1st Conservation Day 2026

Kelsey Flot
4 hours ago
3 min read

We've been dreaming of doing a Conservation Day theme since we started organizing the Humboldt Farmer's Market. Saturday, June 13th we finally got to bring it to life! We had a chilly, cloudy morning with the threat of rain. Thankfully, we only had a handful of rain drops and nothing else. It was really the best case scenario. We had a lot of things going on: Humboldt Soil and Water conservation station, Three Rivers Trail/Humboldt Hardpack, PBS kids games hosted by the Humboldt Public Library, dahlias for John, music with Cracked Reeds, and our great group of vendors. Our awesome sponsors making this happen were Joco Flowers and The Finch Block!

stem kit hosted by humboldt public library

Humboldt Soil and Water Conservation District had information on pollinators, made seed bombs for kids, a current look of what's flowering in our local prairies, ground water demo, and information on the Buzz and Bloom program. Buzz and Bloom is a new program allowing local homeowners to add a native habitats in their yards. I'm excited to have mine seeded this fall!

The Humboldt Public Library hosted the STEM kit from PBS Kids. There were multiple set ups to for kids to play, learn, and explore. There are QR codes in the first photo that takes you to PBSkids.org and iowapbs.org/education/initiatives/farmers-market.

Dahlia's for John was something we'd come up with doing after the news of John Grause's passing last September. He was a big supporter of the market and our vendors. He made a point to stop and talk to every single vendor when he came down filling his shopping bag along the way. Getting our community together was a big part of John. He loved to see everyone gather and support one another. Like us, he wanted to see people from all walks of life to come together. It may not seem like a big deal to some, but we all thrive on community. John was also an avid gardener. He always had a beautiful garden full of flowers, many of which being the dahlias he doted over. We thought there was no better way to honor John than by meWe thought there was no better way to honor John than by me starting dahlias from seed and handing them out along with samples of his favorite bars from Three Rivers Kringla, honey pecan squares. I was able to have 50 or so dahlia seedlings and there were only 3 left at the end of the market.

Cracked Reeds, the saxophone quartet, came back to play at the market! About 10am they started playing in front of Night Owl. They were so good! I was walking around singing along. We were lucky the rain passed us by so we could have them play.

We continue to have a lot of vendors set up, some new. It's amazing seeing our community come out and support all of our vendors, new and old! We've also had some info booths set up regularly this year.

Our Vendors/Info Booths

in no particular order

We're already 3 markets into the 2026 season! We've been incredibly lucky so far on weather during and ease of set each market. Next Saturday, June 27th is our 4th annual Touch a Truck day! July 11th is Arts Fest and July 25th we'll be at the fairgrounds for the Humboldt County Fair!