So, where are you from?” 57-year-old Lloyd Nichols asked me, his hands in the pockets of his faded blue jeans, which sag in the back and bunch around his brown boots.
“Philadelphia,” I answered.
His dirt-smudged right hand reaches into a wooden apple bin marked with the word “Macoun.”
“These are really popular along the East Coast and New England,” Nichols said. The Macoun is just one of the 135 types of apples that Nichols grows on his farm in Marengo, Ill.
Every Saturday morning from the second week in May until the first week of November, Nichols leaves home in the wee hours to make the two-hour trek to Evanston. Since 1978, he has joined about 35 other fruit, vegetable and flower vendors at the market on the corner of University Place and Oak Street.
“I am what’s considered a market gardener,” he said, motioning to the bins of apples, tomatoes and beans situated around him. “I grow products strictly for farmers’ markets.”
The market has been an Evanston fixture for nearly 29 years, attracting vendors from not only Illinois but also Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin. For some vendors, the journey to Evanston may be long, but it is a summer tradition that spans two decades.
“I have to have two alarm clocks to get up,” said Tom Lyons, a 35-year-old fruit farmer from South Haven, Mich., who rises at 2 a.m. eastern time to drive south to the market. “My family’s been coming here for 20 years.”
Farmer Jeff Morlock awakens at 1 a.m. to start loading his truck to make it to Evanston by 5 a.m. from Waterbliet, Mich.
“The easiest part of the week is getting to relax with the stereo on the drive down,” said Morlock, another 20-year-veteran of the market whose three daughters now accompany him on the trip.
With so many vendors occupying one parking lot, the market requires organization. Curtis Chancellor, market master of the City of Evanston, has been supervising the various vendors for 10 years. Chosen by the city manager’s office of community service, Chancellor oversees the arrival of vendors and the quality of the merchandise they sell.
According to Chancellor, the market attracts nearly 3,000 people from the Chicago area every Saturday between 7:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Beyond providing customers with good food, the market hires high school students to help customers carry packages to their cars.
“This is the biggest and best market around, and enough people come down to support it,” said Nichols, ranking Evanston’s market above the other 13 farmers’ markets he visits in a week.
At some farmers’ markets that he goes to, Nichols said he is the only one selling his own home-grown food.
“My biggest pet peeve is when the market doesn’t enforce the rule against peddlers, because peddlers take advantage of the ones growing it themselves,” he said, referring to vendors who don’t grow their own produce.
“There is tough competition here, but it’s nice to see that most vendors here grow what they sell.”
Nichols’ love of food led him to his profession.
“I sell produce because I like to eat it and pass it onto other people,” he said. “I also like to grow stuff.”
Nichols said the secrets to his success are growing all of his merchandise and treating people politely. However, he often gets annoyed with customers for haggling prices of vegetables with him.
“You need to flexible, understanding and charitable when you’re dealing with a lot of people, because then you’re a human being,” Nichols said after allowing a woman to pay $3 for tomatoes instead of the original price of $3.75.
“I mean, people are tough,” he continued. “There are some sweet people, and then there are some absolute ‘blanks.’ We don’t even use those words, but we see them. We just have to be tough and say, ‘I don’t want to deal with you.'”
But many customers appreciate the community atmosphere of the market and the freshness of the produce its vendors sell.
Chicago resident Barbara Frank, 51, has been shopping at the market for at least eight years.
“Shopping here is more relaxing than going to Dominick’s,” said Frank, holding a white plastic bag brimming with red apples. “We like to wander around here and go to vendors that have something unique.”
“Buying food here motivates us to cook,” said her husband, Michael Frank. “We grow basil in our backyard, and we love to get mozzarella when the tomatoes are good.”
Food distributor Giles Schnierle most enjoys the human contact associated with the farmers’ market. As one who deals with restaurants 95 percent of the time, Schnierle finds the direct feedback from customers gratifying.
“People come back and say ‘I really loved this cheese, can you recommend one like it?’ or ‘I’m having a wine party. What cheeses should I get?'” Schnierle, 54, said. “It’s a pump up for me when it gets really busy.”
Chancellor himself is a frequent market shopper. In between mouthfuls of the sugar cookie he got from a local vendor, he recited his typical shopping list at the market.
“I like peaches, apples — I’m a vegetable person– string beans, potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, blackberries. And I do cook,” Chancellor said. “I’m an excellent cook.”
Lyons said his prime reason for coming to the market is the people.
“We also make good money out of it,” he said.
While the farmers profit from selling their food to the Evanston community, the market helps to boost Evanston’s economy. The city receives a percentage of the state’s sales tax on the goods. The market also draws visitors to the city’s downtown stores, according to Donna Stuckert, the community information coordinator of the Evanston city manager’s office.
Nichols is a “big fan” of the Evanston community — and of community eating. When selecting apples, he recommends choosing larger ones so everyone can get a piece.
“You break out your knife and share with friends, and it’s a great way to do it,” he said.
How ’bout them apples? nyou
