This is not a post about farmer's markets

Summary

Okay, so this one starts off sounding like a sweet little story about farmers and their markets... and then it absolutely is not. It's an allegory, friends. The "farmers" are the Memphis vintage market scene, and the "adorable aspiring farmers" are some newcomers who got welcomed in, got hyped up, and then turned around and started scheduling competing pop-ups on the exact same days as the long-standing markets that helped them get started.

It's part rant, part rallying cry, and a whole lot of love for the women who built this community. The ask is simple: support the markets run by people who actually care about Memphis and care about vintage, and don't let the tapeworms win.

• Community over competition: when someone tries to turn a scene into a turf war, every vendor's sales suffer and shoppers get stuck choosing sides.
• A market is nothing without its vendors. Anyone can book a space and buy Instagram ads; the people are the magic.
• Support the good ones: this weekend, swing by Tennessee Vintage Fest downtown and Mint Condition Vintage Market, where everyone is welcome.
• Memphis vintage was built by women who care, and they're not stepping aside.

Transcript

Picture this. You're a farmer and every few months you and your farmer friends get together to host a big farmers market. One day, some adorable aspiring farmers get home from school and come to your market. They've never grown a crop in their life, but they like what you're doing. They've got a million questions and you're happy to help because you believe in community. And more farmers at the market is always a good thing. You work together. You help them get everything off the ground and you hype them up the whole time. But then you start to notice something weird. Every time you schedule a market, the young farmers also schedule a market. And at first, you think it's just a coincidence and give them the benefit of the doubt. But then you start to hear some rumblings. You overhear some conversations. And then one of your former friends asks directly, and you learn it's a specific, intentional decision. The kids you helped get started now want to see everyone else fail. [Bleep] wild, right?

Rather than collaborate and build something great, they decided to become combative little elons with a fragile male ego and an ugly outlook on life. They start telling folks the farmers markets are oversaturated and scheduled pop-ups to coincide with the exact dates and times as other markets whose schedules were released months in advance. And when a national traveling market announced their schedule, they made it their mission to ruin it and run them out of town so they never come back, calling them money hungry. Imagine they had the audacity to tell other farmers that the long-standing markets like the Blue Suede Farmers Market and the Totally Rad Farmers Market should have gone through them to plan. I think the pesticides they're using on their crops must have gone to their brains and impaired their decision-making skills. Who are we supposed to call, their daycare teachers, for permission?

Now, this story is obviously not about farmers markets. It's about the entitled little kids running the Memphis vintage market. When you try to turn our community into a competition, no one wins. Sales are lower for all the vendors at all the markets, and shoppers and vendors are forced to choose where to go. Your market is nothing without the vendors. Anyone can book an event space. Anyone can pay for a slew of Instagram ads. You think because Daddy Depot gave you some free bags for an event that you're the king? The women who created this vintage market scene in Memphis are supposed to step aside for some entitled little boys? Go play with your mama. Don't [bleep] play with us. We're not going to sit by while you try to take ownership of a space you don't even belong in. You wouldn't know a single-stitch t-shirt if your mommy used it to wipe the baby food off your mouth.

You're trying to make a buck off the back of the people. Well, I'm going to speak for the people. We are sick of you. So here's my request: call out Memphis Vintage Market. Find a market run by people who actually care, who care about Memphis, who care about vintage. If you have vended with them before, let them know you're not doing it again until they make a public apology. Don't let them fool you. They're just slippery little tapeworms with an insatiable hunger, and they need to be put in their place. Don't listen to their "we planned it so far in advance." They just released an application five days in advance for a market they're only doing as direct competition to Mint Condition and Tennessee Vintage Fest, happening the same day. And spoiler alert, they haven't announced it yet, but they're booking over Totally Rad in July because they think they can run them out of town. With all that being said, don't forget to swing by Tennessee Vintage Fest downtown and Mint Condition Vintage Market this weekend, where everyone is welcome and no one is trying to turn vintage into whatever the [bleep] they're doing over there. Thanks.