The first Sunday was supposed to be Oct. 11. That week the National Weather Service issued a wind advisory for the Tempe area and told city officials that conditions would be unsafe for a farmers market. The City of Tempe pushed the launch back a week to Sunday, Oct. 18, and said the market would run on most Sundays after that.
A one-week delay is a small thing, but it shows what kind of market this is. It sits in the open on City Hall Plaza at 31 E. Fifth St., runs on a morning schedule, and depends on the weather. It also gives downtown Tempe a Sunday that runs in order. The plaza opens at 8, Mill Avenue opens up block by block over the next few hours, and once a month a second market takes over the street itself.
A Monday on campus, and now a Sunday downtown
Until this fall, the farmers market most closely tied to central Tempe ran on a weekday. The National Farmers Market Directory lists the ASU Farmers Market at 300 E. Orange Mall on Mondays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., September through November and again January through April. Those hours suit a campus.
The City Hall market runs on a different clock. From October through April it is open 8 a.m. to noon. From May through September it moves earlier, to 7 to 11 a.m. That makes it a year-round Sunday market that shifts its hours with the heat rather than closing for the summer. Tempe Tourism's listing covers Oct. 18 through Dec. 27 for now.
A baker and a mountain-town market founder
The market is organized by Jon Przybyl of Proof Bread and Meg Kabotie Adakai, founder of the Flagstaff Mountain Town Market, in partnership with the City of Tempe, according to the Tempe Independent. One organizer bakes for a living and the other has already built a recurring market in Flagstaff, so this one starts with experienced hands on both sides of the table.
Mayor Corey Woods explained the city's reasons in that same Tempe Independent report:
"We're supporting entrepreneurship in our community and creating a space where people can shop, spend time together and enjoy downtown Tempe."
The city also links the market to its sustainability goals. The idea is that buying locally grown food cuts down some of the distance food travels and keeps more spending in the local food economy.
Before the original Oct. 11 date, Phoenix New Times previewed the opening lineup:
- Ransom Farms Microgreens
- Bagelwick
- Mortimer Farms
- Shelter Dog Coffee
- Twisted Bee Honey
- Proof Bread
The same preview said a yoga class followed by live music would open the first market. That list was announced for the original launch date, and vendor lineups at new markets often change from week to week. The market's Instagram account, @TCHFarmersMarket, is the city's recommended source for current vendors and for which Sundays the market is running.
The organizers are still recruiting local farmers, artisan food makers, pet treat makers, health and wellness producers, musicians and artists, so the market is set up to grow beyond its opening group.
How the morning hands off to Mill Avenue
City Hall sits on Fifth Street, a short walk from Mill Avenue. A Sunday that starts at the market can follow the opening hours of the newer places nearby:
- 8 a.m. The market opens on City Hall Plaza.
- 9 a.m. Culinary Gangster opens at 501 S. Mill Ave. and serves breakfast all day.
- 11 a.m. Goat & Ram Pizza, inside Phantom Fox Beer Co. at 525 S. Mill Ave., starts its Sunday service.
- Noon The market closes for the day.
- 2 p.m. Russo's New York Pizzeria opens at 521 S. College Ave.
Culinary Gangster and Phantom Fox with Goat & Ram both opened on Mill this year, Culinary Gangster in late August and Phantom Fox on Oct. 8. Russo's opened its second Arizona location in September. The market arrives just as this stretch of downtown has new places to eat after the produce stalls close.
The practical details the city has posted
- Street parking is free in downtown Tempe on Sundays.
- The City Hall parking garage at 117 E. Fifth St. is free for the first hour.
- The Brickyard garage at 98 E. Seventh St. costs $4 an hour.
- Restrooms inside City Hall are open to marketgoers during market hours, and more public restrooms are at the Tempe Transportation Center at Fifth Street and Forest Avenue.
- EBT and Double Up Food Bucks are not accepted yet. Organizers say they are working on it.
November 8 puts two markets in one morning
Downtown Tempe Authority's 2nd Sundays on Mill returns for a new season in November. It takes over Mill Avenue between 3rd Street and University Drive from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with Arizona-based artists, makers and small businesses, street entertainment, interactive art, themed activities and a Kids Market where young entrepreneurs sell their own creations. Admission is free, and the event is family- and dog-friendly.
The first date of the season is Nov. 8, 2026, with more on Jan. 10, Feb. 14 and April 11, 2027. Each of those dates is a Sunday, and all of them fall inside the City Hall market's October-through-April season. So on each 2nd Sunday, the morning can start among the farm and bakery stalls on the plaza at 8 and move to the maker booths on Mill when that market opens at 10. For two hours the markets overlap, a few blocks apart, before the plaza closes at noon and Mill keeps going until 3.
The two markets carry different things. The City Hall market focuses on produce, baked goods, ready-to-eat food and handmade items. 2nd Sundays is built around artists, makers, entertainment and a monthly theme.
The sidewalk under the walk is being rebuilt
The route between City Hall and Mill is changing too. The city's Downtown Tempe Refresh is reworking the Mill Avenue streetscape from University Drive to Rio Salado Parkway, the first renovation of its kind on the street in about 40 years. The work includes new electrical lines, a new irrigation system, wider brick sidewalks with artistic treatments, new paving, ADA updates, and more than 120 new trees, with 26 existing ficus trees saved.
The city says the construction schedule works around planned downtown events and Valley Metro service, and that Mill Avenue businesses stay open throughout. Barricades, pedestrian detours and changing work hours are still part of the project, and the city offers project email updates for current restrictions. The walk from the plaza to Culinary Gangster can look a little different from one Sunday to the next until the work is done.
If you want to talk through which downtown Tempe blocks fit your own Sunday routine, or how places like the City Hall market add to day-to-day life around Mill Avenue, Ragini Sejpal is glad to share what she's seeing on the ground. Let's Connect.
