Music and food made Sunday in Wicker Park sensational

The senses of sound, sight and smell were sensationally tantalized June 5 in Wicker Park by music and food. 

Sounds
Between noon and 1 p.m. the Wicker Park Choral Singers (WPCS) teased the audience's auditory senses as a breeze rustled tree leaves and challenged the edges of sheet music. 

The audience was enthralled with the all-volunteer group's mainly accapella program, Muses in the Park. 

The group's Founder and Artistic Director Mark Tomasino lead the group in 11 pieces that spanned the ages and emotions. 

Commissioned by WPCS, the four-part piece, Blemish'd Muse, by Rogers Park based composer Eric Malmquist had a piano accompaniment by Tony Hinrich, who is also a tenor in the group. Written for the choir and orchestra, it  premiered in a WPCS May 15 concert. Heard on Sunday was an alternate version with the choir and pianist. 

In composing this work, Malmquist drew from work of Anne Bradstreet, a Puritan and the first female writer to be published in colonial New England; Phillis Wheatley, a Boston slave and the first African-American female poet to be published; Walt Whitman; and Carl Sandburg. 

The performance was funded and produced by the Wicker Park Advisory Council, which has six more Sunday afternoon programs scheduled between June 12 and August 21. 

Sight and smell
Senses of sight and smell, which began at 8 a.m., were tantalized by the offerings on opening day of the Wicker Park Farmers Market. Market goers were so enthusiastic that many vendors were sold out before the 2 p.m., said Molly Huber, Special Events Coordinator, Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce, who runs the market. 

"We had to turn four vendors away this year because we reached our 22 maximum spots before we started the season," she explained. In fact, two vendors rotate so they have 23 vendors. In previous years, they have not reached capacity until later in the season. The weekly market will continue through Oct. 30. 

Many of the regular vendors returned and some new ones appeared for the first time. Those who missed seeing Iron Creek, who normally greets market goers at the Wicker Park Ave. entrance, were assured that they will have that spot. This week an illness in the family kept them away.