Hot Take: Market Managers Are Brand Builders, Not Just Business Owners
Picture a busy Saturday morning at your local farmers market. The smell of fresh bread, the towers of strawberries, the easy feeling of a community doing what communities do best. It looks effortless. It isn’t. Someone built that — and they were up at 5am to make it happen. Market managers don’t just run events. […]
CASE STUDY: From Operational Chaos to One Unified System. How a Multi-Market Operator in Indiana Streamlined Vendor Management with Hivey
If your market operations still live across forms, spreadsheets, and inboxes — you’re not scaling. You’re managing chaos. That’s where most multi-market operators end up. The first market is fine. The second one stretches things. By the third, you’re holding a duct-taped backend together with sticky notes, browser tabs, and the kind of hope that […]
Where Did All the Vendors Go? The Farmers Market Recruitment Slump in 2026 (And What Managers Can Do About It)
It’s 9pm on Sunday. You’re at the kitchen table, laptop open to a vendor application spreadsheet, and the math isn’t mathing. You have 18 confirmed vendors for 30 spots. The market opens in six days. If this scene feels uncomfortably familiar, here’s the first thing you should know: it’s not just you, and it’s not […]
How to Stop Spending 30 Hours on Vendor Booth Assignments (And Use Software To Do It in Minutes)
If you’re a farmers market or pop-up market manager, booth assignment day probably looks something like this: A color-coded spreadsheet. A handful of sticky notes. A Canva map you’ve rebuilt three times. And somehow — despite all that effort — you still end up with two competing food vendors back-to-back and a vendor texting you […]
Why 100% Vendor Adoption of Your Event Software Matters
And why market managers are making the switch to Hivey Running a successful market or event isn’t just about curating the right vendors — it’s about keeping them. And keeping them starts with giving them tools they actually want to use. Yet, time and again, market managers invest in event management software only to find […]
Stop Chasing Vendor Payments: How Hivey’s Season Pass Transforms Farmers Market Billing
If you’re still emailing vendors, texting payment reminders, and juggling spreadsheets to track who’s paid — there’s a better way. Here’s what modern vendor payment management looks like. Ask any farmers market manager what their least favorite part of the job is, and there’s a good chance collecting vendor payments is somewhere near the top […]
3 Things Farmers Market Managers Should Set Up in the Offseason (Now) to Avoid Chaos
The most organized farmers markets don’t get that way by accident. They’re built in the offseason. If you’re a farmers market manager, the weeks (or months) before opening day are your biggest opportunity to prevent in-season stress. Once the market starts, you won’t have time to rebuild systems — you’ll just be reacting. Here are […]
It’s Application Season: 5 Ways to Attract Better Vendors At Your Farmers Market This Season
Application season is here, and if you’re like most farmers market managers, you’re fielding inquiries from vendors of all kinds. But here’s the thing: not all vendors are created equal. The best vendors—the ones who show up consistently, engage with customers, and elevate your entire market—are selective about where they invest their time and energy. […]
Countdown to Opening Day: The Checklist Market Managers Actually Need
The weeks before your market’s opening day feel like a countdown clock that’s ticking faster than you’d like. You’ve curated the perfect vendor lineup, secured your venue, and promoted the event. But between now and opening those gates, there’s a mountain of logistics to manage. Here’s the checklist that covers what really matters, with practical […]
You Posted “Vendor Applications Open” on Instagram. Now What?
You hit publish. Your carefully crafted Instagram post announcing “Vendor Applications Now Open” is live, complete with vibrant photos from last year’s market and all the essential details in your caption. Within minutes, the likes start rolling in. Comments flood your notifications. DMs ping constantly. Then reality hits: “How am I actually going to manage […]