11 Farmer's Market-Inspired Event Ideas

In April, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts hosted a conference for all of its food and beverage directors in the Americas. The event, held at the Four Seasons Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, focused in part on the importance of sustainable, local, and organic ingredients in dishes served at all of the brand's hotels and resorts. In keeping with that theme, the design of the event showcased farm-to-table offerings in a farmer's market-style setup, complete with displays of colorful produce. Cyrille Pannier, executive chef at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, created the farmer's market display; he is one of three designated so-called "wellness chefs" in the company.

Appropriately, guests dined at picnic-style tables shaded by umbrellas and topped with unfussy lanterns and greenery. Guests could pluck napkins from tabletop baskets.

Last year, luxury Italian shoe brand Tod's used a farm stand to display its Gommino loafers at a charity luncheon in Amagansett, New York. The brightly colored footwear was color-coordinated with edible items, including red peppers, lemons, oranges, and broccoli.

Another footwear brand also used market stalls to display its wares. In July 2011, Havaianas launched a pop-up shop in Los Angeles where a make-your-own flip-flops station resembled a fruit stand, complete with baskets and colorful accents.

At Kari Feinstein's Style Lounge during Oscar week in Los Angeles, a setup for Jamba Juice included fresh produce displayed in farm crates.

A 2014 event for Expedia and Citi in a New York townhouse space saw each room decorated in the style of a different travel destination. The rooftop design at the event produced by HL: Creative mimicked a Napa farmer's market, and guests were encouraged to shop the market and place their selections of produce, flowers—and even wine—into their bags.

Santa Monica-based venture capital firm Upfront Ventures hosted its annual Upfront Summit tech conference earlier this month in Los Angeles. Meant in part to underscore the power of the local tech community and the importance of the firm’s location and proximity to the creative and entertainment realms, the event had a distinctly Los Angeles feel. As part of that approach, the lunch included a farmer’s market-style experience, with food trucks, picnic tables, and drinks served on a rustic cart.

At Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS' Dining by Design event in Chicago last year, Steelcase by Nelson set up a playful installation that encouraged guests to take home bags of fresh produce in a farmer’s market-like color-blocked display.

At the Pitchfork Music Festival in 2012 in Chicago, Whole Foods set up a farmer's market where guests could purchase goods including strawberries and sunflowers in a kitschy space decorated with gingham curtains and baskets.

When Los Angeles’s Farmers Market first opened in 1934, local farmers casually sold their goods from vehicles parked on the otherwise empty land. To celebrate the market’s 75th anniversary in 2009—by which time the Mid-City area of Los Angeles had become an intensely high-traffic center—a milestone-marking event included a stage decorated with colorful produce in baskets.

As part of a 2008 press launch for beauty lines Yes to Tomatoes and Yes to Cucumbers in New York, producers picked items from the nearby Union Square green market to create a custom farmer's market where guests could shop. Attendees to the luncheon event could browse the produce and learn more about the products.