"It's a community hub," Chuck Grinnell told HoltNow this summer. "You can sit in the market on a Saturday and see people sitting down and having a cup of coffee, having something to eat, running into people they haven't seen in years, that type of thing."

Grinnell has managed the Holt Farmers Market since it opened in 2008. Before that he ran a shoe and leather repair shop on Cedar Street, next door to Sweet Sensations. He's watched the old firehouse at 2150 N. Cedar Street go from a startup market to a building with a waiting list of local businesses. That list is why construction has been going on beside it since summer. The Delhi Township Downtown Development Authority is adding an annex that it says will double how many vendors the market can host. Over the past few years the market has taken on more of Holt's weekly calendar than one room can handle. The annex is the township catching up.

A firehouse that outgrew its own floor

The market is housed in Holt's historic firehouse. HoltNow points out that the building's old layout leaves a flat, open floor that's easy to move around for shoppers of all ages and abilities. That same floor has to carry a lot. The market runs every Saturday of the year, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., indoors. It also hosts the Wednesday-evening Holt Food Frenzy food truck nights, and this year it hosted the Friday-night Cruise to Holt drive-ins. The last cruise of 2026 was September 25, with cars, Two Guys Nomadic Grill and a DJ.

The DDA's own numbers show how much of that traffic comes in on off-days. Its July report said every Food Frenzy so far that season had drawn more than 900 people. By the September 29 board meeting, Executive Director C. Howard Haas said the two most recent Frenzies had drawn about 800 to 1,300 people each. That's a crowd the size of a small festival on a Wednesday, on a site built around a single market hall.

The DDA has already gained some ground outside. It merged the neighboring parcel at 2142 Cedar Street into the market property to create one development site, and its July report says that "significantly improved parking availability" for the market and the Cedar Street corridor.

How a $400,000 room became a $925,025 one

The annex costs more than twice the first estimate. Each increase came from a specific decision or requirement, and the DDA's July memo to its board spells them out in order.

1. March 2025. The DDA proposed an annex for up to 30 new vendors, with an estimated cost of $400,000.
2. August 2025. The DDA sold its office at 4410 Holt Road to Family Lifestyle and Medicine for $335,000 and decided to put a permanent DDA office inside the annex. A revised proposal from Phillips Building and Remodeling was approved in September 2025 at $609,983.
3. Grant funding. A $175,000 Revitalization and Placemaking grant through LEAP plus the office sale proceeds covered about $510,000.
4. Final permitting. Requirements from the Ingham County Drain Commission added roughly $250,000 to the project.
5. May 19, 2026. The Delhi Township Board of Trustees approved $200,000 to help close the gap.
6. July 28, 2026. The DDA board approved the final contract with Phillips Building and Remodeling at $925,025, plus a 15% construction contingency.

From a CPA's point of view, the jump from $400,000 to $609,983 was a choice. The DDA sold an office it owned and folded that office into the new building, which turned a market expansion into a market expansion plus permanent headquarters. The roughly $250,000 added at permitting was a requirement. A project can land there late, after the design is settled, and the timing in this memo shows how that happens. Some money is also starting to flow back. At the September 29 meeting, Administrative Assistant Cassie Butler reported that the DDA had filed its first milestone report on the LEAP grant, asking for $87,500, or 50% of eligible expenses.

On timing, the July report expected the new building to be finished before the end of the year. The most recent public update came on September 29, when Haas told the board the flooring would be poured that weekend. The minutes didn't give a new completion date. The DDA's fourth-quarter marketing plan includes drone footage of the construction, which may be the easiest way to follow progress.

What the extra room is actually for

Adding stalls is only part of the plan. The DDA memo describes the annex as room for up to 30 new vendors, including 3 to 5 daily "Food Court" vendors, plus space for dietary education programs and community trainings. Daily food court vendors would bring hot food on days with no food trucks in the lot.

Grinnell described the plans in the July HoltNow piece. "We're going to be adding educational classes for cooking, canning, and nutrition," he said. "We're also going to be adding a second day of market, so that will be going two days a week again, like we did before COVID."

The second market day is the change that would reach the most people. A one-day market sets the routine around Saturday morning. Two days would bring back the schedule the market ran before 2020. Grinnell said those changes will roll out over the year after the building opens, so the classes and the extra day come after the ribbon cutting.

The market also accepts SNAP (EBT) and Double Up Food Bucks, which the DDA describes as part of its commitment to food access. A building with a classroom and daily prepared-food vendors gives that commitment more to work with than a once-a-week sales floor does.

The rest of October, Saturday by Saturday

The current building is still open while the annex goes up. The market's October schedule runs through Halloween, and the roster changes a bit from week to week.

Most vendors are on the schedule all four remaining Saturdays. These include Aladdin's Restaurant with chicken shawarma and baklava, Boss Babe Bagels, Clark Sugarbush maple syrup, El Burrito Mexicano, Golly Gee Gluten Free, Great Harvest Okemos, Lonesome Pines Beef, Otto's Chicken for chicken and eggs, Gaia Green Organics microgreens, Patrick Family Farm, Sass & Sunshine Bakehouse, and Mama C's Sauces, which also sells hot sandwiches. Hometown Hone sharpens knives and scissors while you wait, and Fur Real Dog Snacks sells dehydrated meat treats.

Some vendors come only on certain weeks:

So October 17 is the Saturday to come if you want local coffee and sourdough bread from the same trip. Oceanside's frozen walleye and perch alternate weeks with the coffee. Halloween morning has the most varied lineup of the month, since it's the only date on the schedule for Herbal Sereni Tea. The market's full weekly roster is posted at holtfarmersmarket.org.

Wednesday's Food Frenzy is the last one on the calendar

The 2026 Food Frenzy calendar ends with Wednesday, October 7, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the market. The event site notes that on-site seating is limited. Delhi Township's calendar lists the same date and time at 2150 Cedar Street. The organizers haven't called it the season finale, but no later 2026 date is posted.

The vendor roster lists 21 trucks and stands for the night:

• Savory mains: Clyde's Pit BBQ, The Smoke N' Pig BBQ, Cousin's Maine Lobster, Fire & Rice, Nom Nom Ninja, Shove It Pizza, Smash Shack, Sal's Kitchen, Road Trip Kitchen, Two Guys Nomadic Grill
• Comfort food: Big Cheezy Grill, The Tallowed Cheese Curd, Get Loaded Food Truck, Mama C's Hot Dogs, From Scratch Food Truck, Cookin' With Beans, Picnic Food Truck, JR's Concessions
• Sweets: Korrielinn's Cheesecake, Kona Ice, Superior Kettle Corn

Recent Frenzies have each drawn 800 to 1,300 people. With seating limited, a folding chair in the trunk makes sense. The 2142 Cedar Street parcel, added this year to expand parking, also takes some pressure off the corridor.

Wednesday will be the last Frenzy held around just the old firehouse. If the annex finishes on the DDA's July timeline, the 2027 season will run with a second building beside it, daily food court vendors inside, and, according to Grinnell, a second weekly market day on the way.

Public projects like this one show up in a neighborhood's numbers long before the ribbon cutting. If you own near the Cedar Street corridor and want to know where your home stands as the market expands, Josh Nelson can walk you through a CPA-level look at your property. Get Your Instant Home Valuation to start with a clear number.