The cold outside might make you think that farmers’ market season is over, but there are plenty of ways to purchase locally grown and regionally-created food year round. Here are a few upcoming possibilities.
Plant Chicago in Back of the Yards offers year-round indoor markets, usually scheduled biweekly, with a limited number of vendors inside their building (which was originally a Chicago firehouse). The next event features local makers Bee-utiful Honey and Soap Junkii, among others. Sat 1/29, 11 AM-3 PM, 4459 S. Marshfield, plantchicago.org.
The 61st Street Farmers Market takes a chance on our midwestern winds each month through the winter with a hybrid indoor and outdoor market (using the interior of Experimental Station) to allow for a slightly larger combination of vendors. Regular visitors include Mick Klug Farm, Stamper Cheese, Ellis Family Farms, and more, plus the market accepts Link (and matches the value of Link purchases up to $25 per cardholder per market day, giving you a potential of double produce). The next market is Sat 2/12, 9 AM-noon, 6100 S. Blackstone, experimentalstation.org/market.
Logan Square Farmers Market offers an indoor option every Sunday through April 3, and limits attendance in the 9 AM hour to visitors who consider themselves high-risk. There are usually about 30 vendors in attendance including Star Farm and others, and the organizers try to keep traffic flowing to limit the amount of people inside the building together at the same time. You can check it out on Sunday from 10 AM-2 PM at 2537 N. Pulaski, logansquarefarmersmarket.org/sunday.
Green City Market Lincoln Park usually has a home inside the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum during the winter months, but they’ve decided to forgo the indoor markets this year in light of COVID-19 concerns. But fear not—many of the regular vendors at Green City offer home delivery or curbside pickup of their goods via the WhatsGood app. Deliveries are made on Wednesdays and Saturdays between the hours of 11 AM-7 PM, and while WhatsGood’s delivery map doesn’t yet include the entire city, they hit much of the north and northwest sides as well as downtown and several suburbs including Evanston. Link card users can also order through WhatsGood and take advantage of a curbside pickup program centered at Swedish Hospital (5140 N. California). Information about the Green City Market and WhatsGood partnership is available at greencitymarket.org/visit-our-markets/gcm-delivered.
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