Migration Announcement Letter to Market Managers

Date: June 2025

Dear Market Managers,

I hope this letter finds you and your markets thriving! I'm writing to share some exciting news about the future of LocallyGrown.net and what it means for you and your communities.

Quick Summary

We're upgrading LocallyGrown.net to a faster, more secure, mobile-friendly platform. Your data will remain intact, with exciting new improvements coming soon. Preview it today at [your-market].locallygrown.us.

A New Chapter for LocallyGrown

After over 15 years of faithful service, our Rails-based platform has served us incredibly well. It's been the backbone of hundreds of farmers markets, connecting thousands of growers with their communities and helping facilitate millions of dollars in local food sales. But technology moves forward, and so must we.

Why Now? The Limitations We've Been Facing

While our current platform has served us well, I've been increasingly aware of the constraints that have been holding me back from delivering the experience you and your communities deserve:

Infrastructure Challenges: Our legacy server requirements have become more expensive and complex to maintain. Finding hosting providers who support the older technologies has become increasingly difficult and costly.

Mobile Experience: Today's customers expect a seamless mobile experience, but our current architecture makes it challenging to deliver the responsive, mobile-first design that modern users expect. Too many of your customers struggle with clunky desktop-only interfaces on their phones.

Integration Limitations: The payment processors, email services, and other third-party tools that markets want to use have evolved significantly. Our older framework makes it difficult or impossible to integrate with many modern services that could benefit your markets.

Performance Constraints: The database architecture that served us well in 2008 simply can't deliver the speed that users expect in 2025. Page loads that take 3-5 seconds feel sluggish compared to modern web applications.

Feature Development: Adding new features has become increasingly time-consuming due to limitations of outdated code. Simple improvements that should take days now take weeks, which means I can't respond to your needs as quickly as I'd like.

I'm thrilled to announce that I've been working on a completely modernized version of LocallyGrown built with cutting-edge technology that will serve our community for the next decade and beyond. This isn't just an update—it's a complete reimagining of what our platform can be, free from the constraints that have been limiting us. Literally every line of code has been rewritten from scratch to ensure it's fast, reliable, and easy to maintain.

What This Means for You

The Good News: Everything you love about LocallyGrown will remain exactly the same. Your market URL, your grower accounts, customer data, order history, and all your existing workflows will continue to work seamlessly. I am not holding back features or functionality to get this to you sooner.

The Even Better News: You're going to get some fantastic improvements:

Enhanced Performance

• Lightning-fast page loads - Pages will load 3-5x faster than before
• Real-time updates - No more page refreshes to see new orders or inventory changes
• Mobile-first design - Perfect experience on phones and tablets

Improved User Experience

• Modern notifications - Clean, unobtrusive alerts that don't interrupt your workflow
• Better product management - Streamlined interface for your growers to manage inventory
• Enhanced reporting - Clearer, more detailed sales and harvest reports
• Modern image galleries - Interactive lightbox with keyboard navigation and mobile gestures
• Interactive maps - Enhanced mapping with custom markers and location details

New Features

I've been focused on bringing all the old functionality over to the new system and making it 100% complete, but along the way I added a few new features and improvements:

• Enhanced security - State-of-the-art protection for all user data
• Spam prevention - Advanced protection against fake account creation and spam registrations
• Real-time notifications - Modern toast notifications that don't interrupt your workflow
• Multi-language support - Framework ready for me to enable Spanish and French translations in the future

The Technical Details (For Those Who Care!)

The new platform is built on Svelte 5 and SvelteKit 2—modern frameworks that prioritize speed and user experience. Under the hood, we're using:

• Modern TypeScript for rock-solid reliability
• Advanced caching for lightning-fast performance
• Improved database architecture for better data integrity
• Enhanced security measures throughout

But honestly, the technical stuff matters less than this: it's faster, more reliable, and easier to use.

Preview the New Platform Today!

I've set up a complete preview of the new platform that you can explore right now! You can access your market's preview at:

https://[your-market-subdomain].locallygrown.us

For example, if your market is at athens.locallygrown.net, you can preview the new version at athens.locallygrown.us.

Preview Login Steps:

1. Go to [your-market].locallygrown.us
   
2. Log in initially with:
   
   • Username: preview
   • Password: heirloom
3. Then log in again using your regular LocallyGrown account details

What you'll see: This preview contains a recent copy of all your market's data—your growers, products, customers, orders, and settings. The only difference is that all email addresses have been replaced with mine to prevent any accidental emails from being sent during testing.

A few important notes about the preview:

• 95%+ Feature Complete: The platform is nearly ready, but it's still undergoing rapid improvements as I prepare for launch
• Rough Edges: You'll encounter some rough edges and occasionally things that are broken—this is normal for a preview!
• Customer Pages Look the Same: I'm working hard to keep the main customer-facing pages looking exactly the same, including using all of your custom styles and themes
• Back Office Gets Mobile-First: The "back office" pages (market admin, order fulfillment, grower management) have been completely redesigned with a mobile-first approach, ditching the limitations of the old layout
• Custom Themes: I'm doing everything I can to keep your custom styles and themes intact, but we may need to work together over time to get them working flawlessly on all devices. When things look "broken" right now, it's most often just a styling issue.

Take it for a spin! Add products, process orders, explore the admin interface—everything works just like it will in the live version. The older layout pages are the most difficult to convert and will be the last things to get polish before going live. I'd love to hear your feedback!

Timeline and Migration

The Migration Approach: Due to the nature of the database changes, this will be an all-or-nothing migration. When we make the switch, every market will move to the new platform simultaneously. This ensures data consistency and allows me to provide the best possible support during the transition.

What to Expect:

• I'll announce the migration date a full month in advance
• The migration will happen in the dead of night during the lowest traffic window (likely very late on a Wednesday night)
• Actual downtime will be minimal (approximately 1 hour)
• DNS propagation may take additional time (more on this below)
• I'll handle all technical aspects—you won't need to do anything
• Your market URL will remain exactly the same (your-market.locallygrown.net)

About DNS Propagation: DNS changes typically take a few hours to reach everyone worldwide. During that period, some users may briefly see the old site. This resolves automatically.

Current Status: The new platform is production-ready and being tested. My current goal is to launch in August 2025, though I may be ready sooner. I'm taking extra time to ensure that all the custom styling and themes that markets have developed over the years are properly preserved and working beautifully on the new platform. I'll announce the official date with a full month's notice once I'm confident everything is perfect.

Your Data Is Safe

I want to be absolutely clear: all your existing data will be preserved. Every grower profile, customer account, order history, and market setting will transfer seamlessly. The new platform uses the same database structure, just with improved performance and capabilities.

Questions or Concerns?

I know change can feel overwhelming, even when it's change for the better. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns. I've been working on LocallyGrown for over 20 years because I believe deeply in the mission of connecting communities with local food, and this migration is all about ensuring we can continue that mission with the best possible tools.

I'm here to help! Email me at eric@locallygrown.net or text 706-248-1860 with any questions or concerns. The support site is still available at help.locallygrown.net, and you can leave comments and discuss the preview with each other there if you'd like.

Thank You

Thank you for being part of the LocallyGrown community and for trusting me with your market's technology needs. Your feedback and patience over the years have been invaluable in shaping this new platform. I'm excited about this next chapter and can't wait for you to experience the improvements firsthand.

The future of LocallyGrown is bright, and it's going to help your markets thrive like never before.

With gratitude and excitement,

Eric Wagoner Founder & Developer, LocallyGrown.net

P.S. - Don't forget your preview at [your-market].locallygrown.us—your feedback is invaluable!

Contact Information:

• Website: locallygrown.net
• Email: eric@locallygrown.net
• Support: help.locallygrown.net