Art and Artisans Market provides convenient venue for artists, artisans and others to sell goods

By Toni Miles

People lined up at DJ’s Produce, a staple at the Long Beach Art and Artisans Market, where farm-to-table, fresh produce and other goods, including homemade jams by Southern Grace Farms, are available for purchase. ( Photo: Toni Miles)

The streets of downtown Long Beach come alive each Sunday as the Long Beach Art and Artisans Market vendors set up their booths and pitch their tents to display and sell their wares and goods. There’s a little something for everyone at this market, which takes place along Jeff Davis Avenue every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Mother’s Day this year was no exception, as dozens of people strolled down Jeff Davis Avenue, checking out and buying arts and crafts, home-grown and farm-to-table food and other goods from local vendors, artists and artisans.

Promoting, supporting and buying local is the driving force behind this weekly Long Beach Art and Artisans market, started back in October of 2024 by local residents Butch and Susie Tillson.

“We had been participating in other markets, and we just felt that we needed to bring something back home to Long Beach,” Susie Tillson says. “We’re hometown Long Beach people.”

Anywhere from fifteen to thirty vendors are set up along Jeff Davis Avenue each Sunday at the market. DJ’s Produce, run by Danny Jones, is a staple each week at the market, where fresh, homegrown food from radishes to butternut squash can be purchased in true farm-to-table fashion. Alongside Jones is Greta Rabalais, who also brings locally produced goods to the table. A variety of homemade jams and pickled goods by Southern Grace Farms are also available for purchase.

“We have jams. We have a little bit of everything,” says Butch Tillson “Nothing is retail here.”

“Everything here is handmade or homemade,” Susie adds.

Jams, locally made by Southern Grace Farms, are among the food and goods available each Sunday at the Long Beach Art and Artisans Market. (Photo: Toni MIles)

Arts, crafts, jewelry and other locally made goods and merchandise are also on display and up for sale. Pretty Sharp, a blade sharpening business located in Long Beach, is among those spotted weekly at the market.

“We have original artists, artisans, locally-made jewelry and more,” Burtch says.

Susie Tillson (seen here) and her husband Butch, both Long Beach residents, started hosting the Long Beach Art and Artisans Market back in October of 2024, in an effort to promote local art, artisans, farmers, fresh, locally grown produce and other goods. (Photo: Toni Miles)

While the Tillsons see their neighbors and other local familiar faces at the market each Sunday, they say they make new friends from across the nation each week.

“We met some people from Asheville, North Carolina, today,” Butch said. “We always have people coming from all over – from New Orleans, Lafayette, Baton Rouge…”

And for the Tillsons, that’s what the Long Beach Art and Artisans Market is all about – meeting and fellowshipping with old friends and new, and promoting local artists, artisans, producers and goods.

For more information, check out the Long Beach Art and Artisans’ Facebook and Instagram pages.