Year-round farmers market to launch assistance fund

FORT COLLINS — Wildcraft Farmers Market, which operates inside Foothills Mall in Fort Collins and in November will become Colorado’s first year-round indoor farmers market, has launched the Wildcraft Community Fund to help make sure the event is open to everyone.

The fund will match up to $20 in Market Bucks each week to help Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients and their families have more buying power for food staples. On the first Saturday of each month, it will give people age 65 and older $20 in Market Bucks.

The fund will also support Fort Collins-area musicians with a living wage for their talents during the market; every $35 donated will pay for an hour of music.

Donations to the fund will help cover operating, materials and marketing to bring awareness to the events.

SNAP spending at the market has increased 16% year over year during its most recent full season.

The market will be open at Foothills Mall from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., starting Nov. 7, and will offer an all-weather, pet-friendly destination to shop locally, support small businesses and gather with the community.

What began in 2006 in downtown Fort Collins’ Opera Galleria as a 13-week winter market has grown into a thriving community destination featuring more than 250 local growers, ranchers, artisans and makers from across Colorado and Wyoming, with 90 to 130 vendors participating each market day. The market moved to Foothills in 2020.

Events planned at the market include a kids’ entrepreneur market including youth-run businesses on Oct. 10.

Until the winter market officially begins, it will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the second Saturday of each month through October.

Vendor applications are being accepted.

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