The Farmed & Forged Michigan City Farmers Market has spent the season setting up every Saturday morning in the Uptown Arts District, at the corner of Eighth and Washington streets. On Saturday, Oct. 17, it will do it one more time — not for a regular market day, but for a Halloween-themed Fall Fest that serves as the season's final celebration.
The event runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 800 Washington St. Admission is free and all ages are welcome. Shoppers are encouraged to come in costume, and children can bring treat buckets for a Trick-or-Treat Trail winding through participating vendor booths. There will also be pumpkin decorating for kids, a fall-themed scavenger hunt with prizes, live music, and a giveaway drawing for a fall basket — billed as a "Boo Box" — stuffed with goods from market vendors.
Behind the Halloween trappings is a market with a specific philosophy: it is producers-only, meaning the people selling are the people who grew, baked, or made what is on the table. The vendor list for Fall Fest reflects that mix — farms like Mark's Farm & Greenhouse, Broderick Farms, Burek Farms, Vicini Farms, Grandpa's Farm and J2K Capraio alongside bakers and food makers such as Crumbles - A Bake Shop, Salty Girl Bake Club, At Whisk's End, Heaven Help Us Pastries and OMG Pastries, plus artisans, a bookstore, and prepared-food vendors including Lanay's Luau Hawaiian BBQ and Bruno's Pizza.
The market is run by The Collective, a Northwest Indiana entrepreneurial network. In 2024 the organization launched The Collective Events, Inc., a nonprofit that hosts public events and channels a portion of proceeds from every market back into the community. Farmed & Forged is its signature market series, with locations in Michigan City, La Porte and Hammond. The Collective reports more than 80 members across the region, over $50,000 donated locally through markets and promotions, and more than 40 collaborations sparked between members.
What has drawn attention beyond the region is the market's approach to food access. Farmed & Forged has been described as the only farmers market in Indiana offering triple SNAP benefits. At the Michigan City market, the City of Michigan City — under Mayor Angie Nelson Deuitch — has partnered to match SNAP dollars, an initiative first offered at the market's final regular-season event in September and now continuing through Fall Fest. The market's own materials advertise a "Quadruple SNAP Match" for the pop-up, with SNAP-eligible shoppers able to stretch their benefits substantially further than a standard dollar-for-dollar exchange. The mechanics are straightforward: shoppers visit the SNAP info booth, swipe their EBT card, and receive market vouchers to spend with eligible vendors on fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, herbs, edible plant starts, bread, baked goods, meat and poultry, eggs and dairy, and other eligible foods. No change is given for vouchers.
The matching effort has not been limited to the regular season. When a federal shutdown temporarily paused SNAP benefits, The Collective Events organized Emergency SNAP "Giving Markets" — rapid-response indoor pop-ups in Michigan City and La Porte where families presenting an EBT card received a free pre-packed Feed a Family Box from Region Roots filled with fresh produce, farm eggs and artisan bread sourced from local producers, and every child received $2 in "Chef Cash" to spend on fresh produce. "Unfortunately, the local food pantries have been seeing an increase in need even before the funding cuts, so it was really important to us to get families fresh local food before the holidays," Krickhahn said at the time.
That same impulse shows up in the market's regular programming. A "Kids Weekend" at the Michigan City and La Porte markets launched the Curious Chefs program, which gives children a free voucher to spend on fresh food in hopes of building healthy eating habits and a connection to local agriculture; the weekend also included a donation drive for the Boys & Girls Club and visits from local police and fire departments. The Curious Chefs vouchers can be used at any Farmed & Forged market.
Fall Fest is the last chance this year to catch the Michigan City market before it goes quiet for the winter. The regular season wrapped at the end of September, making the October pop-up an encore rather than a standard market day — a distinction the organizers lean into, describing it as "one more market" with seasonal finds, family activities and Halloween fun layered on top of the usual lineup of farmers, food producers, makers and artisans.
For anyone planning to go, the practical details are simple: 800 Washington St. in Michigan City, Saturday, Oct. 17, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., free to enter. Costumes optional, treat buckets recommended, and SNAP shoppers should look for the market info booth to take advantage of the match before the season closes.