CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — After a threatened closure for safety reasons, the Logan Square Farmers Market opened Sunday and drew nearly 11,000 people, organizers said.
“I have clocked more than 2,600 people here in the first hour-and-a-half,” said Logan Square Farmers Market volunteer Jill Newman.
Newman was standing near the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue and Logan Boulevard — an area that was blocked off to cars for the first time. She said the change was “amazing.”
“It is so much nicer,” Newman said. “People can spread out, and we don’t have to worry about someone getting hit by a car.”
Organizers sought approval from the City of Chicago to completely shut down Logan Boulevard between Whipple Street and Sacramento Avenue every Sunday. Ater that request was denied, though, director Nilda Esparza announced Wednesday that Sunday’s market would be closed.
Esparza said they made the request in the interest of increasing safety at the growing festival.
“I’ve been able to do this closure six times now, so it’s not like I’m asking for anything out of the ordinary,” she told WBBM.
The decision to cancel the Logan Square Farmers Market, though, drew complaints from farmers and City Council members. A deal was eventually reached to close down Logan Boulevard from Milwaukee to Sacramento Avenues, and on Thursday evening Esparza announced that the market would indeed open on Sunday.
Farmer Corban Koster, of Geneva Lakes Produce in Burlington, Wis., told WBBM it was a huge relief that the market would be open. Koster said his team takes part in six Chicago-area farmers markets, but the Logan Square market is the busiest.
(WBBM’s Bernie Tafoya contributed to this report.)
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