What started in a parking lot has become a year-round downtown market built by vendors, volunteers, community partners, and a stubborn belief that Pullman needs this.
I’m writing this as one of the people who has had the privilege, and occasional exhaustion, of helping carry Pullman Market on Main through its first year. This is not a victory lap. It is more of a thank-you note, a field report, and an invitation.
A year ago, Pullman Market on Main was not on Main Street.
It was in a parking lot.
A few tents. A few tables. A handful of vendors willing to try something new. A community question hanging in the air: would Pullman show up?
Pullman showed up.
And then, week by week, the market grew.
It grew from borrowed pavement into an indoor winter market at 300 E. Main. It grew from a scrappy idea into a weekly gathering place. It grew from “let’s see if this works” into closing actual downtown streets, setting up on Olsen and Kamiaken, just off Main Street, and creating the kind of Saturday morning that makes Pullman feel a little more like itself.
That sounds tidy when you write it in one paragraph.
It was not tidy.
It has been a labor of love in the truest, least glamorous sense of that phrase. There have been 5 a.m. setup mornings, wind warnings, tent weights, permit questions, insurance questions, vendor questions, invoice questions, power questions, weather questions, and the occasional “where exactly are we storing hundreds of pounds of street closure signs?” question.
There have been bills to cover before the market had a comfortable way to cover them. There were signs and barricades and street closure materials that had to be purchased because, as it turns out, you cannot simply wish a safe downtown market into existence. You have to build it, haul it, store it, set it up, take it down, and then do it again the next Saturday.
And then again.
And then again.
A lot of the work people never see is the work that has kept this market alive.
On a market morning, downtown changes before most people have finished their first cup of coffee. Streets that carried cars the day before become rows of tents. Someone is figuring out power. Someone is chasing a sign. Someone is deciding whether the wind is being dramatic or genuinely rude. By the time visitors arrive, the hard edges have been tucked away and the market looks like it was always supposed to be there.
The polished part is easy to love: kids with muffins, music drifting down the street, vendors selling out, neighbors running into neighbors, downtown feeling awake and welcoming.
The hidden part is where the market was actually built.
It was built by vendors who took a chance before there was a guarantee. It was built by volunteers who showed up early, stayed late, and worked through the week to make Saturdays happen. It was built by community partners who opened doors, offered space, made introductions, provided support, and believed this was worth trying. It was built by people who decided that Pullman deserved a year-round market, even before all the pieces were in place.
PMoM is currently carried forward by a small working board: Sandy Castle, Marty Vorderbruggen, Cate Anderson, and Paul Warner. It is not a ceremonial board. It is the kind that answers vendor questions, moves signs, solves Saturday morning problems, and keeps looking for more hands to help build what comes next.
And to be honest, some weeks were hard.
Some vendors came and went. Some ideas worked. Some did not. Some Saturdays felt full of momentum, and some reminded us that building something from scratch does not come with a clean instruction manual. There were moments when the market felt strong and moments when it felt fragile.
But through all of it, the reason stayed the same.
Pullman Market on Main exists to give small farmers, makers, artists, bakers, food entrepreneurs, musicians, families, and neighbors a place to connect. It exists to help someone test a business idea without needing a storefront first. It exists to bring people downtown. It exists to make local talent, local food, and local businesses more visible. It exists because community does not happen by accident. Someone has to put up the tents.
This first year has also shown us what is possible.
We have seen new vendors find customers. We have seen kids spend Market Bucks with the seriousness of tiny CFOs. We have seen musicians turn a city street into a stage. We have seen downtown businesses benefit from more feet on the sidewalk. We have seen people come for one booth and stay because the whole thing felt good.
That is the part we are most thankful for.
Not that the market survived its first year, although we are absolutely thankful for that.
We are thankful that Pullman made room for it.
Thank you to the Downtown Pullman Association for helping get this started. Thank you to the City of Pullman for working with us on street closures, permits, logistics, and patience. Thank you to Washington Trust Bank for backing the earliest weeks. Thank you to U.S. Bank for the parking lot where this began and for continuing to help behind the scenes. Thank you to Wei Wu for helping make 300 E. Main a home for the market during the winter season. Thank you to the Addium-METER Foundation, Pullman’s Lodging Tax Advisory Commission, Pullman Civic Trust, our sponsors, our vendors, our musicians, our downtown neighbors, and every person who has chosen to spend part of a Saturday with us.
Most of all, thank you to the volunteers and vendors who keep showing up.
PMoM is one year old now.
We are proud of that, but we are not finished. Not even close.
We want more produce. More food vendors. More farmers. More music. More kids programming. More volunteers. More people who want to help turn this from a brave little startup market into one of Pullman’s best downtown traditions.
This market has been carried by a lot of hands.
Its next year will need even more.
What PMoM needs next is simple, but not small: more vendors, more volunteers, more produce, more food options, more sponsors, and more people willing to help turn a good first year into a lasting community institution.
So if you are a vendor, come join us.
If you are a musician, reach out.
If you are a community member who can volunteer, sponsor, help set up, help tear down, or simply spread the word, we would love to have you with us.
Anniversary note: We will be closed July 4 and July 11 as we observe PMoM’s 1st anniversary and America’s 250th. We will be back on July 18, grateful, rested, and ready for the next chapter on Kamiaken Street.
Thank you, Pullman.