Friday, May 25, 2012

Farmers Market Schedule Announced

Fresh fruits and veggies, soon to be appearing near us....  The City has announced this year's farmers markets on its website:
  • Uptown Farmers Market at Weiss, 4646 N. Marine Drive, Thursdays, June 21-October 25, 2012, 7:30am-12:30pm.  Fresh fruits, vegetables, plants and flowers are just some of the goods available at the Uptown Farmers Market.  Update from the comments:  LINK cards will be accepted.
Other nearby markets include:
  • Lincoln Square, Lincoln/Leland/Western (City Parking Lot adjacent to Brown Line Station), Tuesdays, June 5-October 30, 2012, 7am-1pm.  This market accepts the LINK card.
  • Northcenter, Belle Plaine/Damen/Lincoln, Saturdays, June 16-October 27, 2012, 7am-1pm.
  • Southport Market, Blaine School, 1420 W. Grace, Saturdays, June 23-September 8, 2012, 8am-2pm.
  • Edgewater, Broadway & Norwood, Saturdays, June 9-October 13, 2012, 8am-1pm.

9 comments:

  1. From what I've been told the Farmers Market will be accepting the LINK card this season.

    This will expand the healthy choices for many of Uptown residents.

    This will also boost the sales which to be honest have been low.

    An increase can and likely will attract additional vendors. Last year we had 5 or 6 on average.

    More vendors, more choices will address the main complaint some have made, attracting additional customers to return and buy more.

    It is a win all-around. Uptown is behind the curve on LINK access at the Farmers Market, if you've wondered why the other FM are more successful LINK access is part of it.

    The reason for the delay was Weiss is not a merchant or a public entity so the process was more convoluted then it had to be. A bodega can snag a LINK machine in 60 days no problemo.

    Also at the market you will be able to buy produce grown right here in Uptown, some of it on the top deck of the parking lot in raised beds.

    And you just can't get more local then that....

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks to the hard work of the Wholesome LINK Campaign and its community partners, the Uptown Farmers Market will be accepting LINK for the first time this year.

    Join WLC at Ezra, 909 W. Wilson at 10:00 on Thursday, June 21 and head over to the market together to celebrate!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anything planned for the new public plaza at Buttercup Park?

    ReplyDelete
  4. You know, that hell hole of a parking lot at Lawrence and Winthrop would be a much better place for a Farmers Market. He has not cleaned up this parking lot.. AS WAS PROMISED, so the least they can do for the coummunity at this point...close to the El and a lot of public housing where folks could easily access it as well as EL accessible...the Weiss spot is pretty lame and not very many vendors...

    ReplyDelete
  5. To me, the times are particularly unfriendly. I wouldn't ever be able to make it over on a Thursday morning without being late for work. It'd be nice if evening or weekend hours were available.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I second the 'weekend' comment. I love farmer's markets and the fact that Uptown offers one as well. Unfortunately with my work schedule (yes, yes, I know I'm not representative of everyone), I can't make a market unless it's on the weekend. Oh well...until then, it's off to other neighborhood markets which do.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I agree with Mike. I would patronize this farmer's market weekly if it wasn't held during working hours. The fact that they are now accepting LINK makes me wonder if it is only concerned with attracting the unemployed. No wonder their revenue is suffering. I think they would see a dramatic increase if they changed it to weekend hours.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The Weiss Uptown Farmers Market was created as a community outreach AND as an amenity to their employees. Their employees are by definition not the "unemployed".The hospital is a 24 hour operation but most employees are there during working hours. Make sense?

    Weiss provides the space and the administration free to the vendors. They charge the farmers nothing, they cover all incidental expenditures and security.

    Volunteers such as yours truly help with the physical set-up/break_down.

    Acknoweldeged complaints:

    1. The location is not ideal

    2. The hours are not convienentu

    3. There are too few vendors

    Yes we all get it but thank you Weiss for doing what you can with what you have.

    I learned a lot about FM last year with the LINK campaign. For one there is actually a lot of compitition for farmers in all time slots particularly weekends.

    It is the law of supply and demand. We have a lot of FM in Chicago and suburbs but this isn't the fertile Central Valley of California is it?

    There is much much more to starting an FM then just sayin', "how 'bout that lot" ala superhero. And it takes a lot to administer.

    The best option is to let the Weiss Market grow to 10 or 12 vendors, the general capacity of the space, and start a new FM in a central location with better hours.

    I can think of at least 6 locations, the Aragon lot won't work but that is not important now, space is easy.

    The compition for vendors is the biggest hurdle, the get the right mix in the proposed time slot. The best and only incentive we can offer is to have a successful market operating at capacity on a weekday. Farmers follow sales and why shouldn't they.

    So that brings us back to the LINK. There are over 10,000 households in the 60640 zip the receive LINK benefits. That is a lot of purchasing power going to Aldi, Jewel, Target and bodegas at this time.

    The big question is what entity will administer a future market in Uptown. If that can be figured out I am sure Ald. Jmes will be on board.

    As a side note the LINK machine can also process debit/credit cards. I encourage shoppers to use it. With sum of the transactions centralized we will have a powerful incentive to attract vendors to Uptown Central Farmers Market.....or something like that.....

    When your helthy your Wealthy...Go Green ...ra raa ra!

    ReplyDelete