Brunswick's Saturday Market Is Moving Across Pleasant Hill Road. Here's How This Season Ends and Where Saturdays Go Next

The Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust is asking its shoppers to help rename the market. The official name is "Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust Saturday Farmers Market at Crystal Spring Farm," and the trust calls it what it is, "a mouthful." The name survey closes at midnight on November 7, which the trust also lists as the last market day of the 2026 season.

The timing makes sense. The market is getting a new name because it's getting a new address. Across the road at 262 Pleasant Hill Road, construction is underway on a market site built for the crowd the old field can no longer hold. For anyone whose week depends on a Saturday stop for oysters, bread and eggs, two things matter. The market stays at Crystal Spring Farm into 2027, and in November most of the same farmers move indoors and downtown.

A Parking Lot Built for a Smaller Market

The Times Record reported in August that the market, now 25 years old, draws about 1,500 people each Saturday, with more than 40 vendors. The parking at Crystal Spring Farm holds about 111 cars. That gap is the reason for the whole project.

The land trust names the problems as not enough parking, strained traffic flow, spring mud, limited accessibility and no room for more vendors. On its Dionne Farm page the trust sums it up as "we've outgrown the parking lot." The Times Record noted that the first phase of construction is meant to move cars off Pleasant Hill Road, where parking can be dangerous.

Vendors are on board. Kelly Punch, catering and events manager at Mere Point Oyster, told the Times Record the move will create a "safer, more communal vibe." She also explained why the Brunswick oyster company shows up every week: "We go every week, rain or shine. We have a really strong base at the farmers market."

What's Going In Across the Road

Dionne Farm is a 25-acre former dairy farm right across from the current market, Mainebiz reported. More than 75 community donors helped the land trust raise the $2 million to conserve it. Phase One covers the new market green, a pavilion and parking, at an initial cost of about $2.4 million paid for by business sponsors, individual donors, grants and a private line of credit.

Most of the plan targets the parts of a market morning that cause the most trouble today:

• Parking: About 140 spaces compared with roughly 111 now. About one-third will be paved and two-thirds turf, and shopper parking will open before the market starts each Saturday.
• Getting in and out: Separate entrances for bikes, shopper cars and vendor vehicles, plus drop-off and pick-up areas and more bike racks.
• Accessibility: Eleven accessible parking spaces on level pavement with unloading zones, paths with no steps, and a market green engineered to hold up to rain and mud.
• Vendors: Ten more booths, plus electrical hookups so vendors can skip generators and cords across the grass.
• Somewhere to sit: Benches, picnic tables and a covered, open-air pavilion.

The pavilion is the part that could change Dionne Farm the most. The trust says it could host music, cooking demonstrations and shade on market mornings, and could also support outdoor classes, seasonal celebrations and pop-up markets the rest of the year. Sandy Stott's Your Land column, republished by the land trust, describes a finished site with room for up to 50 local vendors, new shade trees and chairs under the pavilion.

If you drive past this fall, you'll see big piles of soil. According to the trust, most of that soil goes back onto the property once the underground work is done. The Times Record reported that construction will likely run into spring 2027.

The Field You Know Has More Saturdays Left

The move happens in stages. The land trust says the market will stay at Crystal Spring Farm "through the 2026 season and into the 2027 season," and it hopes to open at Dionne Farm after Phase One is finished. No 2027 opening date has been announced.

The trust also says trailhead parking for the Crystal Spring Farm South trails will stay open. What happens to the current market green and its parking hasn't been decided. Farmers Seth Kroeck and Maura Bannon farm Crystal Spring under a long-term agricultural lease as Crystal Spring Community Farm, and the property has about five miles of trails.

The new site carries some history. At the September 24 groundbreaking, attended by 75 people, market co-founder and former Bowdoin College professor Tom Settlemire remembered the early 1990s, when the founders learned Crystal Spring Farm was for sale for nearly $700,000. "But we were rich," he joked, according to Stott's column. "We had $4,000 in the bank." They bought it anyway. Including Dionne Farm, the Crystal Spring land the trust has assembled now totals 360 acres.

The Last Saturdays of 2026

The land trust's pages give two end dates. The market page lists the season as May 2 through October 31. The vendor schedule and the name survey both point to a final market on November 7. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at 277 Pleasant Hill Road. Check with BTLT before planning a trip on the 7th.

Some vendors rotate weeks, so the schedule determines who you'll see:

1. Saturday, October 31: Battambang Bistro and Pumpkin Vine Family Farm are on the alternating schedule.
2. Saturday, November 7: Clayton's Crustaceans, Gunnar's Icelandic Hot Dogs and Midcoast Vegan are scheduled. It's also the last day to vote on a new name.

All season, the trust has invited shoppers to stop by its table to see the Dionne Farm site plans and ask staff about the project.

November Belongs to the Same Farmers

This is the part that matters most for your weekly grocery run. The Saturday field closes, but most of its farmers keep selling.

The Brunswick Farmers Market on the downtown Mall between Maine Street and Park Row runs Tuesdays and Fridays, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., through Tuesday, November 24. It takes SNAP/EBT through a token system at its information booth. Its vendors include Pemaquid Lobster & Seafood, Whey North Creamery, Barter Island Bees and Moderation Brewing.

The Brunswick Winter Market opens Saturday, November 14, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Fort Andross Mill Complex, 14 Maine Street. It runs "throughout the winter months," with growers, bakers, seafood sellers and craftspeople under one roof. The opening is one week after the last Crystal Spring market, so Saturday market shoppers miss very few weekends.

The vendor lists overlap more than most shoppers would guess:

Fairwinds Farm and Alchimia, the Italian pasta and pastry maker, also show up on the Winter Market list. The Saturday crowd at Crystal Spring knows Alchimia, and Fairwinds also sells at the Mall. When the trust says the "community spirit of the market" is the part that won't change, the vendor lists back that up. Five farms and bakers on the list above sell at all three markets.

What changes in 2027 is how a Saturday morning works at the field. Shoppers will find on-site parking open before the market starts, wider paths, benches, and a covered place to sit and eat a Gunnar's hot dog or a few Mere Point oysters. Whatever name the land trust board picks after the survey closes on November 7 will go on the signs at 262 Pleasant Hill Road.

At KW Lifestyle Properties, we keep up with the Brunswick changes that shape a regular week, from Saturday market mornings to the Fort Andross mill. If you're thinking about how a move fits into your own calendar, whether that means selling a home near Crystal Spring or finding one with the Winter Market close by, book an appointment with our team or request a free home valuation.