Rolling Meadows, Prospect Hts. plan street markets

Rolling Meadows and Prospect Heights are putting their own spin on one of the joys of Spring - the return of farmers markets.

Rolling Meadows opens its second season of Farmers Market/Food Trucks Saturday on May 24, in the parking lot of city hall, 3600 Kirchoff Road. The market runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the fourth Saturday of each month through September.

The Prospect Heights City Council voted this week to host its first French Market, which promises to be more eclectic than a traditional farmers market.

The operator is Bensidoun USA, known for its French Markets in several suburbs and at Chicago's Ogilvie Transportation Center.

Bensidoun managers have told Mayor Nick Helmer the market can open June 1. The expected hours are 2-7 p.m. on Wednesdays through August or mid-September at the city's Metra Station parking lot, 55 S. Wolf Road.

"It's an amenity for the community, a chance to come together with neighbors," Helmer said Monday.

The market will have to operate its first year without Bensidoun's signature red, white and blue canopies, because the company cannot obtain new ones soon enough, said Helmer.