In this episode, The Daily reports on the Evanston Farmers’ Market following its 50th anniversary in July. Vendors have long drawn from their home states and international roots to bring food items and other products to local residents.
[Farmers market ambience]
WILLIAM WU: Every Saturday, Evanston Farmers’ Market opens at 7:30 in the morning. But for many vendors, their day starts much earlier.
JASON GAST: I get up at one o’clock your time, drive in, and then we are here by five o’clock your time. Takes us about two hours to set up.
GEORGE SUN: That was Jason Gast, who runs Gast Farms, a family business started by his grandparents in Michigan. He drives in every weekend to set up the stand.
WILLIAM WU: From The Daily Northwestern, I’m William Wu.
GEORGE SUN: And I’m George Sun.
WILLIAM WU: This is Everything Evanston, a podcast covering all things Evanston.
[music]
The Farmers’ Market just celebrated their 50th anniversary this past July, marking 50 years of local produce, handmade crafts and community gathering. The market’s story is about more than food. It’s about the people who wake up before dawn, travel for miles and bring their passions here each week.
GEORGE SUN: For Jason and the Gast Farms, the loyalty and community aspect of the Farmers’ Market is what brings them back.
JASON GAST: Most of our customers are real loyal, and they’re just entertainment, not entertainment, you know, just being able to go ahead and supply them with what they need.
WILLIAM WU: The dedication from the customers is something that John from Jacobson Family Farms also knows well. Based just south of the Wisconsin border, the Jacobson Family Farms relies on Evanston’s crowd for much of its income.
JOHN REEDAL: This is the business end of farming, really, is the farmers’ markets. As far as I’m concerned, this is where we make most of our money.
WILLIAM WU: More than the profits, the Jacobson Family Farms also enjoys the company of the Evanston community, who have found a new passion in duck eggs.
JOHN REEDAL: I like meeting a lot of people. I just like meeting people and seeing the same faces come through every week. Like, I just was telling her that I feel like I recognize everybody here, all the vendors, everybody that comes through. I feel like I know and I see them every week, and it’s just cool.
The funny thing about it is, like, when we first started, we didn’t know that duck eggs existed, really. You know, we basically got the word out of duck eggs in Evanston, and now we get three dozen people that come every weekend, and unfortunately, we only have like, 20 ducks, so we don’t get to fulfill that many orders.
GEORGE SUN: But the Evanston Farmers’ Market isn’t only about food. Monica Broderick, who lives in Evanston but was born in Ghana, brings a centuries-old craft to the market each weekend.
MONICA BRODERICK: And I’m from Africa, Ghana. The weather there is dry, and my tribe makes African baskets to keep the food so it can last for the rest of the year. So I believe my forefathers, they decided to use grass to make big containers to keep the rice, the beans, the millet, the peanuts, and that’s how these baskets started. It’s been around for hundreds of years.
GEORGE SUN: Each basket is handmade from grass boiled with natural dyes. It can take up to five days to finish one. Broderick says the market reminds her of home, not just because of the craft but because of the community.
MONICA BRODERICK: It reminds me of Africa. It gives me some nostalgia about African markets.
WILLIAM WU: Across the lot, another vendor shares her mother’s passion for crocheting. Asma Heptulla runs Mom’s Hats and All, a crocheted craft stand built around her 86-year-old mother’s handiwork.
ASMA HEPTULLA: This is my mom’s business, actually. She’s 86 years old. So it’s called Mom’s Hats and All. And we sell all things crochet. She makes them all herself. And she, she likes to work. She retired at 80, and so she doesn’t want to stop working, so this is her way of keeping busy.
GEORGE SUN: For Asma, it’s not just about sales. Seeing familiar faces and being surrounded by people supporting local craftsmanship imbues her with positive energy.
ASMA HEPTULLA: Kids are a lot of fun. They are the ones who love hats. So when they go by, they’re always yelling, “Hats, hats!” And they make their parents buy these hats. They really don’t want to buy them. So they’re my favorite customers, you know, the little ones.
GEORGE SUN: From The Daily Northwestern, I’m George Sun alongside William Wu. Thanks for listening to another episode of Everything Evanston. This episode was reported by George Sun and William Wu and produced by Finian Hazen.
The audio editor is Finian Hazen. The multimedia managing editors are Sydney Gaw, Christina Lin and Sarah Serota. The editor in chief is Emily Lichty.
Our theme music is “Revolution” by Xennial, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License and provided by the Free Music Archive.
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