(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A popular farmer's market is canceled this Sunday over safety concerns, and that’s not making farmers very happy.
Director Nilda Esparza said she’s called off this weekend’s Logan Square Farmers Market after the city rejected a request for an expanded street closure plan. Esparza wanted to close Milwaukee Avenue at Sacramento, for greater safety.
“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 said.
No matter what, Esparza said, the Logan Square Farmers Market will be back Sept. 3. She’ll take the extra week off to try to configure the set-up so that it’s safer for vendors and market-goers.
But farmers like Corban Koster of Geneva Lakes Produce call the one-week cancellation a huge dilemma because this weekend is normally the busiest of the season.
“A lot of the farmers, this is everything for us, our bread and butter. We 100% rely on being able to attend this market,” says the 31-year old, who runs a farm with his father in Burlington, Wisconsin.
Koster also sells produce on the weekends at five other Chicago area farmers markets, including in Evanston, Glenview, Palatine, Oak Park and Buffalo Grove. He said the Logan Square operation is his biggest.
“Looks like this weekend’s supposed to be really nice, especially after all the heat, and here we are faced with the possibility of not being able to sell all of the produce that we’ve already begun harvesting,” he said.
Koster says he’s got sweet corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, peppers and more in abundance, all planned since January.
“To have a wrench like this thrown into the mix is just horrible,” he said.
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