Oui, oui: Bigger Lisle French Market opens at new downtown location

A bigger and buzzier French market opens for the season in downtown Lisle Saturday morning, allowing visitors to stroll around the outdoor stalls — a la francaise — with a coffee and pastry in hand.

The Lisle market will be held in a higher-profile, larger space downtown. And organizers are taking advantage of that. The market’s operator, Bensidoun USA, and the village announced a sold-out market for opening day with dozens of vendors and live music.

“We're really looking forward to the launch of French market this year and having more vendors, more people, more space,” Lisle Mayor Mary Jo Mullen said. “And hopefully it'll help capture people, and people who maybe haven't really wandered around downtown will have more of an opportunity to also.”

The market will be hosted in a commuter parking lot along Burlington Avenue. Based on the list of expected vendors, French market fans on Saturday will find artisan breads by MY Sourdough Bakehouse, organic cheese from the family-run North Sky Farm, Illinois Bee Rescue, Everette's Coffee and soy candles by the Creatively Intentional Candle Company, to name a few of the offerings.

“We're all set for them to ramp up,” Mullen said.

The village completed a project in the commuter parking lot last year that accommodated all the posts and polls for the French market, “and that's all set to go,” Mullen said.

Bensidoun operates open-air markets topped by colorful canopies from Wheaton to Geneva and West Dundee. In Lisle, the French market used to run along Garfield Avenue, facing PrairieWalk Pond.

“It's behind the buildings downtown. It's well off the road, so it's not always easy to see,” Mullen said of the former spot.

By contrast, Commuter Lot B is across the street from the Marq on Main apartment complex and close to village hall.

The move also gives the market more room, adding capacity for 20 more vendors and supporting as many as 40 vendors each week, the village said in a news release.

Market hours are 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Admission is free. The season runs through Saturday, Oct. 24.