Creating A Place For Community To Thrive:
A Campaign For The Ypsilanti Farmers Marketplace
DECEMBER 2015 UPDATE
Happy end of 2015!
What a year it has been for us at Growing Hope, and in particular in terms of progress on our Ypsilanti Farmers MarketPlace. We hope you enjoy this year-in-review update to see where your support has brought us so far, and where we’re heading next!
We started our campaign in the spring for the Ypsilanti Farmers MarketPlace—our vision for a year-round, indoor-outdoor facility for our 10 year old downtown market that’s a nexus of healthy food access, opportunities for small business, and an anchor of community revitalization needed in that section of Ypsi’s downtown. For two years prior to that, we were writing a business plan, gaining community and vendor input, and working to secure the two properties needed for the project. Thanks to a partnership with Barnes & Barnes, in 2014 we secured 9 South Adams—the future indoor portion of the market—and finally, just days before the opening of the 2015 market season, we secured 16 South Washington (the old drive-through bank). Barnes & Barnes bought the properties with the express purpose of Growing Hope leasing and improving them for the Ypsilanti Farmers MarketPlace. We couldn’t have done it without them.
So, just in the nick of time we got the keys and moved the market from it’s spot on Ferris Street, just one block around the corner to 16 South Washington and were able to open the market season in May at the new location. While we didn’t have the amenities we’re fundraising to develop—a market bathroom being the number one need for the outdoor market—we hadn’t had one on-site bathroom during our 9 years in the street, so it wasn’t that different. All season we learned our way through the best logistics for maximizing circulation of customers in this new space, getting vendors in and out, and how to advertise the new location, since the community was so used to seeing the market when they came along Ferris. Change is hard, and we appreciate our vendors’ patience! On our busiest day, when two of our teen employees and their family performed in their funk band, we welcomed 1106 customers in just a four hour period on a Tuesday afternoon market.
In May and early June so many of you contributed to our first phase of fundraising through the
Patronicity crowdfunding campaign, and we were so pleased to meet—and exceed—our goal! Thank you!!! Our overall campaign– $400,000—includes the renovation funds – the physical capital part– for the indoor and outdoor portions of the MarketPlace, and a crucial working capital reserve Growing Hope needs to operate and sustain the market and other programs. Through the crowdfunding support of individuals and businesses, the generous match from MEDC, a grant from the Michigan Energy Office, and several other supporters, we raised over $215,000 of our $400,000 total goal this year! Our business and institutional sponsors who contributed were recognized at all of our market days in Downtown, Depot Town, and at the ABC Microbrewery (who again hosted winter market—thank you!)—so every shopper during our 60 market days this season saw that you supported us! Permanent signage for those major donors will be in place when we get the facility fully opened.
At the close of the campaign in early June we celebrated the 10th year of the Downtown Ypsilanti Farmers Market with a fabulous market day and beautiful weather and tons of customers. That day reaffirmed for us the power of bringing community together around good food, and that this investment was worthwhile.
At the same time, we were busy working with our amazing pro-bono team of an architect, structural engineer, electrician, and others to get our building and site plans approved so construction could begin. That was all lined up and approved by September, and with largely volunteer support, we began demolition and renovations. And, using the funds we’d secured, we began working with great local contractors. One of the coolest things we learned? Our carpenter—Terry Heiss—and our cement contractor—Mr. B of Beverly Cement—are both musicians and have even recorded together. We love our Ypsi contractors and these sort of community connections! They’ve promised to perform at a benefit for the MarketPlace!
We’ve been so pleased at the generosity of local and regional companies who’ve pitched in thus far with discounts and at times entirely in-kind donations. As we’ve gotten deeper into the work in these old buildings—the warehouse was built in the late 1920’s/early 1930’s—we’ve discovered things we didn’t expect. And, those discoveries cost more money, on top of the contingencies we already included in our budget. So, every place we can save through donated material and labor will be that much less we have to raise on top of our original campaign budget. Among those contributors (note this isn’t a full list!) who’ve giving donations or discounts or labor, are Washtenaw Community College’s Residential Construction program, Anderson Paint for a generous donation of all of our interior paint (!!!), Henderson Glass, Chelsea Lumber, ODL for solar tubes (they’re in Zeeland, MI), 
UA 190 Plumbers Union, Beal Properties, Latvala Brothers (for the handrail about to be installed), SolarTonic, Arbor Insulation, Kohler, and others. Dan Gillis, former owner of Gillis Electric, has brought his decades of electrical experience to bear through countless hours of in-kind work. And, the volunteers we’ve had so far have been amazing. Redevelopment Manager Laura Gillis has been a champion in harnessing all of this donated energy. We are so grateful for her leadership, along for her deep knowledge of and love for farmers markets.
So where have we gotten to in the renovations? Here’s just some of what’s happened so far:
- Early in the season we brightened up the awning on the old bank drive through with some fresh coats of bright green! And, you have probably seen the beautiful Ypsilanti Farmers MarketPlace aluminum sign done by Ypsi artist Rob Todd.
- In late summer we renovated the basement in the little bank building—yes, there’s a full basement—and built a walk-in cooler. The possibilities are now open for that space to act as a mini-food hub for farmers who want to store product to distribute to local outlets.
- We took some exterior walls out! The brick was removed and we have new doorways into the indoor part of the MarketPlace, from the back of the lot at 16 South Washington, as well as an emergency exit on the other side. That was a big job and several contractors were involved, and the new entrance has very sweet brick walls.
- Inside both buildings, we’ve taken quite a few walls down, removed pipes and wires, etc, prepping for accessible bathrooms in both buildings (we are adding one in the bank as the market bathroom, and two in the warehouse), and to make room for the kitchen, stairs, and closets in the warehouse. Next year, YpsiPlanti Garden Supply will move to the little front glassed in space at the bank building. And, we’re trying to figure out better names for the two spaces than “bank” and “warehouse”—let us know if you have ideas.
- We’ve insulated! The large curved ceiling in the warehouse is nearly 4000 square feet, and it took a lot of mineral wool, and creative thinking, to insulate it. Volunteers have been prepping the windows in the warehouse for interior storms that will really help seal up the space. And, a new insulated garage door from Ypsilanti’s Crawford Doors is on order and coming soon.
- We’re planning on solar on both buildings, and some donors including the Ypsilanti Food Co-op dedicated their donations to this purpose. We’ve been working with Solar Ypsi on system design, and grateful for a generous donation of some of the panels from a local solar company. We’re getting the structural engineering and electrical in line to get those up in early 2016.
This fall we worked with a talented class of U-M Landscape Architecture graduate students in an urban design seminar to think outside of the box about the physical design of the outdoor portion of the MarketPlace. These students filled us with some great ideas and totally new perspectives, and we’re excited to incorporate some going forward. We’re working now on writing a foundation grant that would help us work more deeply with Lynne Settles—the art teacher at Ypsi High School—and muralist/artist Doug Jones—to engage with Lynne’s students and others in the community to create murals and other art indoors and out in the MarketPlace. If we get that grant, other partners would help us do further planning on the uses of the kitchen and other non-market food uses—whether rentals for entrepreneurs, hosting cooking classes, exercise classes, art shows, and other ways partners can help activate the MarketPlace throughout the week and throughout the year.
From a fundraising campaign perspective, we’ve been working on grant applications this fall, as we focus on year-end annual giving to support the market operations and overall Growing Hope support. We’re excited to start the new year with a revived campaign committee—and we’re looking for more members—who can help us get the other half of our funds raised to fully open the MarketPlace in 2016.
If you’re interested in helping, we need lots of hands—volunteers, particularly those who are handy or good at organizing/cleaning, are needed. We are looking for contractors who can donate or discount their labor—particularly plumbing, excavation (we need to dig a new water line), sprinkler systems, and general contracting. If you know anyone who could even donate a few hours of their professional labor, we can put them to work! And, materials are needed, too—from extra sheets of drywall, to (commercial grade and efficient) plumbing fixtures, to lighting. Anything that we can get donated or discounted helps!
We appreciate so much your contribution to the campaign, and hope you can see we’ve been putting it to work! It may be a bit slower than we anticipated, but we’re proud with how far we’ve gotten in this project in just about 8 months. If you’d like a tour, we’re happy to provide at any time—just email us at [email protected]. If you can help in any way, please let us know.
We hope your new year is happy and healthy.
In gratitude,
Amanda Maria Edmonds
Executive Director, Growing Hope
P.S. If you’d like to make an additional gift to Growing Hope before the end of the year, to support our annual campaign or capital campaign, you can still do so online before midnight on Dec 31 at http://www.growinghope.net.