously, with the understanding that it’s from your community and that you’re supporting a local food system—and not only that—you’re getting the best, highest-quality, nutrient-dense, vine-ripened version of that food, is just such a positive win-win-win situation.”

It’s a dynamic they saw on the first day of the City Park Farmers Market. The couple felt serious pre-market nerves knowing they had asked growers and producers to take a chance on them, but they didn’t need to worry. The first market was packed, and the Wanbergs realized they had filled a need in the community. The satisfaction they felt at that moment turned the farmers market from a side hustle into a life’s mission.

They hope for a similar story in Lafayette.

The Lafayette Farmers Market runs every Sunday from 9 a.m.–1 p.m. through October 26. It is located on Public Road between Cleveland and Geneseo streets. Find more details at lafayettefm.com