Market Walk In Wicker Park
A Sunday visit to a community with an down-and-up history and lots of food
Market Walk In Wicker Park
One of the real pleasures in publishing Local Food Forum is getting to bounce around town visiting farmers markets in multiple communities.
It’s not that you are likely to see much that is radically different in terms of the food being sold, as every market is carrying what’s in season, and most vendors participate in anything from a couple of markets to many. It’s more an opportunity to explore and get to know your city or suburban area better.
On Sunday, I made one of my occasional visits to the Wicker Park Farmers Market, taking two buses to reach my destination about five miles from home in Lakeview (we don’t own a car anymore). The market is located in the actual park named for Chicago Alderman Charles Wicker and his brother Joel, who developed the park and a surrounding residential subdivision in the 1870s.
The market is located in the north end of the park, with its vendor stands connected by a curving, tree-shaded walkway. Sunday’s beautiful weather drew a sizable number of shoppers, many pushing baby strollers or walking adorable dogs.
This upscale version of Wicker Park is similar to the original developers’ intentions. They promoted the community as something of a suburb in the middle of the city, and there was a section populated by wealthy brewers that was dubbed Beer Baron Row. Over decades it became more working class, as blue-collar Polish immigrants moved in en masse.
By the 1950s, famed author (and local resident) Nelson Algren was writing books such as The Man With The Golden Arm that portrayed the area as a hotbed of hustlers, prostitutes and junkies (the neighborhood picked up the undesired nickname of Needle Park). This caused tension with many in the local Polish population who deemed his description of their community as defamatory.
Yet a turnaround would take place as artists seeking cheap rents began moving in. A hipster vibe spawned entertainment clubs. And as often happens in renascent (or gentrified) communities, food played a role in jump-starting economic redevelopment.
Piece, a purveyor of New Haven-style thin-crust pizza in a city better known for deep dish, helped get the ball rolling on North Avenue in 2001. Paul Kahan and his One Off Hospitality Group — which also helped fuel the conversion of the West Loop meatpacking district into Chicago’s Restaurant Row — bet big on Wicker Park by opening The Violet Hour, a pioneering mixology bar, on Damen Avenue in 2007, and the nearby Big Star taqueria in 2009.
The Wicker Park Farmers Market is open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Sunday through October 31. I recommend it for those of you who want your farmers market shopping with a side of history and plenty to do besides shop for tomatoes.