Rooted in community. Cultivating connections. Pretty much sums up the idea of Lively Neighborhood Market in Empire that cut the ribbon Friday.
Jim Lively thought of the idea when staying in Ann Arbor called the “everyday farmers” market that happens year round and thought this would be a good idea for the area.
“I want to support local farms. My wife and I have been thinking about it for almost 10 years. And when we bought this property five years ago, we weren’t sure what we were gonna do with it. As my daughter’s farm took off and we started looking at other options, we were like, let’s just do a farmers market, you know, right here,” he said.
The family lives about two miles away from the 20-acre commercial property they bought on M-72 in Kasson Township.
“It took us a little while to get around to the full complete picture. But I think we have all the elements here. We have one daughter farming out front, which is the lively farm. We have our oldest daughter Emily and her family living in the back, operating the campground and a music event. I have a daughter, Marlee here with me who’s helping to now manage the market, and a fourth daughter who’s slacking off in grad school at U of M,” Jim said.
They are excited about opening the market for many reasons, but when Empire lost its grocery store in 2017 the food desert was created. This is an opportunity for local farmers and vendors to sell their goods and bring the community together.
“We say it’s neighbors growing food for neighbors, and we’re just giving them a place to gather,” Jim said.
Jim worked at Groundwork Center for 22 years in building resilient communities with local food and farming. One of the ideas at Groundwork was the concept of the everyday farmers market that was modeled in Ann Arbor by a market called Argus Farm. Jim credits Argus for sharing their ways of how to run a market.
Lively thanks local township and county officials as well as local financial institutions including Venture North and Honor State Bank for playing their part in making this happen, plus dozens of mentors and friends from the local food community across the state.
The Livelys saw tremendous contributions in the form of a GoFundME Campaign that started in the spring. Jim with his nonprofit background wants to see if people would actually help support it financially. The GoFundMe campaign blew the family away with over 180 contributions that raised more than $25,000.
“It really just identified and solidified the incredible support from this community,” Jim said.
Jim also thanked the volunteers and neighbors who have helped with the project. Jim gave a shoutout to Empire locals Tima and Melanie Griffin of Mel & Fell who are preparing food for the market, and Melissa Dow who is the chocolatier. Marlee Lively and Eric Citrangelo have stepped up as store and product manager.
The market has been open at some level for the past month with no sign out, but people are still finding their way here and being supportive of the project, according to Jim.
“Jim is a hard worker, but he also is a smart worker. I think that’s the key in this society today and in the environment today is to work smart and to be smart,” Kasson Township Supervisor Greg Julian said. “People want to know where the food comes from, and this is a place, you know, that it’s going to be healthy, local, and that’s what we need to do to provide.”
The Lively’s feel an obligation to ensure that the Empire has access to food. Real food.
“I think all I can do is act, but what has been said before, really, this is just a tremendous opportunity for the Empire area. Since the demise of the Deering’s Market in Empire, it’s been a little bit of a food desert out here. And then when they decided to redevelop the gas station, it became even more of a wasteland. So to have something like this right on our doorstep is a huge, huge benefit,” Empire Chamber of Commerce Paul Skinner said.
Financial partner Honor Bank representative Max Anderson says being a banker isn’t about multi-million dollar development, what it comes down to are the most important things in various communities, which are neighborhood markets like this.
Venture North also played a huge role in securing funding for the project.
“When Jim first approached me about a loan for this project, he was having trouble with banks and credit unions because the vision wasn’t totally clear,” Anne said. Honor State Bank then stepped in and has provided most of the funding between Venture North and Honor State Bank.
Empire farmer Austin Weed of Blueberry Farm and Gardens on Fredrickson Road has been working with the Livelys to fill up the shelves.
Since moving to the area in 2021, they’ve been floored by outpouring support and what “what the Livelys and all the people involved in this project have been able to do goes to show exactly how deep that community runs. We’ve never felt unwelcome,” Austin said. “We are so excited that our friends, neighbors and community members can come in here and really be a part of something bigger than us as individuals.”
Dave Walts of Annaberry Fine Foods, a 78-acre regenerative, pasture farm in Long Lake Township is proud to be partnering with the Livelys.
“Our whole goal is to create a better community through sustainable, delicious, and really well raised animal protein ... we’re really, really proud to be a vendor here at the neighborhood market,” Walts said. “One of the things that we always say is that strong communities come through strong local food systems, and having good local outlets where we can sell our products is the only reason we exist. Without markets like Jim’s, there’s no way that we could do what we do. Farming is incredibly difficult.”
