On Saturday mornings, tucked between the intersection of University Place and Oak Avenue, lies the dream of every fresh food-loving college student: a farmers’ market. As a self-proclaimed foodie, I couldn’t have been more excited to venture away from the dining halls with my roommate and explore the Downtown Evanston Farmers’ Market. Back home, our year-round farmers’ market is colorful and boisterous, full of happy customers ready to enjoy the endless goodies California seems to bring. But in Evanston, would the market be as plentiful and bright? Initially, I had my doubts, but the second I walked in, I knew I was home again.
The booths were cheerful and abundant, lined with an array of pumpkins, samples of apple cider, warm pies and a rainbow of root vegetables, harbingers of a bountiful harvest. My roommate, Sarah, and I didn’t know where to start — did we want to get some breakfast or buy goodies to take home? — so we decided to first explore the aisles and simply take it all in. Every table screamed of autumn (and we all already know how I feel about fall!), with ripe pears, Honeycrisp apples and butternut squash. Despite the humidity, the air felt lighter than usual, carrying the smell of pumpkin pie and fresh dirt, with a low murmur of chatter in the background.
Everyone at the market seemed to be enjoying themselves — the children getting balloon animals with their parents, families picking out pumpkins together, elderly couples conversing with vendors (now old friends) and college students excited to buy fresh food as a cheap and healthy alternative … except Sarah and I were the only Northwestern students in sight. Where were my fellow food-lovers, money savers and fresh air-enjoyers?
As a seasoned farmers’ market goer, I know certain stigmas go along with them: They’re drab and boring, they are the ultimate hippie-turned-yuppie outing but, most of all, they’re too expensive. I cry foul because none of those are true. With $10 in my pocket and another $10 in Sarah’s, we were able to leave the farmers’ market with a bag of treasures (sans the feeling we spent the rest of our tuition money): a homemade pumpkin pie from Marilyn’s Bakery, 10 perfectly ripe pears, a jar of apple butter and a loaf of pumpkin bread. Breakfast for an entire week! That, of course, would have been the case if no one on our floor (and the floor below) had found out about our freshly stocked pantry.
Even if you don’t want to spend your money on farm-fresh goodies, the market is worth your time. Go for the sake of going. Get out of bed Saturday morning, begin your day with a walk down leaf-scattered Sheridan Road and take in the fresh smell of harvest — far, far away from the desk in a crammed corner that, as students, we call home.
