Wauconda's farmers market ends season early, frustrating fans
Wauconda's weekly farmers market has ended its season early rather than relocating away from Main Street for the last few gatherings as planned.
The Wauconda Area Chamber of Commerce on Thursday announced that day's gathering would be the final one for 2016. The market was supposed to run through Oct. 6, with the remaining events held at a different location under an agreement between village officials and the chamber.
Organizers were concerned about the potential layout of an off-Main Street farmers market and a decrease in vendors, said Linda Costoff, the chamber's executive director. Only three vendors had committed to attending the remaining events, she said.
The cancellations frustrated some farmers market fans.
“I just told my daughter tonight that we would get there next week,” Jennifer Radtke said on a Facebook page dedicated to Wauconda issues. “It's always been thru the whole month of September, with more people going as the cooler weather comes. This is terrible.”
Wauconda resident Kristina Vander Reyden expressed sympathy for the farmers who lost an opportunity to sell their produce during the fall harvest.
“Total bummer,” she said.
Launched in 2004, the farmers markets typically begin in June and end in October. There was space for 26 vendors at this year's markets, held on Main Street between Mill and Bangs streets.
Because the tents and pedestrians filled the roadway, Main Street was closed to cars between 2 and 8 p.m. for each market. Some Main Street merchants have complained to village hall that the road closures hurt their businesses, Village Administrator Doug Maxeiner said.
Diverting traffic around the farmers market was an issue for school buses, too, he said.
As a result, the village board and the chamber's farmers market committee agreed in February to move the market off Main Street once the 2016-17 school year began.
Village officials eventually offered space on Murphy Street for the remaining gatherings. The committee asked for the market to stay on Main Street through September, Maxeiner said, but that request was denied.
Maxeiner said he expects the chamber's decision to prematurely end the schedule “will generate considerable discussion between the village board and farmers market committee as planning gets underway for next year's events.”
Costoff said her organization is “looking forward to a great market next year.”
Although not formally a farmers market, some produce vendors will return to Wauconda Sept. 29 as part of the chamber's pumpkin painting event. Booths will be set up along Main Street between 3 and 7 p.m. but not on the actual roadway.
This isn't the first controversy for the farmers market.
In November 2015, a proposal to move the market from Main Street to a municipal parking lot was shelved after public criticism.
Some merchants said moving the market to the lot would make it more difficult for customers to get to their businesses. One said the village shouldn't provide any space for the market if it wasn't benefiting the town.
A couple trustees were critical of the plan and the market in general, too.