On Saturday, in a parking lot off University Place and Oak Avenue, the first Downtown Evanston Farmers’ Market of the year took place.
In its 36th year, the Farmers’ Market brings the fruits of local farmers’ labor to Evanston every Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., from May to November.
Sheltered under tents, rows of lush flowers shared tables with fresh herbs, cheeses, homemade jams and salsas, fruits, vegetables and baked goods. A solo violinist accompanied the chatter about in-season asparagus.
The market will host 37 vendors this year for the hundreds of shoppers who drop by. Despite a few vendors’ backing out on the opening day due to the cold, wet weather affecting crops this spring, the turnout was cheerful, and most farmers were still able to bring out an array of food.
“Every year just gets better and better,” said Zollie Webb, Evanston’s community outreach coordinator.
Webb said the weather could never spoil the market’s mood.
“If we open, they will come,” he said.
Roy Elko, farmer at Elko’s Produce and Greenhouse in Wisconsin, has been coming since the market opened in 1975. He was 19 years old at the time and still remembers the Evanston market when there were fewer vendors and buildings.
“I used to sell to the parents, and now I’m selling to the kids,” Elko, 55, said.
Elko’s Produce and Greenhouse is entirely family-run with no hired help. The farmer said sharing stories with the people who come to the market is his favorite part.
“I’m one of the original vendors here. We make it all ourselves,” said Elko, flipping through an album of old pictures.
Several of the photos show his daughter, Carrie Elko, now a teacher and Northwestern alumna (Bienen ’10) who still helps him run the booth every Saturday.
“I came in a car seat,” Carrie Elko said. “The people here watched me grow up. I wouldn’t know what to do without it.”
Barbara Wallace, a writer, has been coming every weekend for the past eight years, ever since her first summer in Evanston.
“You can’t get tomatoes like that in the grocery store,” Wallace said.
SESP senior Pei Chen said the market is something she associates with Evanston summers.
“I really like getting fresh produce, like fresh, fresh, fresh produce,” she said.
At another booth, two sisters Peyton, 6, and Addison Benz, 5, dig into jars of jelly and try to spread it on crackers.
“We love coming here. It’s fun, we get to sample and find some good snacks,” their mother Jean Benz said. “They love to beg for things.”
The two managed to convince their mother to buy some chocolate treats from Brett Sylvestri at his NU Sigma Chi Breast Cancer charity booth.
The fraternity cook raises money every year to support his friend participating in a breast cancer walk and decided to try the market for the first time this year.
“It’s my pet. This is my personal charity,” Sylvestri said. He said customers had been donating generously all day and that his coffee had been very popular, especially with other vendors who were had been awake since midnight.
“It makes for long days, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” vendor Kenny Stover said.
His Michigan family farm, Stover’s Farm Market, is also one of the original vendors. Though Stover was not born when his family started coming, he grew up with the market. He said Evanston’s market is one of his favorites because the people are loyal and willing to come even in bad weather.
“It’s quaint, and the people are good. They’re not afraid of a little rain,” he said. “I see more people pass through here than live in my town.”
Evanston violinist Gregory Tompkins sees a lot of people pass by when he busks in the city.
“It’s fantastic here. There’s lots of little kids who are always fun to play for,” said Tompkins, recalling a little girl who earlier tried to give him a dollar but nearly put it in the trash can next to him instead.
Unity Ostercamp, an education project coordinator who drives in every Saturday from West Ridge, said she likes supporting local farmers and tries to live more sustainably.
“I’m very much looking forward to Saturdays in Evanston,” she said. “It’s the granddaddy of all the farmers’ markets.”
