Holly’s Downtown Farmer’s Market is a Handmade Haven
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If you’ve never been to Holly, Michigan, the Farmer’s Market is a great reason to head downtown and take in all that Holly has to offer.
The Holly Farmer’s Market is held each Sunday from 10 am until 2 pm at Crapo Park, right near the railroad tracks. We visited on Mother’s Day, so the market was likely a bit busier than a normal Sunday. There are a few different places to park for the market, but it can be tricky if you aren’t familiar with the layout of Holly. There is a lot beside Crapo Park that fills up rather quickly, as well as a smaller lot across the street. Alternatively, if you don’t mind a small walk through town (grab a coffee on your way to the market at Battle Alley Coffee!), there is a public parking lot behind the township of Holly’s offices. The walk from any parking area over to the market is incredibly accessible and an easy walk for the family.
Holly is a charming little town and I love any excuse to walk through Battle Alley. Strung with lights that shine in the evenings, it’s a brick-paved alley between buildings that are surrounded by a coffee shop, antique store, ice cream window, wall murals, and ends at the historic Holly Hotel. Bistro tables are out for the public to sit at and enjoy their coffee or ice cream. We love stopping by in the summer and having a family treat under the lights.
If you are an avid antique hunter – Holly is a fantastic place to go on the hunt! There are four antique stores right downtown. My favorites are The Vintage Farmhouse (there’s a hidden metaphysical shop upstairs) and Holly Antiques (a great selection of vintage records and other fun stuff).
Farmer’s Market with Art at the Heart
Once we made our way through Battle Alley and over the railroad tracks, we headed into the Farmer’s Market and were met with stall upon stall of handmade items and art. It’s funny, we showed up at the market with no expectations and no knowledge of what types of vendors would be there, but we found that we personally knew two of the art vendors, which was really exciting for the kids.
Since it was Mother’s Day, I snagged a few art prints from this fine art booth for me and my mom – small, simple drawings of flowers that are perfect for putting in a frame and hanging on the wall. Making my purchase even more meaningful was the fact that my art prints were from one of my son’s preschool teachers – so cool! Her booth was not only full of art but also handmade tallow skincare – we learned a lot about her process for creating the skincare line and how she partners with a local farmer to obtain the highest quality tallow for her products.
My kids are little art fanatics and were super excited to find a booth filled with colorful animal art – by another local artist we know and love! This artist is a former art teacher at my daughter’s elementary school and is now a TikTok star. This booth featured some bright animal art as well as creative wood burnings. We were sure to pick up an art print from his booth as well – it’s important to us to have art in our home, and even better when it’s from someone we know.
Checking out all that local artists have to offer was the most exciting part of the farmer’s market for the kids. Some other booths that we visited featured handmade jewelry, clothing, acrylic accessories, hair bows, and custom signs. I always love to check out any items that I can sniff, so candles and soap stalls are the places for me! We hit up a handmade soap booth and smelled all of the flavors that were offered. My favorite? Happy Hippie! With a punch of patchouli, it seemed like the perfect scent to push me from Spring right into Summer lazy days. My daughter picked up a lip balm at this booth – pineapple flavored! – and we chatted with the vendor a bit about how she chooses the scents for her items and what her favorites are.
Don’t Forget the Farmers!
The main event of the Farmer’s Market is always, well, the farmers! While Holly features tons of handmade items and art, we definitely cannot forget those who bring food right from their farms to our tables! Among so many other offerings, we checked out fresh flowers, herbs, and starter vegetable plants.
At the Holly Farmer’s market, you can also grab a hunk of freshly made cheese, a couple of pounds of organic, farm-raised beef, or local honey.
Round Out Your Experience With Tasty Treats
When visiting the farmer’s market, you simply cannot leave without sampling at least one treat. I was incredibly excited to see a booth featuring freeze-dried candy! I had seen something similar while mindlessly scrolling social media and it’s been living rent-free in my brain ever since. The vendor had plenty of samples to go around and we were able to try freeze-dried versions of Skittles, gummy worms, and Milk Duds. All of them were amazing and so unique! We walked away with freeze-dried Milk Duds and a freeze-dried Neapolitan ice cream sandwich – cool!
One of the true loves of my life is tacos, so you know that I absolutely could not leave the Holly Farmer’s Market without a plate of tacos from the Electric Taco truck. The menu is set up so that you can choose your meat, your cheese, your sauce, and any extras. I stayed true to street taco style and got barbacoa (shredded beef), with cojita cheese, cilantro, and salsa verde. It was divine.
Make the most of your Holly Farmer’s Market trip:
- Start with a coffee from Battle Alley Coffee Co. as you make your way over the railroad tracks and into the market.
- Almost every food booth has samples! Try some cheese, freeze-dried candy, or handmade cherry pie – yum!
- Talk to the vendors – every single one is so happy to share their processes, their background, their goals, and their favorite items with you. This is especially great for the kids to learn a bit about the businesses and the people behind them.
- Grab lunch and head to the pavilion and a picnic table. There’s also a small playground nearby where the kids can burn off some steam.
- Get lucky and see the train go right through the center of town! My kids were thrilled to be so close to a moving train.
- End your visit with an ice cream treat in Battle Alley at Ziggy’s Ice Cream of Holly.