Farm Fest, marking the Memphis Farmers Market’s 20th season at Central Station, is scheduled for Sept. 27 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Central Station Pavilion in South Main. The program will include food tastings, beverages from Old Dominick and Wiseacre, and a performance by Kennard Farmer, according to The Daily Memphian.
Ticket proceeds will support the nonprofit market’s operations. Market vendors and Memphis chefs are scheduled to prepare the tastings, and the live music reflects the market’s partnership with Sound Main Sounds, according to the report.
A volunteer board managed the 2026 season
After the executive director left, board members considered whether the organization could continue and ultimately took over day-to-day management for the 2026 season, board president Inga Theeke told The Daily Memphian.
Theeke, a pastry chef at Felicia Suzanne’s and a three-year board member, moved to Downtown Memphis in 2021, according to the report. The board-led season included 94 first-time vendors, up from 70 the previous year. The market also has been working on dog-friendly policies and its live-music programming, The Daily Memphian reported.
A market in a historic rail and commercial district
The Memphis Farmers Market’s South Main setting is part of a larger historic commercial district. According to a National Register of Historic Places nomination from the National Park Service, South Main Street is an 11-block commercial district immediately south of Memphis’ central business district. The area also retains connections to the city’s rail and freight history. A separate National Park Service National Register document identifies the Railway Express Agency building and an adjacent tunnel as significant examples of freight-handling businesses in Memphis’ rail-related transportation history.
Regional vendors remain part of the market’s food program
The participating food producers include Lazy Dog Farms, a 138-acre family farm in Bethel Springs that began in 2011 and is USDA-certified organic, according to Pick Tennessee Products. The farm lists produce, eggs and meat among its offerings and sells through farmers markets, including the Cooper-Young market in Memphis.
Felicia Suzanne’s, where Theeke works, is located in a restored 1926 building in South Main and was recommended in the 2025 Michelin Guide for the American South, according to the restaurant’s website. The site also says chef Felicia Suzanne Willett trained under Emeril Lagasse in New Orleans.
The market continues on Saturdays
Outside the anniversary event, Memphis Farmers Market’s regular season runs Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., April through October, at South Front Street and G.E. Patterson Avenue, with holiday markets scheduled in November and December, according to the market’s location information. The market accepts SNAP/EBT and operates an OhSnap program that matches up to $10 in eligible purchases per visit.
