Duluth Farmers' Market oral history interviews

The Duluth Farmers’ Market Oral History Project was undertaken in 2012 to record the memories and stories of narrators who had been involved in selling and buying produce at the Duluth Farmers’ Market during its first 100 years of history. 12 interviews with 13 narrators were conducted, creating 10 hours of audio files and 198 pages of transcripts. Some interviews were also videotaped.

Interview questions focused on the grower’s own operation and reasons for selling at the Farmers’ Market, the meaning of the Market to growers, consumers and the community at large, and changes in customers and product offerings. Only one narrator, Bud Wagner, remembered the original buildings built in 1911 at 6th Avenue East and 2rd Street in Duluth. One of those buildings was dismantled and reconfigured on the current location at 14th Ave E and 3rd Street in the 1950’s. Other narrators such as Barb Hollinday remembered her own parents selling at the Market and helping to maintain the building in the 1960’s and 70’s.

Narrators shared ideas about why they think customer interest and trends have changed over the past decades, and their hopes for the future for the Market. The building has stayed the same for many decades, but the types of growers, shoppers and products offered have changed quite a bit over the past decades. These changes were due to a variety of factors, from customer interest in large amounts of food for canning to the retirement of certain large growers, etc.

Interviews were conducted and transcribed by Gina Temple-Rhodes of Cedar Story Services, an oral and family history recording service, with some assistance from colleague and friend Susan Taylor. Temple-Rhodes is an active gardener and supporter of local foods, and managed the Lake Superior Sustainable Farming Association’s Farmer’s Market held at the University of Minnesota Duluth in the summer of 2012.

The project was managed by the Lake Superior Sustainable Farming Association, a non-profit coalition of producers and consumers moving farm practices and food systems into a sustainable future. Project funding was provided by the State of Minnesota from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the Minnesota Historical Society.