Update: who’s in and who’s out at the 2016 Farmers Market

You may have heard that a substantial change in the Downtown Farmers Market roster of vendors has taken place, with all of the non-Evanston bakers being excluded from the 2016 market.

Well, you aren’t wrong, but you’re not right either.

We’ll explain.

At the Friends board meeting last week, we met the new Evanston parks and recreation director, Lawrence Hemingway. The market is under his aegis, and he visited us to get up to speed on our views about proposed changes to the market ordinances, specifically as they referred to bakers.

After that meeting, the city had an internal discussion and the decision was made to bar bakers from the Downtown market in 2016 unless they have a brick and mortar store in Evanston, or they have an Evanston baking business using their own kitchens, or a certified Evanston kitchen.

Friends of Evanston Farmers Markets objected. First of all, it was our belief that the parks and recreation director has acted properly the in the past, abiding by the existing ordinance in selecting vendors for the city-run markets.

More important, Friends feels that regardless of any opinions regarding the authority to exclude vendors, different definitions of “local” for a single class of vendor or any interpretation of the ordinance, it is unfair and punitive to render such a decision mere weeks before the start of the market, when it would be difficult, if not impossible for the affected vendors to find a place in a comparable market.

The city of Evanston was gracious in allowing Friends to express their feelings. We were able to address our concerns to the City Manager, Wally Bobkiewicz, and, later, Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl.

On Tuesday of this week, the City Manager posted on the city website, “Evanston Parks, Recreation and Community Services Director Lawrence Hemingway has worked with the bakers and the Friends to rescind this rule change for 2016.  The 2016 market will have nine bakers included as vendors.” His full posting can be found here.

Again, The seven out-of-town bakeries that participated in the 2015 market have been reinstated as vendors for the 2016 season. Bennison’s and Great Harvest will be back as well. We applaud the city for listening, and for reversing their ruling.

Friends is excited to hear that the city plans to review the total composition of the downtown market throughout the course of the year. It’s their job to keep the market safe, fair and a benefit to everyone involved, vendors and customers alike, no matter where they come from. The ordinance has been revised many times to do just that.

Friends is a little confused by the City Manager’s statement that, “Clearly the sale of baked goods other than breads are against the “rules” but wanted by the public.  City staff has been reluctant to be the “pastry and pie police.” We looked over the ordinance, and Ord. No. 34-O-11 includes the language, “Eligible vendors of bread shall be those licensed food establishments where bread and pastries are the primary items for sale, such as bakeries;”

Clearly, the ordinance could use some more clarity. And a close look by the city management and citizens who enjoy the farmers market is more important than ever.

A 2014 study learned that financial benefits to downtown businesses accrued by the presence of the farmer’s market and its large customer base totaled in the millions of dollars! In our opinion, an asset to the city like the market should not be significantly changed without lots of review and the input of the people who use it. That’s you, readers!

We hope that the concern expressed by citizens about this recent situation will extend to this broader topic of what kind of market Evanston should have.

You can examine the market ordinance in its current form on our website. The relevant section can be seen by clicking here.