Ezra Garfield was five years old when he lost his chickens.
“It was really sad,” Garfield, now 11, said. “We had a going away party for them.”
He said he remembers chasing Big Pecker, Little Pecker, Cookies ‘n Cream, Blackie and Goldie around his front yard and gathering their eggs.
Garfield attended a screening of the independent film “Mad City Chickens” with his family, who had kept seven chickens in a coop in their garage until they had to give the fowl away in compliance with Evanston’s ban on chickens.
“I’ve been begging and begging for another pet,” Garfield said. “But I’d be happy with chickens again for sure.”
More than 100 poultry-enthused moviegoers flocked to the Evanston Public Library, 1703 Orrington Ave., Wednesday to see the documentary about urban chicken cultivation.
“Mad City Chickens” details the 2004 legalization of backyard chickens in Madison, Wis., and portrays several families who have chosen to make chickens their beloved pets. Before the legislation passed, Madison’s keepers of illicit fowl referred to themselves as the “Chicken Underground.”
The film also discusses the history of backyard chickens, which were commonplace until the end of World War II, when subdivisions and supermarkets became the national norm and the nuclear family had no room for live poultry.
The screening was part of the Reeltime Film series, which incorporates guest speakers into events. The filmmakers behind “Mad City Chickens,” Tashai Lovington and Robert Lughai, were on hand at a question-and-answer session, accompanied by a Chicago resident and her legal chicken, Fern.
“Chickens are great community builders,” Lughai said to the audience. “They really are.”
Though no Evanston residents admitted to keeping chickens, many raised their hands when asked if they would like to.
The screening served as a call to action, inciting residents to reform Evanston’s 30-year-old ban on chickens. After the screening, about 15 residents signed up to become members of a new committee to legalize backyard chickens, said Debbie Hillman, a member of the Evanston Food Policy Council.
“In about three weeks we’ll meet and get a plan together,” Hillman said after the screening. “The health department is interested in helping us. We don’t have to work against the city on this.”
Guests left the library chatting of plywood and wire, the stuff of chicken coops, perhaps unaware of Evanston’s own closeted coop keepers.
Laurie Zoloth, a Northwestern bioethics professor, said she did not realize upon moving to Evanston from Berkeley, Calif., that her family’s practice of raising chickens was illegal in their new home. She said she defended her chickens at an administrative hearing and was referred to the City Council to discuss changing the current law. Zoloth said changes in cultural ideals lead to chickens’ illegal status.
“Chickens were associated with poverty and laws favored a certain kind of social behavior,” she said. “We’ve been raising chickens for years. Raising chickens and growing vegetables makes sense to me.”
Zoloth said it was important to her to know how to attain her food in a sustainable way.
“People need to rethink with more attention to where their food comes from and how to use their land,” Zoloth said. “In a recession economy, sustainable living becomes not just thinking about carbon footprints. It is also rethinking what your choices are. Rethinking every choice leads you right to what you plant in your front yard or what you eat.”
