The Glenwood Sunday Market is now celebrating its 17th season offering sustainable and local food along a cobblestoned stretch of Glenwood Avenue in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood
The market is held on Glenwood Avenue between Morse and Lunt avenues, right along the Chicago Transit Authority Red Line tracks and right at the Morse stop, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays between June 7 and Oct. 25. The market takes two Sundays off, the second and last of which will be Aug. 16
Sandi Price, executive director of the Rogers Park Business Alliance, explained how special the market is for the Rogers Park community
“What makes it most special is the community itself, so it’s really a gathering place for the community to come out on Sunday morning. They love coming out and shopping,” she said. “Our market is all food-based. We’ve heard from some people that they wait and wait ’til Sunday to do their shopping for their household.”
The Glenwood Sunday Market kicked off on Sunday, June 6, 2010, with the support of the Clark/Morse/Glenwood Special Service Area No. 24 in Rogers Park. Special Service Area districts allow real estate property taxes to fund particular services for a defined area
The market notes on its website that the crowd was so eager that first Sunday 16 years ago that everything sold out within an hour. The Glenwood Sunday Market was voted Illinois’ Favorite Farmers Market in 2010, and Third Favorite Farmers Market of its size in the U.S. in the American Farmland Trust 2010 contest
Unlike many farmers’ markets that take over parking lots or plazas, the Glenwood Sunday Market runs linearly, right alongside the embankment that carries the Red Line along Glenwood Avenue. The market takes place in front of the backdrop of the Mile of Murals, which were painted along the embankment to honor the people and community of Rogers Park and fondly remembered businesses such as the Heartland Café and the No Exit Café, the latter of which is now Le Piano
But visitors to the market, of course, are most interested in the fresh produce and other products. Price said there is quite the wide selection
“We have quite a few market vendors who are farmers who come out every year. Some of them have been with us for 17 years. Some of them are new — Hillside Orchard [& Farm Market of Hinckley, Ohio] is a new vendor. We have a lot of meat vendors. We have cheese — really good cheese — we have bakeries, we have some prepared foods, and of course, we have these gorgeous flowers,” Price said while holding a bouquet. “So everything that’s grown, everything is local, which for us means about 200 miles, because of course, we don’t have a lot of farms in Chicago.”
Price emphasized that everything is also fresh, and said it could be safer to buy from a farmers’ market than a grocery store
In all, there are 24 vendors this year
Price noted that from the beginning, part of the mission of the Glenwood Sunday Market has been to help those in need
“When we started our farmers’ market — back when we were planning this, 18, 19, years ago — Rogers Park has about 35% of our community is food insecure, and we knew that a farmers’ market is not a cheap way to buy your groceries, and that some of our community would not be able to afford shopping at a farmers’ market,” Price said. “So we started a program called Market for All. It’s our 17th year of Market For All, where we raise money for Link shoppers.”
Those who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits come in and swipe their card for $25 per transaction, and receive a $25 match they can use on any produce, Price said. SNAP recipients can use this benefit from the market multiple times in a day if necessary and receive another $25 to do so, Price said
This was made possible by a grant from Link Up Illinois
The market also raises more money so SNAP recipients can use their benefits on food items besides produce, with a $10 weekly match. This benefit may be used once per market week
“So they can’t use it on the flowers, but they can use it on the meat and the cheese and the baked goods,” Price said
The Glenwood Sunday Market is also actively looking for volunteers and interns
