The sun has just cleared Lake Huron when Harrisville Harbor Farmers Market manager Laurie Szczesny plants the last welcome banner in the damp grass. The lot is still quiet — just gulls calling from the shore and the steady slap of waves against the breakwall on this October Saturday.

Thirty minutes later, the quiet gives way to life. Vendors pull in, gripping coffee cups against the autumn chill. Tents rise across the blacktop, and nobody puts one up alone. Invariably someone holds a pole steady while a neighbor wrestles with the other side. Soon, the savory smell of fresh rosemary bread and griddled breakfast burritos drifts across the lot. Rows of local maple syrup jars catch the morning light, while squash and late-season tomatoes line nearby folding tables.

Not long ago, a scene like this seemed out of reach for this small Alcona County town.

“Our market started out really small,” recalls Dave Riegel, owner of Sunrise Sugarhouse, who has been making syrup in the area with his wife, Becky, since 2014. “Actually, we had a market here about 20 years ago… and it dwindled down to nothing, and it’s rekindled through the inputs from a lot of generous and foresighted people in our community.”

Above, clockwise from top: Maple syrup glows in the October daybreak. Syrup farmer Dave Riegel, owner of Sunrise Sugarhouse. M.E. (Mary Ellen) Jones, who managed the BRC stipend.

Neighbors Feeding Neighbors

The turning point came with a $2,000 micro-stipend that packed an outsized punch. Site coordinator M.E. (Mary Ellen) Jones linked the market with Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities through its Building Resilient Communities (BRC) initiative, which combines seed funding with hands-on staff support. The stipend acted as a catalyst for the bustling market that now fills the harbor each Saturday, June through October. It provided the resources to hire Szczesny as market manager, gave her the bandwidth to recruit vendors, and set in motion a broader push to bring fresh-food assistance to Alcona County.

“The BRC grant was instrumental in helping me to focus and do some extra work during the week,” Szczesny says. That weekday capacity, combined with expanded outreach, helped grow the market from a handful of sellers each Saturday to as many as 22.

But vendor growth alone wasn’t the goal. With that extra weekday bandwidth, Szczesny turned toward expanding access to locally grown food. She launched Senior Project Fresh and WIC Produce Connection, which put farmers-market produce vouchers in the hands of older adults and families in Alcona County. She paired the voucher program with something low-tech and old-fashioned: a card table, a recipe card, and taste tests. Sage. Kale. The zucchini nobody knows what to do with by August.

“One woman told me that she had to make the zucchini relish three times the next week because her husband liked it so much,” Szczesny said. Even the kids surprised her: “The kids are way more interested in trying new things than I would have expected them to be.”

While Senior Project Fresh and WIC coupons are already bringing shoppers to vendor stands, Szczesny is working to expand that nutrition safety net even further. The market has been officially approved for SNAP EBT and Double Up Food Bucks, and while minor technical hurdles stalled implementation this summer, leadership intends to launch the programs at the start of next season.

Above: Access to locally grown food provides important nutrition to the community, and the sales provide needed income to area farmers.

A Place to Connect and Serve
The ongoing shift from basic assistance to real community connection—through neighbor relationship building and simple actions like recipe-sharing—is felt just as strongly on the vendor side of the folding tables. For growers and producers like Riegel, bringing the programs to full scale is a personal priority.

“I love our county. I love our community. It’s been really a good place to raise three girls, but it’s a tough place to be,” Riegel says, noting that the rural area can be isolating and lacks its own full-service grocery store. Given those challenges, he is eager to see the market’s food assistance programs take off so he can offer his goods to everyone. “Those are the people I want to serve the most, quite honestly.”

That desire to give back extends to new artisans, too, including first-year vendor Charity Stinnett, of Dast Fam, makers of handcrafted goat’s milk soaps and candles. Her family was drawn to the harbor market by one simple mission.

“We got into this business because we wanted to bring so much love to people’s homes,” Charity says. After being met with open arms by fellow vendors and shoppers, her advice to anyone on the fence is simple: “Definitely dive into your community. Get in, get out there, be a part.”

By midmorning, live music sets the tone for the harbor lot. Dogs sniff the drifting scent of baked goods, kids run between tents, and familiar faces catch up over vendor tables. The small market has become far more than a place to buy fresh produce—it’s a weekly anchor.

“I’ve heard from several people that say that this is their only social outlet in the week,” Szczesny says, watching the scene unfold in front of her. “They look forward to coming here and socializing and talking to their neighbors.”

The BRC funding bought administrative hours and marketing materials, but the real return on investment was far greater: a place to gather, connect, and belong.

Cassidy Beach is a multimedia storyteller, podcaster, and educator. She holds a master’s of science degree in science communications from University of California, Santa Cruz. cbeachce@gmail.com