Lively Acres

Lively Acres 📍Empire, Leelanau County
Rooted in Community. Cultivating Connections. We are creating a neighborhood-based food hub for the southwest Leelanau County community.

Est. 2024

NeighborFood Farm Market • Open Daily Year Round
Local Produce • Deli • Cafe
Seasonal Campground Open May 1 - November 1
Music • Events • Farm-to-Table Dinners on Site Imagine a place where farmers and families can mingle amid shelves of delicious, plentiful, locally grown food. A space not just for buying food but also for growing connections, nurturing health, and fostering sustainabi

lity. That place is coming! It’s the Lively NeighborFood Market. Our Mission is to grow the local food economy right here in southwest Leelanau County. We want to support and highlight a connection between the customer and the farmer.

Geesh, we don’t think it gets any more beautiful than late summer in the Market. Welcome to September - where you’ll fin...
09/02/2026

Geesh, we don’t think it gets any more beautiful than late summer in the Market. Welcome to September - where you’ll find peaches next to apples, blueberries next to squash, fresh salad greens next to colorful carrots, and pretty much anything you can grow in the dirt in Northern Michigan sitting our shelves (no pumpkins yet, don’t rush it folks).

As we are carrying a more diverse array of produce than any other time all year, we’re glad to welcome Local’s Summer with open arms, and are having so much fun hearing what you’re cooking up!

New Fall Hours will be shared after mid September, but for now you can find us open M-F 9 AM - 7 PM, Sat 9 AM - 7 PM, and Sun 9 AM - 4 PM.

It’s a music filled last weekend of August here in our neck of the woods 🫜 We invite you to come on over for a proper su...
08/29/2026

It’s a music filled last weekend of August here in our neck of the woods 🫜 We invite you to come on over for a proper summer send off at Lively Acres with two sweet events tonight in the Backyard behind our Market!

We’re kicking off with our weekly Saturday Night Open Mic at 6:30 PM, followed by a beautiful evening of live music featuring local artists and

PLEASE NOTE: + will be playing their gig AT Lively Acres, 3805 W Empire Highway@starting at 7:30 PM and not at Bow Road. Location changed due to weather!

Both events are BYOB & family friendly.

We’ll see ya out here! 🫜

Happy birthday to this guy! And happy 2nd birthday to the NeighborFood Market 🍻Jim Lively is the dreamer, founder, and c...
08/28/2026

Happy birthday to this guy! And happy 2nd birthday to the NeighborFood Market 🍻

Jim Lively is the dreamer, founder, and co-owner with his wife Kelly of this sweet little spot - a year round, everyday farm stop market that joyfully offers folks in our community a chance to shop local and support our regional farmers and their families.

While Jim is off on a much deserved little trip with his family, we’ll be holding down the fort here and open all weekend long for good eats and a place to gather. Let’s enjoy these last beautiful summer weekends to the fullest folks ☀️

📍 NeighborFood Market, 3805 W Empire Highway, Empire

Open Friday & Saturday 9 AM - 7 PM and Sunday 9 AM - 3 PM

A new week and some sweet treats have arrived 🍑 without further ado, it’s peach time! This year’s sweet haul comes from ...
08/24/2026

A new week and some sweet treats have arrived 🍑 without further ado, it’s peach time!

This year’s sweet haul comes from BrixStoneFarms in Bear Lake 🍑 an historic orchard and family farm focused on stone fruit, heirloom apples, and maple syrup production.

You might have noticed delayed peach harvests, less peach offerings, or smaller peaches at your local farms and markets, and if you’re wondering why it’s because Michigan’s peach crop was highly impacted this year from extended cold temperatures in January, and a late season frost into spring.

It’s worth remembering that each sweet bite into a peach this year is worth celebrating - a whole lot of love and care goes into these fruits all year long to get them into our stores, and we couldn’t be more grateful to our Michigan farmers for making it all happen ☀️🍑💛

peaches michigan farms leelanau traverse city farm to table farm market

Psst….its still summer. We still have 33 days of warm beaches, hot sand, cicada filled nights, barbecues, flip flops (su...
08/20/2026

Psst….its still summer.

We still have 33 days of warm beaches, hot sand, cicada filled nights, barbecues, flip flops (subjective when we take these off in the Midwest), popsicles, drippy icecream cones, long drives with the windows down, blueberry pie eating, lemonade sipping, run-down-your-chin late summer fruit waiting for you, and farm stand stocked with summer produce. Don’t let ole’ big retail tell ya otherwise ✌🏼

We’ll see you out here!

This week/end:

THURSDAY: UP style pasties available hot and fresh starting at 4 PM. Vegetarian, meat, and gluten free available.

FRIDAY: Housemade cinnamon rolls perfect for a drive to the beach on M72.

SATURDAY: Open Mic Night begins at 6:30 PM on our outdoor stage. Join locals for music, song, storytelling, poetry, and laughs in our casual, family friendly Bsckyard event space behind the Market. Free to attend and food available. BYOB.

SUNDAY: No brunch this week, we’ll let you know about our fall schedule soon!

📍 3805 W Empire Highway, Empire - Leelanau Co.
☀️ Open every day, M-SA 9 AM - 7 PM and Sun 9 AM - 3 PM

ｐｏｐ•ｃｙｃｌｅ pops photo by market artisan Holly of Holly Therrien

Last night, we hosted another super fun, deliciously special Farm-to-Table Dinner at our NeighborFood Market! Inviting 2...
08/18/2026

Last night, we hosted another super fun, deliciously special Farm-to-Table Dinner at our NeighborFood Market! Inviting 28 of you into our candlelit cafe space at a long table where food is shared communally, bringing the best of our region’s summer bounty to your plate.

We have a few upcoming dates for you to join us at one of these splendid evenings, and would love for you to be our guest!

Visit livelyacres.com for additional information and to reserve your seat!

* Please note, we can accommodate dietary preferences and needs, and our menus are released the week before the event in order to draw on seasonal produce and products. Alcohol is not included, however you may BYOB.

Good morning neighbors 🌻 A friendly reminder, we will not be hosting Sunday Brunch today, however we are open from 9 AM ...
08/16/2026

Good morning neighbors 🌻 A friendly reminder, we will not be hosting Sunday Brunch today, however we are open from 9 AM - 3 PM and are ready to fill your baskets with:

• Fresh, seasonal summer produce grown within 30 miles of our Market • Artisan baked, stone ground bread • Locally processed, pasture raised meat • High quality dairy including milk, creamer, smoothies, cheeses & ice cream • Snacks, sips, dips, and chips perfect for Empire beach days • Handmade artisan products and gifts from area makers and farmers • Not to mention, hot coffee, delicious grab and go deli salads and sandwiches, and a rotating menu of prepared meals to go from mel and fell • A fine selection of new and used books from our little book nook • Neighborly chats and goss • And other goodness that fills our quirky, cozy little farm stop market here in Leelanau •

We hope to see you here!

Upcoming Week Hours:

Monday - Saturday 9 AM - 7 PM

It’s full of summer here at the Market 🌻This weekend we’re open Saturday from 9 AM - 7 PM with our weekly Open Mic Night...
08/15/2026

It’s full of summer here at the Market 🌻

This weekend we’re open Saturday from 9 AM - 7 PM with our weekly Open Mic Night starting at 6:30 PM (free to attend and family friendly!)

Sunday we’re open 9 AM - 3 PM! Please note we will NOT be hosting Sunday Brunch tomorrow - but we’ll have plenty of fresh hot coffee, baked goods, beach snacks, grab and go sammies, and cool drinks for a relaxing weekend up north 🌻

Some of our favorite things in the Market right now are bursting sunflowers from Maple Achers, juicy blueberries, sweet corn, vibrant bouquets from The Lively Farm, broccolini, shish*to peppers, green and yellow string beans, cabbage, the return of garlic, and decadent blueberry baked goods like this blueberry crumb cake from mel and fell

Enjoy this beautiful hot day, and come see us while you enjoy Leelanau County 🌻

📍 3805 W Empire Highway, Empire MI

Livelyacres.com

08/14/2026

We’re still buzzing from the blues 🎵🎶🎤

Thank you to all who came out to our inaugural Backyard Blues, Brews, and BBQ music festival here at Lively Acres. We’re already looking forward to next years’ festival!

A special thank you to:

Big City Blues Magazine Sugar And Junior
Thornetta Davis & Band THORNETTA DAVIS
Brendon Linsley Band Brendon Linsley
The Fabulous Horndogs
Pitmaster Adam Eastman
Mawby Winery, Big Little Wines, Stormcloud Brewing
MAWBY Sparkling Wine bigLITTLE Wines Stormcloud Brewing Company
Bailey’s Kombucha and Higher Grounds Coffee Bailey's Farms, LLC. Higher Grounds Coffee | Roaster & Coffee Bar

And an incredible community of volunteers, staff, fellow business owners, neighbors, friends, and families who all lent a hand in making this day come together!

📸 Photos and videography by Bill Latka - Storylicious Bill Latka

On Saturday night, a whoppin’ 450 of you joined us for our first ever Backyard Blues, Brews, and BBQ Fest here at Lively...
08/11/2026

On Saturday night, a whoppin’ 450 of you joined us for our first ever Backyard Blues, Brews, and BBQ Fest here at Lively Acres. Under a perfect sherbet sky, we danced, drank, ate, and reveled along with some of the finest Midwest blues in our humble little back 20.

As the photos and videos come in, we’ll be sure to share more of this special day with you!

As a quick update - we’ll be closing an hour early today at 6 PM to enjoy a staff dinner with our Market and Lively Acres team!

Address

3805 W Empire Highway
Empire, MI
49630

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 7pm
Tuesday 9am - 7pm
Wednesday 9am - 7pm
Thursday 9am - 7pm
Friday 9am - 7pm
Saturday 9am - 7pm
Sunday 9am - 3pm

Telephone

+12313607222

Website

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