“It’s personal, artistic, fun and it’s really, really good food,” Orr said. “It’s a glimpse of what things used to be.”

To celebrate the market’s five-year anniversary, a special ringing of the “market bell” commenced at 10 a.m. with East Lansing City Council members, vendors and customers. The farmer’s market will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Sunday until Oct. 27.

“It’s important that we have something here that really showcases our local vendors, our local-grown food and our produce,” East Lansing Mayor Diane Goddeeris said.

Goddeeris said her family traditionally buys fish for Sunday dinner, which leads her to the cooler-packed tent of Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., residents Mark and Carla Ebener.

Despite the four to five hour drive, the couple said the journey has been profitable for their tents at farmer’s markets in Flint, Meridian Township, Lansing and East Lansing.

Mark Ebener is a fish biologist by profession and has been selling fish self-employed for 30 years.

He said most of the fish is caught from Great Lakes straits and Lake Huron. His week begins by informing his fishermen what kind of catch he needs for the weekend. The fish are processed on Friday, then brought down for the many farmer’s markets.

“When you think about where fish is sold around the world, it’s at farmer’s markets,” he said. “It’s more traditional than anything.”