In This Issue
• National Farmers Market Week Day 3 Chicago Region Lineup
• This Little Piggy Went to Market
• The Chef BBQ is Back and a Green City Market Walkabout
• This Little ILFMA Bag Went to Edgewater
Farmers Market Week Day 3 Lineup
Tuesday, August 3
Fox Lake Farmers Market, 17 E. School Ct., Fox Lake, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Lincoln Square Tuesday Market, W. Leland & N. Lincoln Aves., Chicago, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
SOAR (Streeterville) Farmers Market, 226 E. Chicago Ave., Chicago, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Sycamore Farmers Market, 403 Edward St., Sycamore, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
This Little Piggy Went to Market
So a pig walks into a farmers market… nope, no joke, this really happened yesterday at Chicago’s Edgewater Farmers Market. A young woman walked in with this little piggy on a leash. It was very well-behaved and gave friendly grunts to the humans who approached it.
Just another day at the farmers market.
The Chef BBQ is Back and a Green City Walkabout
First, some breaking news: Green City Market announced that it is bringing back one of Chicago’s favorite tasting events — their Chef BBQ fundraiser — after a COVID-forced hiatus in 2020. The Chef BBQ will take place on Thursday, September 9 (after years of being held in July) at the market’s Lincoln Park location.
We’ll have much to say about this event over the next few weeks, but in the meantime, click here to learn more and get your early bird discounted tickets through August 9.
As I prepared for National Farmers Market Week, I visited Green City Market on Wednesday, July 21 to do a walkabout with Janie Maxwell, executive director of the Illinois Farmers Market Association (ILFMA), and Mandy Moody, Green City’s executive director.
Interest in local food surged last year as the pandemic resulted in bottlenecks in the nation’s food supply chain and rising consumer concerns about food and health, wellness, sustainability and transparency. Though hard data is just being aggregated, Janie confirmed our perception that this interest has not abated.
“What a couple of farmers anecdotally have told me is that their per person sale has not dropped significantly since last year,” she said. “Last year was the highest that they had and it has not dropped a lot. So those same people are coming back and they are buying.”
When two leaders in our region’s farmers market community spend an hour touring a market, everything is on the table — including how vendors should table. A beautiful display of the season’s colorful produce is a great way to attract customers.
“Part of what we want to do with our new-vendor program is really take them around and show them the branding piece of what they’re presenting,” Mandy said. “It matters. It can help you start your year off with great success and really establish what that looks like.”
Janie noted that the ILFMA website includes the video from a webinar on farmstand display that the organization presented in April (click here to watch) and is creating a series of in-person events to cover topics of interest to both farmers and vendors.
Mandy noted that Green City, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is strategizing how to provide more information about nutrition and better eating for customers who use public food assistance benefits — known as SNAP at the federal level and Link in Illinois — to shop at the market.
Spurred by the pandemic, Green City is now growing produce for food pantries at the Edible Garden it has long maintained at the Lincoln Park Zoo, located adjacent to the market’s flagship location (it also runs a satellite Saturday market in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood). She said this practice will continue permanently.
She added that Green City is also working to address the relative paucity of BIPOC farmers selling at local farmers markets. Mandy said she met recently with leaders of Star Farm and Urban Growers Collective, both located on Chicago’s South Side, to discuss how to diversify its vendor lineup: “We’re thinking about how we support up and coming farmers. We know the stats about the aging farmer population. How do we get people to go into this? This is something that can be a vibrant, successful livelihood for them.”
There was also much discussion about introducing our youngest eaters to local food. Mandy noted that at each Green City market day, a recipe using in-season ingredients is made available to visitors. “This is really good for the kids because they get to check off and do some of the shopping with mom and dad...,” she said. “As a parent who has tried and has two very picky eaters, the thing about doing it here, it’s fun, there’s no pressure, it’s an outing, it’s an experience.”
If you (and your family) want to experience Green City Market during Farmers Market Week, its campus at the south end of Lincoln Park is open on Wednesday and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., and the West Loop location is open Saturday only, same hours.
This Little ILFMA Bag Went to Edgewater
I didn’t have a pig to bring with me, but I did bring my ILFMA tote bag to the Edgewater Farmers Market on Monday.
The market is located at the Broadway Armory Park, which is described as follows on the Chicago Park District site: “Located along Broadway and Thorndale Avenues in the Edgewater community, Broadway Armory Park totals 2.33 acres and is the Chicago Park District's largest indoor recreational facility. Officially purchased in 1998 after being no longer needed by the National Guard for military purposes, the massive, 87-year-old park facility today houses five gymnasia and 13 rooms. Broadway Armory's open space makes it ideal for Chicago Park District special sporting events such as citywide 3 on 3 soccer and volleyball. Outside organizations and families use the park regularly for their own permitted events and parties.”
It is one of Chicago’s smaller farmers markets and also the only one operating in the city on Mondays. Worth a visit to this community in Chicago’s northeast corner.