The White Bear Lake Winter Farmers Market has the same address, hours and free cider every second Saturday through February, but the vendor list changes from one date to the next.
Michelle Bruhn coordinates the market through Forks in the Dirt. She posts the 2026–27 vendor roster with the months each farm or maker plans to attend. Apart from Pine Tree Apple Orchard, which supplies the free cider, the roster has 33 names with attendance dates. Twenty-six are marked for all four dates. The other seven come for only some of them, and those seven include some of the most seasonal items at the market: wild rice, Alaska salmon, bean-to-bar chocolate and elderberry syrup. So each Saturday is a slightly different market, and only one date this season brings everyone together.
Three Saturdays Left, Three Different Rosters
The season's first date was Saturday, Nov. 14. The remaining dates follow the same second-Saturday pattern, each from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., according to the Press Publications calendar listing.
| Date | Names on the roster | Arriving | Not there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., Dec. 12 | 30 | Autumn Harvest Ojibwe Wild Rice, Wild Run Salmon, Melissa's Sassy Salsa, Umbrella Custom Woodworking | 21 Roots Farm, Zane Chocolates, Sailor Mercy Elderberry |
| Sat., Jan. 9, 2027 | 33 | 21 Roots Farm returns; Zane Chocolates and Sailor Mercy Elderberry join | Nobody |
| Sat., Feb. 13, 2027 | 32 | No new names | Autumn Harvest Ojibwe Wild Rice |
The counts come from the month markings on the Forks in the Dirt roster. They include the two trucks parked outside, the Brick Oven Pizza Bus and Edge Mobile Sharpening, which are listed for all four markets. The market's own description says "over thirty local food vendors," which matches the January and February rosters.
December Is When the Pantry Goods Arrive
The December 12 market adds four vendors that weren't on the November roster, and two of them sell foods with clear origins.
Wild Run Salmon is fisherman Matt Oxford's business. He sells salmon he catches from his own boat, the F/V Blue Ox, and the company describes the fish as flash-frozen. According to his Forks in the Dirt profile, he has fished Alaska's waters since 1989 and bought the Blue Ox in 2004. The roster lists Wild Run for December, January and February.
Autumn Harvest Ojibwe Wild Rice sells lake-harvested wild rice parched over a wood fire. It has the shortest run of any vendor this season: December and January only. If wild rice is on your list, you have two Saturdays to buy it, and the second one is January 9.
The other two December arrivals sell things that make good gifts. Melissa's Sassy Salsa and Umbrella Custom Woodworking both start in December and stay through February. The December 12 market is about two weeks before Christmas, and the market's own description points to handmade soaps and specialty goods as gift options.
December's roster also has gaps. 21 Roots Farm comes in November, January and February, but not in December. The two vendors that join in the new year haven't arrived yet.
January 9 Is the Only Full Roster
The second Saturday in January is the only date when all 33 names on the roster are marked to attend. Three changes make that happen.
21 Roots Farm returns after missing December.
Zane Chocolates arrives for the first time this season. Austin Hamilton makes bean-to-bar chocolate from organic cacao and made his first batch in April 2022. His flavors change and sometimes use locally grown produce from farmers markets, as Maple Grove Magazine reported in its July 2026 issue. Zane is listed for January and February only.
Sailor Mercy Elderberry also joins in January. The business began in 2017 and makes small-batch elderberry syrup, fire cider, teas, bath salts and candles. Like Zane, it is listed for the last two markets only.
January 9 is also the last market with Autumn Harvest's wild rice. Wild rice, Wild Run's salmon, Zane's chocolate and Sailor Mercy's elderberry are all listed for the same Saturday only once this season, on January 9.
February 13 keeps everyone from January except the wild rice, so it comes second with 32 names.
The 26 Vendors at Every Market
Once you know what changes, the steady part of the roster is easy to plan around. Twenty-six vendors are marked "All." Several have long histories behind them.
- Eichten's Cheese makes European-style cow's-milk cheeses such as Gouda and Tilsit on its family farm in Center City. According to its Forks in the Dirt profile, the family has made cheese since 1976, in an open vat, and ages it by hand.
- Bell's Maple Syrup sells pure and flavored maple syrup from Cushing. Bob Bell tapped his first maple tree in 1989, and the family describes the operation as growing gradually without automation.
- Specialty Spores is a family-owned mushroom farm in North Branch that started in 2021. It sells gourmet mushrooms, mushroom jerky, dried mushrooms and dual-extraction mushroom tinctures.
- Davis Urban Farm is Megan Davis's business. She brings seasonal vegetables, honey, and jams, jellies, sauces, pickles and sauerkraut made from produce she grows or buys locally.
- Bakeries at every date include 350 Degrees Bakery, Great Harvest, Janna's Gluten Free Bakery and Croffle Corner.
- Meat at every date comes from Pampered Pork, Perry Family Farm, Gilbertson Farms and 100 Acre Homestead, alongside Happy Root Juice, Summer Lakes, Wir Nuts, Rootstock Herbals, Soak iT Up and the rest of the core roster.
The market also has a hot-cider tradition that predates its current home. Pine Tree Apple Orchard, the White Bear Lake orchard whose first trees were planted in 1904, has donated free hot apple cider to the market since 2018. Volunteers from the WBL Emergency Food Shelf pour it and take donations for neighbors in need. Six Jacobson siblings run the orchard, which grows 25 apple varieties along with strawberries.
Getting There and Planning Your Shop
The market used to be held at the Normandy Park Education Center on County Road F East, where the 2024–25 season ran. It moved to the White Bear Lake Area High School Student Union for the 2025–26 season. In the White Bear Press story on the move, Bruhn called the new space "larger and brighter." The market is at the high school again this season.
A few details to know before you go:
- Use the west entrance at 5040 Bald Eagle Ave.
- Watch the time. Vendors sell from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., but the food trucks stay until 2 p.m. The roster lists the Brick Oven Pizza Bus for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at all four markets. Brick Oven Bus is a family company from Eagan that bakes wood-fired pizza in short school buses with tall brick chimneys.
- Bring your dull knives. Edge Mobile Sharpening is parked outside at all four markets, so you can drop off knives, scissors or garden tools while you shop. Paul Edgerton started the business in 2017, and his low-speed equipment and specialized belts keep blades cool while he sharpens.
- Order ahead if you can. According to the roster, some farmers and vendors take pre-orders for pickup at the market, which helps for wild rice and salmon since those vendors come for only a few dates.
- You don't need to bring bags. Ramsey County Environmental Services gives shoppers free reusable bags.
Look for the community booths too. The market's description lists tables from Ramsey County, White Bear Center for the Arts, seed libraries and school district groups. The partner list adds the MN Seed Project, which shares native seed packets, and POWER UP, a local kids' health program that brings its mascot, CHOMP the Carrot. For the latest changes before each Saturday, Forks in the Dirt directs shoppers to the market's Facebook event page.
Planning a winter market around who shows up in which month is the same habit Maisa uses with home values, where the result depends on the details of each month and not on a single average. If you're thinking about a move this winter and want to know what your White Bear Lake home is worth today, Maisa Olson is glad to talk it through. Book a free valuation consultation.
