City’s new farmers markets on mission
3 pioneering outdoor venues plan to nourish neighborhoods devoid of largegrocery store chains

Gospel choirs, antiques booths and jerk chicken stands are more evocativeof Chicago’s summer festivals than its farmers markets. But three new marketsslated to open this spring on the South Side are determined to break thefarmers market mold.
The pioneering outdoor markets – in Bronzeville, Englewood and Woodlawn –aim to bring fresh produce to these food deserts, neighborhoods underserved bylarge grocery store chains. Some plan to feature free transportation to themarket, some will offer neighborhood-grown produce and all plan to provideElectronic Benefit Transfer machines that accept credit cards along withpublic aid credit.
All aim to nourish a sense of community while nourishing individual bodiesin neighborhoods where liquor stores and convenience stores often fill therole of a grocery store.
“We want it to create a sense of normalcy,” said Orrin Williams, anorganizer of the Englewood Farmers Market. “I think people often feelabandoned or disconnected when you don’t have resources in the community,whether it is food, books, music or restaurants.”
Bernita Johnson-Gabriel of the Quad Communities Development Corp., which isoperating the new Bronzeville Community Market, said, “One of our main aimswith the market is to make sure folks have memorable social exchanges here.”
Although farmers markets have sprouted in underserved neighborhoods andfood deserts before, this summer will see a bumper crop of new ones.Bronzeville will see its first experimental hybrid market – partiallycity-supported and partially independent.
Farmers markets sponsored by the city have strict rules that allow onlythose who grow the food to sell it and prohibit the sale of prepared foods.The new hybrid market in Bronzeville will allow cooked foods, antiquesvendors, music, re-sold produce and other items prohibited at regular markets.
The rationale for the third party produce is that the neighborhood has suchlimited access to fresh fruits and vegetables in the first place.
“We wanted the opportunity to have some resale of things like citrus andbananas,” Johnson-Gabriel said. “Our community wants a little bit ofeverything. And since we are a hybrid market, the city allowed us to do thatas well as have things like prepared-food vendors.”
Although the market organizers would love to sell only sustainably andorganically raised produce, they understand that the high cost of organicproduce could be an issue for some customers.
“We had a lot of discussion about not just serving middle-class populationsand trying to serve people with lower income levels who couldn’t drive toother areas to get their foods,” said Connie Spreen, executive director forExperimental Station, which is putting on the economically diverse 61st StreetMarket. “So we decided we would also offer conventional [non-organic] producebecause it’s better to have people who aren’t buying produce buy produce evenif it is conventionally grown.”
Paying more for food directly from the farm has been a hard concept toswallow for some customers, said Williams, the Englewood market organizer.
“The farmer certainly has autonomy to set his prices, but we hope they willpay attention to the community they are trying to serve,” he said.
Williams said there will be consumer education about the benefits of freshproduce and a relationship with the farmer. “We need to explain the benefitsof working with and buying from farmers who produce with few or no inputs[pesticides etc.],” he said.
Aaron Schorsch, who is recruiting growers for the 61st Street FarmersMarket, says he hopes to persuade some farmers heading to Green City Market inLincoln Park to make a drop-off at 61st Street on their way to the North Side.And if past markets are an indicator, shoppers shouldn’t be surprised to seelower prices for that same farmer’s produce at the South Side markets.
Although all farmers are welcome, each new market is eager to attractAfrican-American-owned sustainable farms such as Growing Power (out of Chicagoand Milwaukee) and Pembroke Farmers Cooperative (out of Kankakee County).
Like many, Englewood and 61st Street will be closely watching theBronzeville market experiment to see whether it represents the future formarkets in underserved communities.
“I can tell you that the city is very excited about it and hoping that thismodel is going to be replicable even across the country,” Johnson-Gabrielsaid. “We’re going to be a Sunday market open from 10 to 3, and so people comehere after church to shop and eat and sit down at our tables under the tentsto hear some music.”
Williams said, “We want to make this not just a retail place, but agathering place, a real cultural place in the community.”
Englewood Farmers Market will be held in the parking lot of GreaterDeliverance Temple Church of Christ, 6452 S. Ashland Ave. It will runThursdays starting June 19.
The 61st Street Farmers Market will be in front of Experimental Station,6100 S. Blackstone Ave., on Saturdays starting May 17.
The Bronzeville Community Market will be at 4400 S. Cottage Grove Ave. onSundays starting June 1.
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 meng@tribune.com