Maxwell Street Market's Living History
Plus a video walkabout at today's Daley Plaza City Market
In This Issue
• Today’s Chicago Region Farmers Markets
• A Daley Plaza Market Video Walkabout
• Featured Article: Maxwell Street Market’s Living History
Today’s Chicago Region Farmers Markets
Weather.com forecast: Sunshine and clouds mixed, high 88
Accuweather.com forecast: Partly sunny, breezy p.m., high 90
(* denotes season opening market)
In Chicago
Austin City Market, 5610 W. Lake St., Chicago, 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Daley Plaza City Market, 50 W. Washington St., Chicago, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Growing Home Wood Street Farm Stand, 1844 W. 59th St., Chicago, Noon to 6 p.m.
Lincoln Square Thursday Market, W. Leland & N. Lincoln Aves., Chicago, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Low-Line Market, 3400 N. Southport (at CTA Brown Line), Chicago, 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
* South Loop Farmers Market Prairie District, 1936 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
In The Suburbs
* Barrington Farmers Market, 200 Park Ave., Barrington, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Glencoe Farmers Market,Wyman Square, Glencoe*, 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
LaGrange Farmers Market, 53 S. LaGrange Rd., LaGrange, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Libertyville Farmers Market, 413 N. Milwaukee Ave., Libertyville, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Click links below to find other regional markets at:
Illinois Farmers Market Association
Indiana Grown
Michigan Farmers Market Association
Wisconsin Farmers Market Association
A Daley Plaza City Market Walkabout
I have written about and posted many still photos of the Daley Plaza farmers market, the flagship of the Chicago City Markets run by the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE). Now that I’m getting the hang of this Facebook Live thing, I present my first video walkabout of one of my longtime favorite markets.
There also is some breaking now-in-season produce news. Several stands now have big, juicy, delicious sweet cherries, sugar snap peas are in, and one stand even had the first raspberries that I’ve seen (and bought) this year. Please take a little break, get hungry, and let me know what you think about Local Food Forum, Now With Video!
Maxwell Street Market’s Living History
Next market is Sunday, 9 to 3, at 800 South Desplaines Street
To say that the Maxwell Street Market resonates in Chicago’s social history is an understatement. Located on the South Side at the current site of University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), the outdoor market became a hub of all kinds of commercial activity in the early 20th century as European immigrants poured into the city. I am Jewish and grew up in New York City, and Maxwell Street Market was to Chicago what Manhattan’s Lower East Side — where my late mother’s father grew up — was to the immigrant community there.
The market absorbed subsequent groups of immigrants and also Blacks who came to Chicago in the great migration from the South. Those of us born too late for the experience can only imagine mingling in the throngs of shoppers while listening to Chicago blues performers who became legendary.
Maxwell Street Market’s central role in community life diminished in post-World War II Chicago, as the tight ethnic communities dispersed to other city and suburban neighborhoods and malls began to sap life from the old traditional shopping hubs. The market was moved off Maxwell Street in 1994 to make way for UIC expansion.
But relocated to 800 South Desplaines Street, just across the Dan Ryan Expressway from UIC, the Market provides living history, with food, clothing and many other items for sale and a diverse group of vendors that includes a big representation of a Latino population that has grown tremendously since the market’s earlier heyday.
We conducted the following e-mail interview with Nikki S. Butler, who manages the Maxwell Street Market for the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events:
Q: What can visitors expect at the Maxwell Street Market (food, of course, but the other kinds of vendors as well)?
A: The Maxwell Street Market is a Chicago tradition with an eclectic mix of handmade crafts, resale housewares and clothing, live music, family fun and some of the best street food the City has to offer. This season, Maxwell Street Market will operate on 1st and 3rd Sundays from 9 a.m.–3 p.m., June – December. This unique, open-air experience is part festival, part farmers market and part flea market.
Q: Maxwell Street Market is legend, long playing an important role in Chicago's commercial life. Could you provide some perspective on this?
A: Through research, I have learned that in its early years, Maxwell Street was estimated to be the third largest-grossing district in Chicago, after the Loop and 63rd and Halsted streets.
A Sunday-only affair, it was a precursor to the flea market scene in Chicago. Many fledgling entrepreneurs came to Maxwell Street to earn their livelihood. Peddlers sold goods from sidewalk stands and pushcarts, offering items from clothes and produce to cars and appliances. The Market offered discount items to consumers and was an economic hub for enterprising people looking to get ahead. Shoppers could find anything and everything at the Maxwell Street Market!
Q: The market was a center for a succession of immigrants — it was home to many Jewish merchants for decades — and other new arrivals to Chicago, including those from the Great Migration of Blacks from the South. Is it playing a similar role today for Chicago's Latino population?
A: Maxwell Street Market continues to welcome people from all over the world. Our vendor base is not comprised of a single group — we have folks from multiple countries as well as born and bred Chicagoans. We always say, "You never know what you'll find!" on any given day at the market. We have several vendors from throughout the Latin American diaspora, sharing their culture, food and goods with shoppers, which is wonderful and delicious. We are intentionally inclusive of all people and cultures, which is shown through our programming, vendors and attendees.
Q: You mentioned special events coming up at the market... please provide some detail.
A: Here are some of the events that will be taking place on our Maxwell Street Market Plaza this season:
Sunday, June 20: The Wonder Wagon Puppet Show and Workshop and special guest vendor: Buddy
Sunday, July 4: House Music Celebration
Sunday, August 1: Chicago SummerDance pop-up
Sunday, August 15: Chicago SummerDance pop-up
Sunday, September 5: Jazz Music Celebration presented as part of Chicago In Tune
Sunday, September 19: Blues Music Celebration presented as part of Chicago In Tune
Sunday, October 31: Día de los Muertos Celebration
Q: Acceptance of SNAP/Link benefits is providing healthy food access at our area's farmers markets. How does it help at Maxwell Street?
A: The COVID-19 pandemic really hurt a lot of people financially and there has been a huge increase in the number of people who now receive SNAP/Link benefits. The State of Illinois also issued P-EBT cards for school-age children whose schools operated through remote learning this school year.
Though Maxwell Street Market may seem like an unexpected place to buy produce, produce sales have been a part of its history since the beginning. Now, through a partnership with The Urban Canopy, Illinoisans are able to use their SNAP/Link benefits (and P-EBT cards) to purchase locally sourced produce here. And, the Link Match program doubles the value of Link purchases up to $25 for use here at Maxwell Street with Urban Canopy or at other neighborhood farmers markets.
Q: And finally, some people will inevitably ask why the Maxwell Street Market isn't on Maxwell Street. Could you explain?
A: The market did, indeed, start on Maxwell Street – just a ways away from our current market location. In 1994, the Maxwell Street Market was moved by the City of Chicago to accommodate the expansion of the University of Illinois at Chicago. It was relocated a few blocks east to Canal Street and renamed the New Maxwell Street Market. It was moved again to its current location on Desplaines Street in fall 2008.
Wonderful article. I got my bar-mitzvah suit from Sol's on Maxwell Street! That area has always been a window to the past as well as an cross-section of the current world. Thanks for highlighting the market.