Shreveport Farmers' Market

There have been farmers' markets in Shreveport throughout the city's history, but the modern incarnation of Shreveport Farmers' Market has been operating continuously in the downtown area since 1986. It has moved from the Red River District underneath the Texas Street Bridge, to under the railway bridge near the SciPort Louisiana Science Center to its present location in the Festival Plaza. For 25 years, the Shreveport Farmers' Market has brought people to downtown Shreveport. In recent years, it has grown from offering a maximum of 65 spaces for vendors to over 100, and its popularity has caused us to work from a waiting list of farmers, chefs, and agricultural artisans, to become one of the largest farmers' markets in the state of Louisiana. Shoppers have enjoyed the improved market to the extent that we saw opening day visitor numbers rise from just over 2,000 in 2008, to almost 8,000 in 2010. An Economic Impact Study conducted by the Center for Business and Economic Research at Louisiana State University at Shreveport in 2009 proves what we've always hoped for and expected - that the Shreveport Farmers' market is an important offering to area shoppers, vendors and supporters. It showed that the market produced $1,544,964 in direct revenue from market shopper visits. Shoppers spent $972,113 at the market, and 24% of those shoppers went out and in total spent another $572,851 at other local area businesses. Shoppers spent an average of $25.64 per visit, with an additional $60.98 spent elsewhere in our community.