Sugar Grove French Market opens Saturday

The weekly produce sale in Sugar Grove has changed its name and is looking ahead to more prosperous Saturdays as the Sugar Grove French Market.

Market volunteer Pat Graceffa hopes that, under the management of Bensidoun USA, it will become bigger and better.

It already has in one way: The market will be open 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., an hour longer than last year. In so doing it hopes to catch the youth sports crowd whose morning games prevented them from shopping the market before.

And Bensidoun’s relationships with farmers and other vendors may mean more selection. Shoppers last year said they wanted more farmers at the market, but farmers said they needed more shoppers to make it worth their while, Graceffa said. Hiring Bensidoun — which runs markets throughout the suburbs as well as in France — “was the next best step,” Graceffa said.

The market opens Saturday in combination with an open house at the village hall, at 10 S. Municipal Drive. The first 100 people who bring a canned good to donate to the Between Friends charity pantry will receive a coupon to use at the French Market.

Favorite vendors returning include Burgin Farms with its meats, Norway Farms produce and Hahn Bakery of Geneva.

New this year is KAP Farms produce and Stamper Cheese Co. There will be a tea dealer, too. You can stock up on Tupperware, talk aches with a chiropractor, find out about the Sugar Grove Library’s summer reading program from the Friends of the Library, and get your kids’ faces painted by Jo-Jo the Clown.