Placed on pause, this Centre County farmers market is weighing its future
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- The Pine Grove Mills Farmers Market is entering a hiatus in 2026.
- Organizers say declining attendance and vendor participation took a toll.
- The market could return as a monthly festival or another community event.
A State College-area farmers market is pausing its regular operations for the 2026 season.
Pine Grove Mills’ farmers market will pull back from its weekly market after sharing its operations are no longer financially sustainable “in a way that adequately supports” its farmers and makers, organizers wrote online. The market, which debuted in 2018, cited declining vendor participation and customer attendance as major factors behind the hiatus.
Laurel Pearson, co-chair of the market’s committee, said organizers have experienced difficulty recruiting full-time vendors — a growing theme in recent years. Attracting vendors who would stick around for an entire market season is crucial to sustaining a customer base, she said.
“It’s sort of a cyclical thing,” Pearson explained. “If you don’t have a lot of customers, you can’t support many vendors. But if there aren’t enough vendors, you won’t attract enough customers. It’s a real challenge.”
A typical Pine Grove Mills market at the St. Paul Lutheran Church along Pine Grove Road would feature about 18 full-time vendors, but that number dropped to around 12 to begin the 2025 season, Pearson said. The market’s car counts — through which organizers track attendance — have also dropped in recent years, usually peaking in the early summer and gradually trailing off through September.
Though Pine Grove Mills’ regular Thursday farmers markets are on pause for 2026, Pearson said organizers are weighing a range of options that could keep some programming available.
With the help of several sponsors, Pine Grove Mills’ farmers market has previously hosted live music acts, ice cream socials and other family-friendly events, including a dedicated children’s day, to enhance the market experience. Pearson said organizers could test some ideas out this summer, potentially in the form of a community festival combining a traditional market with local entertainment.
“People like to have something to do besides just poking around and looking at what’s for sale. When there are activities, I think that’s helpful,” Pearson said. “We want to see families at our market. We think it’s important for kids to be exposed to our local farmers and producers.”
Organizers are also expected to explore changes to the market’s schedule, which usually ran from the first Thursday in June through the end of September. Pine Grove Mills’ market was held on Thursdays to avoid conflicts with other markets in State College, Boalsburg and beyond.
Pearson said organizers hope to continue a unique program that allowed people to redeem Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits at the market. Another partnership through the Philadelphia-based Food Trust provided additional “market bucks” for shoppers using SNAP benefits, ultimately extending aid for those in need by providing more fresh produce and other goods.
“That’s been one of the most rewarding things about our market,” Pearson said. “That’s something we hope we’d be able to continue if we have vendors at our events this summer.”
Through the future of Pine Grove Mills’ farmers market remains unclear, organizers hope it can stick around in some form to continue providing a unique experience for local customers.
“It’s a nice community meeting space,” Pearson said of the market. “Because of our location, we see vendors from Centre County but also many crossing the mountains from Huntingdon. It provides some interest for our community in having engagements with our producers from other areas that they’re not seeing at other markets.”
%202.JPG)