Robert Davis
Owner & Founder
Founded Shop the Market At in 2022. Reads every vendor application, lays out the booth maps, and shows up at every event — from the first farmers market in May to the last Christkindlmarkt in December.
Founder's Note
One Market in 2022. 31+ Events in 2026.
I'm Robert E Davis. I've been producing markets and festivals since 1999 — in Chicago, New Orleans, and other cities along the way. Shop the Market At, the company, opened in Chattanooga on April 2, 2022 with one market at the Mountain Arts Community Center on Signal Mountain. Four years later we produce 31+ artisan markets, farmers markets, and festivals across the 2026 season — at venues across the Chattanooga region: Coolidge Park, the Chattanooga Choo Choo, McDonald Farm in Sale Creek, Ketner's Mill in Whitwell, The Commons in Collegedale, and venues from downtown to the foothills.
Here's how that happened — and what we've learned about running markets that actually work for everyone in them.
31+Events in 2026
8+Venues Across the Region
Since 2022Locally Owned & Operated
Year-RoundEvent Calendar
How It Started
The First Shop the Market At Event
Shop the Market At launched in Chattanooga in 2022 at the Mountain Arts Community Center.
I started producing markets and festivals in 1999. Long before Shop the Market At existed as a company, I was running events in cities across the country — Chicago, New Orleans, and beyond — while also building a gourmet chocolate business and painting in between. Years of producing events in different cities teach you what makes a market work for everyone in it, and what doesn't. After all that, the opportunity I kept seeing in Chattanooga was the same one, every time: talented makers, growers, artists, and small businesses didn't have enough well-organized, well-curated places to sell their work.
Too many events were overcrowded, under-curated, or just disorganized — and the vendors paid the price. Shop the Market At, the company, opened on April 2, 2022 with a single market at the Mountain Arts Community Center on Signal Mountain. It worked. So we kept going.
Every event we've built since runs on the same principle: do less, do it better, and protect the people selling at it.
Meet the Founder
Robert E Davis
Owner & Founder
I've been producing markets and festivals since 1999. Before Shop the Market At opened in Chattanooga, I was running events in Chicago, New Orleans, and other cities across the country — while also building a gourmet chocolate business, painting, and spending years selling alongside the same kinds of makers who became my favorite vendors to work with later on.
That mix — years of producing, years of making, years of standing behind a booth — is what Shop the Market At is built on. Every event we run is the same job: build a place where artists, farmers, and small businesses from across Chattanooga and Southeast Tennessee can actually sell, and make Saturdays worth the drive for the people who show up.
— Robert E Davis
The Team
Meet Our Staff
The people behind every Shop the Market At event — the ones who lay out the booths, run the bar, post the announcements, and make sure your Saturday goes the way it should.
Margaret Cooke
Event Grounds Assistant
Helps run the grounds during every event — setup, vendor check-in, booth layout, and the small fixes that keep a market day on schedule. The kind of steady presence load-in mornings rely on.
Kristen Clark
Social Media Manager
Handles the social side of every event — Instagram, Facebook, vendor spotlights, and the week-of posts that fill the booths. If you've seen us in your feed, that's Kristen.
Jenn Pascullo
Grounds Manager & Music Organizer
Manages the grounds operation across the season — site flow, setup logistics, and the on-the-ground calls that keep a market day on schedule. Also organizes the music and entertainment lineup, so the soundtrack of every event runs as smoothly as the booth layout.
Eliza Farmer
Office Manager / Event Grounds Assistant
Keeps the office running between events and helps run the grounds during them. The reason vendors get the right info, the right confirmation, and the right booth assignment at the right time.
Frank Crisp
Event Grounds Assistant
Setup, breakdown, vendor check-in, and the hundred small fixes a market day requires. If something needs handling on the grounds, Frank is usually already on it.
Nick Pascullo
Event Grounds Assistant / Security
Handles grounds support and on-site security across the season. The calm presence that keeps load-in orderly, the aisles clear, and the day running smooth.
Taylor Shirey
Bartender
Pours drinks at the Twilight Markets, the Cheese & Beer Festival, and anywhere else our bar travels. Quick, friendly, and good at remembering what you ordered last time.
Destiny Tatum
Event Bar Manager
Runs the bar program across every event we serve. Builds the menus, manages the staff, handles the permits and the prep — and keeps the line moving when the festival crowd lands.
Josie Darcy
Assistant Bar Manager
Works alongside Destiny to keep the bar program running — staffing, prep, restock, and the all-hands moments when an entire festival crowd hits the bar at once.
Rachel Rogers
Event Design Coordinator
Designs the visual side of our events — booth layouts, signage, décor, and the touches that make a market feel curated and considered rather than thrown together.
Signature Events
The Events We're Known For
Some run bi-weekly through the summer. Some come once a year. These are the nine that draw the biggest crowds and the most distinctive vendor lineups — the events the season is built around.
Signature Event · 48th Annual
Ketner's Mill Fair
October 3–4, 2026 · Ketner's Mill · Whitwell, Tennessee
Two days each October at the historic mill in Whitwell. Heritage crafts, demonstrations, Appalachian music, and food in a Tennessee Valley setting that's been hosting this fair longer than most of us have been alive. We didn't invent it — we steward it.
Watermelon Festival
Two days in late August at McDonald Farm in Sale Creek. Vendors, food, watermelon-themed activities, and an outdoor market in the countryside. The kind of August Saturday people drive an hour for.
Christkindlmarkt · Coolidge Park
Two November weekends along the riverfront at Coolidge Park. Outdoor holiday market under string lights — handmade gifts, hot drinks, live music, and the largest crowds we draw all year.
Christkindlmarkt · Signal Mountain
Smaller, slower, and quieter than the riverfront one. A November weekend at the MACC on Signal Mountain — for shoppers who want to actually talk to the makers, and makers who want to actually be heard.
Christkindlmarkt · The Commons
Indoor-outdoor holiday market at The Commons in Collegedale. Easy parking, room to move, and the relaxed pace people want at the start of the November holiday-market run.
Christmas at the Choo-Choo
Two December weekends on the grounds of the historic Chattanooga Choo Choo. Brick courtyards, restored train cars, string lights, and a holiday market layered on top of one of Chattanooga's most photographed properties.
Haunted Grounds
Four nights of Halloween at McDonald Farm in Sale Creek. Costumed vendors, hayrides, food trucks, fire pits, and a market with the lights down low. Costumes encouraged.
Twilight Markets
Saturday-evening markets at the Chattanooga Choo Choo, 5–10 PM. Vendors stay open after sundown, drinks are served, music plays. A market night out, not a daytime errand.
127 Yard Sale at the MACC
Four days in August on the world's longest yard sale. Our stop is at the MACC on Signal Mountain — indoor and outdoor vendors, antiques, salvage, vintage, and the kind of finds you don't go looking for.
How We Curate
We Say No More Often
Than Most Producers.
The single decision I'm proudest of: we keep our events intentionally curated rather than simply filling every available booth. It's harder to run a market this way. It works much better for everyone in it.
01
Reviewed Vendor by Vendor
Every application is reviewed individually through EventHub — not approved in bulk. We're looking for original, well-crafted work that fits the venue and the season.
02
Balanced Categories
No event has six candle vendors, four soap makers, and one farmer. We cap categories so the booth mix is varied — and every vendor gets real customers.
03
No Mass-Produced Imports
Our markets are for makers, growers, and small businesses. Resale of mass-produced imports doesn't fit the event vision — even when the booth fee would otherwise fill the spot.
04
Designed for the Venue
The Coolidge Park Christkindlmarkt is not the same event as the Signal Mountain one. Each market is built for its venue, its season, and the audience that actually shows up there.
"I'd rather turn down a booth fee than fill the wrong booth. Duplicate categories, mass-produced imports, vendors who don't belong at the event — every one of those costs the shoppers and the other vendors something. Saying no more often is the simplest decision we make, and the one I'm proudest of."
— Robert E Davis, Owner & Founder
Our Reach
Credibility in Numbers
Four years in. Here's what an average season looks like across the Chattanooga region.
Vendor Experience
Why Vendors Partner With Shop the Market At
What vendors tell us when we ask why they re-booked.
Curated Events
Applications are reviewed one at a time, not approved in bulk. Categories stay balanced — no six candle vendors and four soap makers under the same tent. Your booth stands out instead of competing with three duplicates beside you.
Strong Promotion
Every event runs paid social ads targeted to Chattanooga and Southeast Tennessee, gets press placements in Times Free Press, Nooga Today, and Nooga Nightlife, and goes out to a regional email list of shoppers already following our calendar. We bring the crowd; you focus on selling.
Experienced Event Production
Four years and a hundred-plus events of operational reps. Booth layout, load-in flow, power, permits, insurance, weather plans — the details that wreck poorly-run markets — are worked out before doors open. Setup mornings run on time.
Organized Communication
Vendor info goes out the same way every time, in writing: confirmation, load-in window, booth assignment, site map, weather updates, and a real contact number. If something changes, you hear about it from us before you pull up.
Desirable Venues
Coolidge Park on the riverfront, the historic Chattanooga Choo Choo, McDonald Farm in Sale Creek, Ketner's Mill in Whitwell, The Commons in Collegedale, the MACC on Signal Mountain. Locations people already plan their weekends around.
Engaged Attendees
The crowd at our markets came to shop — not to wander past. People stop, ask questions, and buy. Vendors hand out more cards than they expect to, and the conversations at the booth are real ones.
Repeat Customer Audiences
Many shoppers attend multiple events across the season — the Christkindlmarkt audience overlaps with Watermelon Festival, which overlaps with the Choo Choo Farmers Market. Vendors who do several dates build a following across the Chattanooga area and Southeast Tennessee that comes back.
By the Numbers
What You're Working With
Since 2022 Owner-operated, locally based in Chattanooga
Fully insured COI available on request for venues and sponsors
EventHub partner Since 2024 — every application managed through eventhub.net
Thousands of vendors Booked across our markets — many returning across multiple seasons
Thousands of shoppers Across Chattanooga and Southeast Tennessee every season
Featured in Times Free Press · Nooga Today · Nooga Nightlife · and more
Common Questions
About Shop the Market At
When did Shop the Market At start?
Shop the Market At, LLC was founded in 2022. Our very first market was at the Mountain Arts Community Center on Signal Mountain on April 2, 2022. We've since grown to producing 31+ events per year across Chattanooga and Southeast Tennessee.
Who runs Shop the Market At?
Robert E Davis is the owner and founder. He runs the company day-to-day — reading every vendor application, laying out the booth maps, working directly with venues and sponsors, and showing up at every event we produce.
Where are Shop the Market At events held?
Across eight venues in the Chattanooga region: Chattanooga Choo Choo, Coolidge Park, Chattanooga Green, Tennessee River Park, The Commons in Collegedale, the Mountain Arts Community Center on Signal Mountain, McDonald Farm in Sale Creek, and Ketner's Mill in Whitwell.
How does Shop the Market At choose vendors?
Every application is reviewed individually through EventHub. We balance categories carefully so each event has a varied vendor mix — no overcrowded duplicates, no mass-produced imports, no vendors that don't fit the event's vision. We'd rather say no and protect the experience than fill every booth.
Is Shop the Market At insured?
Yes, fully insured. Certificates of insurance are available on request for venues, sponsors, and partner organizations.
Three Ways In
Whoever You Are,
Here's Where to Start
For Vendors
Apply to a 2026 Event
Direct EventHub links to every artisan market, farmers market, food festival, and seasonal event we run across Chattanooga and Southeast Tennessee.
Apply as a Vendor →For Sponsors
Sponsor a 2026 Event
Sponsor tiers from Community to Presenting — real visibility in front of thousands of Chattanooga-area shoppers across the season.
Sponsorship →For Guests
Find Your Next Saturday
31+ events across the 2026 season at 8 venues, year-round. Find the one in your weekend.
See the Calendar →