10 am to 4 pm
Celebrate the Arrival of Spring at Hill-Stead’s May Market!
May Market is Hill-Stead’s annual home, garden and gourmet benefit event featuring premium exhibitors, rare and unusual plants, entertainment, children’s activities, food, and a museum open house.
May Market’s spacious west lawn tent and many indoor spaces truly make this a rain or shine event, while our children’s craft activities, Hops & Vines tastings, Museum Open House, and a variety of demonstrations promise a fun-filled weekend for everyone. Celebrate spring in the heart of the Farmington Valley while supporting Hill-Stead’s beautiful grounds, gardens and trails at this much-loved annual benefit event!”
Interested in exhibiting at May Market? Complete an application.
Tickets
Two-day admission tickets: $15 advance/online, $20 at the gate, children under 18 are FREE.
Thank you to our sponsors
2018 May Market Schedule
Hops & Vines, a Tasting at May Market
Your May Market admission includes free tastings with popular and up-and-coming wineries, craft breweries and distilleries! This event, sited in Hill-Stead’s historic Makeshift Theater, is brought to us by Hill-Stead’s Impressionists Council, a group of young philanthropists who share a love of art and culture. You must be 21 and older and ID is required.
2018 Hops & Vines Providers
Artisan Exhibitors
May Market will host more than 60 select home, garden and gourmet exhibitors in a spacious festival tent on the west lawn and throughout the historic buildings and grounds. Gardeners, in particular, will delight in the carefully curated collection of specialty plants and shrubs on offer.
2018 May Market Exhibitors
Browse a beautiful collection of
- hand-crafted baskets
- soaps
- pottery
- stationary
- jewelry & couture accessories
- textiles
- garden ornaments
- linens
- original artwork
- specialty teas
- spices
- honey
- and much more
The Hill-Steaders’ Perennial Sale
The Museum’s Hill-Steaders volunteers will offer their much-anticipated and fine selection of unique perennials sourced from leading local nurseries, Hill-Stead’s own Sunken Garden and gardening friends.
Donate perennials from your own garden to support Hill-Stead.
- Especially popular: shade plants including unusual or smaller hosta varieties, variegated ferns, hellebores; digitalis; blue plants; peonies; houseplants; shrubs; small trees.
- Kindly label your plants with the both the Latin (if possible) and common names.
- Please bring your plants to Hill-Stead on Friday morning, May 4, between 9 and 11 am, where there will be volunteers available to help you unload them.
Theodate’s Attic and Theodate’s Gallery
Treasure hunters should be sure to visit volunteer-curated Theodate’s Attic to enjoy a large selection of donated linens, glassware, gardening books, jewelry and more, to browse donated artwork at Theodate’s Gallery.
Donate your gently-used treasures to support Hill-Stead’s gardens, grounds, and trails
- Theodate’s Attic offers high-quality vintage, antique, and designer jewelry, ceramics, glass, linens, furniture, garden planters, tools and accessories,
- Theodate’s Gallery offers original artwork, prints, posters, photography, art books, sculpture, wall hangings at attractive prices.
- For more information see Theodate’s Attic and Gallery Donation Guidelines.
- Items may be delivered to the museum between 10 am and 4 pm, Tuesday – Sunday, through April 29. Please check in at the Museum Shop so that we may assist you in unloading your donation directly into the Stone Garage. Note that the museum is closed on Mondays. Packages may not be dropped off and left unattended.
Family Time
Enjoy a full schedule of children’s activities from 11am-3pm both days, including free Mother’s Day gift-making at Hill-Stead’s Education Station, scavenger hunts, a visit with Hill-Stead’s lambs and kid-friendly food. May Market admission is free for children 17 and under.
Demonstrations
Learn how to tie a scarf, ice your cupcakes, prune your rosebushes, paint furniture and create the perfect floral arrangement at hourly demonstrations on the historic Veranda. Learn about pollinator plants at booth-side talks, and enjoy a book-signing with golf journalist and expert Anthony Pioppi, author of To the Nines, The History of The Minikahda Club Golf Course and the newly-released The Finest Nines, North America’s Best Nine-Hole Golf Courses.
Amazing Food
- Seasonal Catering of Milford, CT will anchor festival food offerings with a fabulous farm-to-table menu.
- Culteavo
- Chet’s Italian Ice
- Hill-Stead’s volunteer-run Monet’s Express
- An exciting variety of exhibitors selling specialty tea, olive oil, exquisite baked goods, salts and spices, artisan cheese
Inside the Museum
Tour the museum at your leisure, taking in the beauty of Hill-Stead’s French Impressionist masterpieces. The weekend’s special Open House format will allow you to linger over famous paintings by Monet, Manet, Degas, Whistler and Mary Cassatt. Art lovers and experts alike will delight in seeing these incredible paintings in their beautifully appointed, historic setting.
May Market helps to support the museum’s 152 acres of beautiful gardens, grounds and trails. Underwritten by 2018 Presenting Sponsor, Simsbury Bank, May Market earned Yankee Magazine’s “Editor’s Choice – Top 20 Event” recognition in 2014 and 2015.
