Market Overview
Our Mission
The mission of the market is to be the ‘heart’ of St. Petersburg — the place where people feel a strong sense of joyful connectedness and creative community. While farmers, great food, interesting crafts, and lively music are all wonderful elements of the market, this spirit of community is what really defines the Saturday Morning Market experience.
History
- The market opened in November of 2002. The original founders included Judy Staunko, Theresa Ellis, Celeste Simon, Heidi Lovett and Rand, Dennis D'Ettore, and Gail Eggeman.
- The market runs every Saturday from October to May, 9–2 pm.
- The market is located in downtown St. Petersburg in the Al Lang Stadium parking lot (the corner of 1st Street and 1st Avenue S)
- Our smaller Summer Market changes venues for shade. It takes place in Williams Park from June to August … 9am–1pm
- Click here to see our assorted Facebook photo albums including an overview of the Market
- The market is a non-profit and is not sponsored by an outside organization (e.g. the city, a medrchants association, etc).
- We’re one of the top 20 markets in the country (of ~7000+), and the largest in the southeast US.
- We have about 170 approved vendors filling over 140 spaces each Saturday.
- About 10,000 people attend on a typical Saturday.
At the Market
- We have local farmers with organic and sustainably raised fresh vegetables, fruits, and meats.
- We have more styles of ‘ready-to-eat’ food than any market in the US (e.g. Greek, Italian, French, Belgian, German, Polish, British, Cuban, Mexican, Ecuadoran, Colombian, Thai, Ethiopian, Cajun, Vegetarian, and more).
- We have a great variety of artisan food vendors. (e.g. fresh seafood, baked goods, pastries, jams, chocolates, cheeses, salsas, chutneys, sauces, imported truffles, pickles, popsicles, spices, jerky, etc.).
- We have a wide variety of juried craft vendors.
- We have live music every Saturday during the winter season
- We offer free booths to local and national not for profits to educate the community
Health & Sustainability
- We promote healthy eating and positive environmental practices in many ways.
- The Market supports SNAP providing quality food and produce with these benefits. We also provide a ‘double dollars’ service through a charitable grant.
- We also have a food demonstration cart enabling local chefs to present healthy recipes using Market produce.