James Beard Public Market

James Beard Public Market Coming in 2026. Year-round public market honoring Portland’s culinary son, James Beard. Why Name Portland’s Public Market For James Beard?

JAMES BEARD PUBLIC MARKET is a service mark of The James Beard Foundation and is used under license. The James Beard Public Market will be a daily, year-round, indoor-outdoor marketplace showcasing the region’s bounty while promoting community health, rural and urban economic development, neighborhood revitalization and tourism. Around the world, public markets are unique spaces connecting food pr

oducers to consumers in a lively atmosphere that attracts both locals and tourists. Much like its contemporaries in Seattle (Pike’s Place Market), San Francisco (Ferry Building Marketplace) and Vancouver, B.C. (Granville Island Public Market), potential retailers of the James Beard Public Market include local food and beverage producers (dairy, fish, meat, flowers, pastries, wine, beer and spirits). James Beard was many things to many people: a culinary giant, the father of American cooking, the author of 22 cookbooks and the pioneer of the television cooking show. After his death, his Greenwich Village home was transformed into a non-profit organization that promotes and preserves America’s culinary heritage. To cook at the Beard House and to win a James Beard Foundation Award are the most coveted achievements for an American chef. But before James Beard was a national figure, he was a Portlander. Raised by a mother who was an excellent cook, he grew up on the culinary riches of the Northwest and he spoke often of his pleasure in visiting Portland’s public market stalls as a child. While New York has embraced Beard, his hometown has yet to honor. Naming the city’s public market for James Beard will bring his legacy home at last. Where Will The James Beard Public Market Be Located? We are currently participating in the master planning process to secure a site in the OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) district at the east end of the Tilikum Crossing Bridge. Who Is Behind The Effort to Build The James Beard Public Market? The James Beard Public Market is a project of the Historic Portland Public Market Foundation, which grew out of a citizen task force convened in 2000. Portlanders from many walks of life met almost monthly for more than two years to create a vision for a public market in Portland. It was the strength of this vision that sustained the planning process for a decade. A staff of three members and a committed Board of Trustees now continue the work today to bring the vision to reality. We must raise the funds necessary to achieve our target of beginning construction in 2019 and opening in 2020.

2025 has been a big year for Portland’s future public market! We purchased the Public Market building and completed demo...
12/31/2025

2025 has been a big year for Portland’s future public market!

We purchased the Public Market building and completed demolition. We secured catalytic public and private investment. We planted the seeds for transformational partnerships, and strengthened our own governance and leadership. We identified our inaugural market vendors. We learned from the world’s great public markets and celebrated Oregon’s bounty together. In 2025, we felt the momentum: from donors and elected leaders to farmers, chefs, makers, and everyday Portlanders, we are grateful for the swell of support that reaffirms the deep hunger for a public market in Portland.

With the support of our community, our Public Market has emerged as one of the most anticipated projects in Oregon. Your partnership and belief in this vision are what make it possible for a public market to become real.

Thank you for a full and delicious year!

Snapshots:

Prosper Portland employees stand in front of Portland’s future Public Market. In 2025, we benchmarked what public-private partnerships can look like thanks to support from Prosper Portland.

Representative Shannon Jones Isadore was instrumental in securing $10 million in State of Oregon Lottery Bonds for the project.

Two historic buildings in downtown Portland will house nearly 40,000 square feet of market space

Our team visited and learned from public markets in Barcelona and Los Angeles (pictured), but also Boston, Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, and Tokyo—bringing global best practices home to Oregon while staying rooted in local values.

Executive Director Jessica Elkan and KOIN-TV anchor Ken Bodie on set for an Eye on Northwest Politics episode detailing progress on the project.

Guests at September’s Bounty of Umatilla County: Farm to Square in Pioneer Courthouse Square. Portland Mayor Keith Wilson’s Chief of Staff, Raihana Ansary, at Bounty of Umatilla County: Farm to Square

A new partnership with Micro Enterprise Services of Oregon (MESO) at our Taste of the Month series. Chefs celebrating Oregon’s state vegetable—the mighty potato!—during a Taste of the Month event

The market building during demolition, which exposed massive timber beams that will be reinforced during construction in early 2026!

Researchers at the Institute for Health in the Built Environment at the University of Oregon College of Design installed...
12/10/2025

Researchers at the Institute for Health in the Built Environment at the University of Oregon College of Design installed a weather monitoring system on the roof of our building to study how to best integrate agriculture in our downtown urban landscape.

We are so excited to collaborate with an integrated team from the University of Oregon School of Architecture & Environment, Oregon State University, and Washington State University Department of Horticulture faculty to investigate urban food production on the rooftop of the forthcoming James Beard Public Market.

Address

622 SW Alder Street
Portland, OR
97205

Telephone

+15032082071

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