This month was Joseph Hughes’ first time running a booth at Funkytown Mindful Market. A garden manager for Ridglea Giving Garden, Hughes was selling honey and an assortment of pickled vegetables.
But the east Fort Worth native is no stranger to the market. As a past customer and a consistent shopper at farmers markets, Hughes sees supporting local vendors — especially those selling food and produce — as important for the community.
“Local farms, victory gardens and just gardens in people’s backyards really sustained the community and culture. It gave people work, and that’s gone away for a long time,” Hughes said. “This is bringing back an economy that could really sustain the local people around here.”
The giving garden’s booth was one of several at Funkytown Mindful Market that crowded the grounds of Texas Wesleyan University last weekend. The market celebrated four years of providing local artisans and farmers a place in east Fort Worth to sell to local residents.
Elsea Jah, right, speaks with customers at the Funkytown Mindful Market on Sept. 5, 2026. (Ismael M. Belkoura | Fort Worth Report)
Ashley Munoz has seen the Funkytown Mindful Market grow to what it is today. The current manager started as a volunteer in 2022.
She noted the emphasis on wellness and mindfulness makes the market stand out among other similar local market. Funkytown Mindful Market often hosts yoga sessions. This weekend, attendees could watch a free cooking tutorial. Customers shopped for food while also getting henna tattoos and some stopped by a booth from Texas Health Resources.
“I like to think of the market as a place and space to expose people to different things — share ideas and inspiration,” Munoz said. “Because a mindful practice that you know others might not know.”
Stephen Richardson, right, speaks with customers at the Funkytown Mindful Market on Sept. 5, 2026. (Ismael M. Belkoura | Fort Worth Report)
Customers are not the only ones who benefit from the east Fort Worth market. Vendors like Stephen Richardson, farm manager at Tabor Farms, said his booth there is helping him turn a profit for the urban farm owned by the Greater Mount Tabor Christian Center.
Richardson, who has run the farm for a year, noted that the market on this side of Cowtown gives local vendors like him a place to sell directly to the community.
“When you put the word out, especially for something this organic and for the community, it spreads,” Richardson said.
CoAct CEO Jesse Herrera has lofty goals for Funkytown Mindful Market. He noted that if the market can get 1,000 customers every month over the four-hour span, it can expand to being a weekly endeavor, giving vendors more consistent access to the public.
Funkytown Mindful Market attendees watch a free cooking tutorial on Sept. 5, 2026. (Ismael M. Belkoura | Fort Worth Report)
The mission, however, is not just to grow the event. Munoz pointed to a sticker that read “Your Farmers Market.”
“I hope that (the) east side — or maybe even the metroplex — can view the Funkytown Mindful Market and take ownership,” Munoz said. “Not in the sense of taking it over, but in the sense of wanting to contribute to whatever capacity. Sharing ideas, sharing different programs that already exist in this community, but are maybe not well known.”
Ismael M. Belkoura is the nonprofit editor for the Fort Worth Report. His position is supported by a grant from North Texas Community Foundation. Contact him at ismael.belkoura@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org/2026/09/08/community-market-celebrates-4-years-of-sustaining-supporting-east-fort-worth/”>article</a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report</a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.<img src=”https://i0.wp.com/fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”>
<img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https://fortworthreport.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=773044&ga4=2820184429″ style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https://fortworthreport.org/2026/09/08/community-market-celebrates-4-years-of-sustaining-supporting-east-fort-worth/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } </script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”//cdn.parsely.com/keys/fortworthreport.org/p.js”></script>