Celebrate the harvest season at the Lake Superior Harvest Festival on September 12, 2026, brought to you by the Lake Superior Sustainable Farming Association (LSSFA). From 10am-4pm at Bayfront Festival Park in Duluth, come and enjoy the largest farmers market in the region as well as artisan vendors, live music, educational demonstrations, and a renewable energy fair. This free family-oriented event celebrates the diverse agricultural bounty of the Lake Superior region as well as the organizations focused on sustainability and working to enhance our community. Donations are welcomed at the entry to support this community festival. Parking is $10/car at Bayfront.
Harvest Festival started 32 years ago with just a farmers market, and this year the farmers’ tent will showcase the season’s bounty. This is the peak harvest season in the Northland, so shoppers can expect to see tomatoes, sweet corn, pumpkins, flowers, apples, and lots more. Shoppers can come early and stock up, and then drop off heavy bags at the “Produce Parking Station” at the LSSFA Info Tent while they enjoy the festival. Their goal is to celebrate the local producers who do the hard work of growing food and to increase their connections in order to build a stronger, more robust local food system.
Harvest Festival activities include maypole dancing, petting chickens, blacksmithing demonstrations, and crafting with the Duluth Fiber Guild and the Duluth Folk School. Wussow’s Concert Cafe puts together a full line up of local live music. Food available will include ice cream, coffee, lots of baked goods, tacos, fried fish, and much more. Artists and crafters from our western Lake Superior region will be showcasing and selling their wide variety of work from bodycare to candles to recycled wool mittens. You can also expect to see a fleet of electric vehicles on display, thanks to Minnesota Power.
Harvest Festival strives to be a zero-waste event, which means that trash will look differently than at other events. They require all of their food vendors to use BPI-certified compostable serviceware, which will then go to WLSSD’s organics recycling to turn into garden soil. There will be only 4 waste stations at the festival, and this is on purpose. Volunteers from Eco-Rotary and others help visitors sort their waste so that it goes into the proper bin. Last year, we had only 8 bags of landfill waste after this all-day event, and that included waste that was already in the park!
For a lineup of all the vendors, exhibitors, music, sponsors and activities, visit sfa-mn.org/harvest-festival. You can also see the festival map on the website. Follow them on Facebook for updates.
The Lake Superior Sustainable Farming Association (LSSFA) hosts events to enhance our local food system. For more information, please visit our website www.sfa-mn.org/lake-superior/ or our Facebook page @lakesuperiorsustainablefarmingassociatoin. In addition, check out our website for recipes featuring locally-produced food: www.RootsandRecipes.org, where you can submit your own recipes, too!
