Logan Square Farmers Indoor Market opens Sunday in historic location with Wicker Park connections
The first indoor Logan Square Farmers Market will be this Sunday, Nov. 1, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. for high risk individuals and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for the rest of the public in a new 50,000 square foot location.
"We are overjoyed that our Indoor Market will continue thru Mar. 28, 2021, on the third floor indoor parking lot at the Field's Lofts located at 4000 W. Diversey," said Nilda Esparza who is volunteering as this year's market manager. The entrance is at Karlov, just west of Pulaski (formerly Crawford).
Everyone must wear a mask and the COVID-19 guidelines are in effect at the market. The huge space for the market allows for 750 people to be in the market space at a time, including vendors. The flow of shoppers will be around 100 shoppers at a time.
While eating on the premise is not permitted during COVID-19 restrictions, shoppers can pick up their familiar tasty morsels, from their favorite vendors, and consume them at home.
Here are the 32 vendors currently signed up to participate:
- Willow Garlic Growers
- Mushyface Cookie
- La Boulangerie
- Mint Creek Farm
- Montelimar Bread Co.
- Sfera Sicialian Street Food
- American Pride Microfarm
- Tamales Express
- River Valley Ranch Ltd.
- Cyrano's On the Go!
- Karl's Craft Soup
- Golden Rise Company
- LeMaster Family Kitchen
- Emery's Kitchen
- Phoenix Bean
- Sheekar Delights
- Yoberri Gourmet
- Pecking Order Catering
- Roedger Bros. Farms
- Empoli Chicago
- Bee in Beezyness with God
- Cookies and Carnitas
- Anticonquista Cafe LLC
- Stamper Cheese Company, Inc.
- Jacobson Family Farms
- Sweet No Dainty Cupcakery
- Bhoomi Chai Co.
- Ben & Ben Company
- Central Pickling
- Geneva Lakes Produce
- Katherine Anne Confections
- J2K Capraio LLC
While vendors will have bags for some items, remember to bring your own shopping bag. Also remember that shoppers may not touch the food when selecting it, the vendor will pick it out.
Location History
Long time Chicago residents may remember the large park at the northwest corner of Crawford (now Pulaski) and Diversey.
It was Olson Memorial Park and part of the Olson Rug Co. 22-acre complex that began with a $1 million five-story mega-plant in 1926. Later that complex grew into a 1,000,000 square foot factory with a corner parcel that featured a large park with a 35-foot high waterfall.
Opened in 1935, the park had "hundreds of rare flowers, plants, shrubs and trees, clear pools, deep ravines and cool caves considered one of Chicago's Beauty Spots," as stated on the back of a postcard postmarked July 19, 1944.
"The scope of the project was truly ambitious, taking 200 workers more than six months to fashion it out of 800 tons of stone and 800 yards of soil, leaving it no surprise that the Chicago Tribune has called it one of 'Chicago’s Seven Lost Wonders.' Built against the background of the Great Depression, a contemporary newspaper account referred to it as 'the most pretentious undertaking of its kind in the country,' a point that‘s hard to argue given that it was a replica of a waterfall on the Ontonagon River in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula," writes Daniel Pogorzelski on Forgotten Chicago.
The postcard continues, "Open day and night, it attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. Here too are sparkling lagoons set in spacious lawns--the home of prize Corriedale sheep and hundreds of wild fowl. Olson Rug Co., world's largest weavers of Rugs, selling direct is famous for Factory-to-You Savings."
For more information about Norwegian immigrant Oliver B. Olson and his determined, successful son Walter E. Olson, checkout more information at Made In Chicago Museum.
Marshall Field's department store bought the Olson Rug property in 1965 and used the buildings as warehouse space while maintaining the park. However, about 10 years later, the park was paved over.
As brick and mortar stores began consolidating, Target sold Field's to the May Department Stores Company in 2004. A year later May was acquired by Federated Department Stores, Inc., which operated Macy's. Federated rebranded all Field's stores as Macy's and folded itself into the same brand.
Macy's shuttered the complex in 2008, according to Preservation Chicago, and sold it for redevelopment in 2014.
Merit Partners began a massive redevelopment which includes 700 indoor, heated parking spaces; 300,000 square feet of office/tech/studio space; 123 residential rental lofts; 100,000 square feet of retail space, including Cermak Fresh Market ; a 125,000-square-foot Cubesmart Self Storage business; a 4000,000-sq-foot warehouse anchored by Studio 41; and 117,000 square feet of office space leased to Crate & Barrel.
By the fall of 2018, New York-based Knickpoint Ventures bought out Merit Partners.
Hubbard Street Group began a project for 123 apartments in the Field's complex in Belmont Gardens. Hubbard Street’s Group founder and managing partner is John McLinden.
McLinden is a name familiar to the Wicker Park neighborhood. He was a partner in Centrum when they began projects in Wicker Park. They purchased the West Town Center shopping center for $33 million in December 2011.
Their rehab of the former Wieboldt's building on Milwaukee Ave. led to a jump across N. Milwaukee Ave. to a project at 1660 W. Division. Centrum's other two projects were the Aldi on Milwaukee and Leavitt and more development on Division.