Today is the first Thursday since May with no tents at James Couzens Memorial Park. The Bath Farmers Market sets up at 13751 Main Street every Thursday from 3 to 6:30 p.m., starting the last Thursday in May and running through the last Thursday in October. This year's final market was October 29, with a Halloween Celebration to close it out. The township describes it as a summer market, and its market page lists no winter season.
So for the next seven months, buying local from Bath means another town on another day. The winter week runs on Wednesday and Saturday, takes you south and east, and has one bonus Tuesday up north in December.
The winter week, laid out
| Day | Market | Hours | Season |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesdays, three holiday closures | Allen Farmers Market, Allen Neighborhood Center, Lansing | 3 to 6:30 p.m. | Nov. 4, 2026 to May 5, 2027 |
| Every Saturday | Holt Farmers Market, 2150 Cedar St., Holt | 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Year-round |
| 1st, 3rd and 5th Saturdays | Meridian Winter Market, JCPenney wing of Meridian Mall, Okemos | 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. | January to April |
| Tuesday, Dec. 8 | IQhub Winter Market, 1130 S. DeWitt Rd., St. Johns | 3 to 8 p.m. | One day |
| By appointment | Sovis Farms, 8632 Mason Rd., Ovid | Call ahead | Phone orders |
Each row covers a different part of the gap Bath's market leaves behind, and each comes with its own catch.
Wednesday keeps Bath's hours
The closest match to the Couzens Park routine is the Allen Farmers Market on the east side of Lansing. Its fall and winter season opened yesterday, November 4, and runs every Wednesday from 3 to 6:30 p.m. through May 5, 2027. Those are exactly the hours Bath used on Thursdays, so an after-work stop fits the same slot. It just moves up a day.
Allen lists its market space at 1629 E. Kalamazoo St. Mark the three Wednesdays it's closed before you head over: December 23, December 30 and January 6.
The indoor season is also a smaller room. Allen says so plainly on its own page:
"As a year-round farmers market, we are grateful to offer local foods to our community no matter the season. However, due to going fully indoors during the colder months, we are forced to decrease the amount of vendors we can offer a regular booth space to."
That cap shapes the whole winter week. Indoor space is limited, so the lineup on any given Wednesday is a narrower selection than what fit under summer tents. Splitting your shopping across two or three markets is how you get back the variety one Thursday used to cover.
Saturdays split between Holt and Meridian Mall
Saturday is the other anchor, and in November and December it belongs to Holt. The Holt Farmers Market is open every Saturday all year, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., at 2150 Cedar Street. It's the one market on this list with no off-season at all.
Meridian Township joins in January. Its winter market runs the first, third and fifth Saturdays of each month from January through April, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., in the JCPenney wing of Meridian Mall at 1982 E. Grand River Ave. in Okemos. The market moves indoors from its summer home at the Marketplace on the Green pavilion on Central Park Drive.
The Meridian side has some familiar names. Meridian's October weekly vendor information included The Local Epicurean, Two Guys Nomadic Grill and International Soul Food. All three were on Bath's 2026 roster too. The Local Epicurean sold dried pastas at Couzens Park, and the other two were among Bath's three food trucks along with Krystal's Kitchen. October lists don't promise a winter booth, but they show that some of Bath's Thursday vendors were also working the Okemos circuit this fall. Meridian posts its market information weekly, so that page is the place to check before a January Saturday.
Put together, Saturday shopping comes in two phases. November and December mean Holt. January through April, the first, third and fifth Saturdays give you a choice between Holt in the morning and Meridian Mall around midday, and the hours overlap enough to hit both.
One Tuesday points north
The winter week has one date that runs the other way. IQhub, a nonprofit educational center focused on agricultural history, innovation and exploration, holds its Winter Market on Tuesday, December 8, from 3 to 8 p.m. at 1130 S. DeWitt Road in St. Johns.
Two details make it worth circling. First, its 8 p.m. close is the latest of any market here, a full 90 minutes past Allen's Wednesday close. Second, IQhub reported its vendor spaces full as of October 22, more than six weeks before the event. A sold-out vendor floor in October points to a packed room in December, and it lands right when holiday gift shopping starts.
The vendor with no market day at all
Some of what Bath's market sold was never tied to a Thursday. Sovis Farms Quality Frozen Beef, LLC was on the 2026 vendor list. Its own site lists the farm at 8632 Mason Road in Ovid and says customers can call in an order for beef or pork, usually for same-day pickup by appointment at the farm. That makes it the one Bath vendor with a published way to buy straight from the farm without waiting for a market day.
For everyone else on the roster, this year's list is a handy reference: Auntie N's Barkery for homemade dog treats, Full Bucket Flower Farm for cut flowers and arrangements, Madison Closet and Farm for jams, pickles, honey and herb plants, Indescribable Joy for soaps, granola and jams, Pure Mitten Pantry for dip mixes, Summer Sweets and Sweet Meadow Market for baked goods, The Parish for lemonade, and Worman Mushrooms. Following a favorite vendor through the winter mostly means following that vendor directly.
The drive south runs around Chandler Road
Most of the winter week sits south of Bath, which puts a construction zone between you and Allen, Holt and Meridian Mall. Chandler Road is closed to through traffic between State Road and Coleman Road from June 15, 2026 through November 2027, for resurfacing and sanitary sewer work. The township says the sewer work continues through the winter, so the closure doesn't pause when the weather turns.
The posted detour for the first phase runs from State Road to Wood Road to Coleman Road. People who live inside the work area, including apartment complexes, keep access to their homes. If Chandler was your usual way south, plan the Wednesday trip to Lansing on that detour. The Chandler Road project page and the Clinton County Road Commission post updates as the work moves into later phases.
What stays in Bath this month
One Bath event lands in the middle of all this. Bath Township Recreation is hosting Puzzle Palooza at the Bath Senior Center on Friday, November 13, from 6 to 8 p.m. Teams of up to six race to finish a 500-piece puzzle, check-in runs from 5:30 to 6 p.m., and registration closes Wednesday, November 11, at 5 p.m. Details are on the township recreation page.
Under the township's season rule, the Thursday market comes back to Couzens Park on the last Thursday in May.
A season of Wednesday and Saturday trips is a good time to think about whether your home works the way you need it to: a kitchen that handles a farm-share haul, a mudroom for winter boots, a garage with room for a chest freezer full of Ovid beef. If you're picturing changes like that for your current home or a new build, Nicole Giguere and the Giguere Estates team can talk through the plans and timeline with you. Let me lead you home.
