Holy Asparagus!

Good grief - how did it get to be so close to the Market season with nary a blog entry? Must have been too busy putting the 2010 season together - I apologize.

So - what's happening? SO MUCH IS HAPPENING. Our 2010 season is launching this Saturday, May 1, at 7 AM in the usual spot (corner of Illinois and Vine Streets). Yes, the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon is being run that day - and the Market is on, RUN OR SHINE. We even made a poster about it.


The race gets underway at 7:30, and while much of the course is in Urbana and there will be street closings, traffic will be pulsed across the race course whenever there are openings. Officials estimate the majority of the race traffic will be through downtown Urbana by 9:30 - 10 AM. Have a look at the course maps and the beltway map and plot out your route! No matter if you're driving, walking, riding a bike or a Segway or whatever - please be patient as you try to get around town on Saturday. The Market will be worth your wait, because...

... the asparagus is going to be amazing. The weather this spring has been great for growing things - a couple of blasts of extreme (for April) warmth + timely rains = much ready in the way of produce on May 1. In addition to beautiful, gorgeous asparagus, there will be a plethora of salad mixes and lettuces and other greens, green onions, a bit of rhubarb, rainbow chard, radishes, rapini and kale, and maybe some rhubarb and a few other goodies if you're good. We'll have a couple of new meat vendors this season, but I can tell you for sure that Moore Family Farm will have grassfed lamb and beef steaks at the Market this Saturday - considerably earlier in the season than folks might expect. Plenty of other meats, eggs, honey, and several kinds of goat cheeses will round out the farm-raised stuff.

(Intrigued by all the produce but flummoxed by the idea of doing something with it? I highly recommend this cookbook - it's gotten me through some dicey produce times)

Prepared foods will include lots of baked goods - most of the folks you've gotten used to seeing in seasons past will be out there. One notable exception is Stewart Pequignot, the gent who was responsible for some of the best bagels to grace C-U (along with other great breads). Stewart's fine, but due to time and other constraints, he's no longer selling at the Market. We will miss him so.

:: moment of silence ::

We'll also have a brand new gluten-free baker - the Baking Bakers - and word on the street is that their stuff is EXCELLENT. Go visit them on Facebook, why don't ya? At the Market, they'll be in Row 5 (the row closest to Vine Street) next to local sprout purveyors Tiny Greens.

If you're interested in locally-made bean-to-bar chocolate, Flatlander Chocolate is your guy. If you need something hot to eat and you're a vegetarian, look for Veggie Trails at the south end of Row 5 - he'll have everything you need, from breakfast burritos to chili. If you're looking for plants and flowers, you'll have many to choose from (including vegetable starts). Want some wearable art? How about some non-wearable art? You'll find both at the Market. On May 1. Which is, as of this writing, IN TWO DAYS.

This will do for now. We want to see you out there May 1!

:: Looking ahead - the May 8 Market is already looking to break some kind of record for vendor attendance - stay tuned. May 8 will also be the day we debut our new credit/debit and LINK machine - as of that day, you'll be able to use plastic (well, Market tokens in lieu of plastic) in addition to cash and checks to pay for your Market goodies. Questions about this or any of the Market's other initiatives? Drop me a line or call 217-384-2319. ::

It Lives!

Greetings, Market lovers! It's definitely been too long. The Market is a mere 81 days away from its 2010 season, however, so it's time to dust things off and tell you guys what we've been up to in the off-season.

Have you missed us?

Cross your fingers for a decent spring and an abundance of strawberries, asparagus, spinach, greens, rhubarb...

ITEMS OF MAJOR IMPORTANCE:

We've begun a strategic planning initiative for the Market. This process is going to take place throughout the spring, and will provide several opportunities for the public to comment, strategize, vision, and basically help create a roadmap to help the City a)best manage the Market's incredible growth of recent years and b) look ahead to the future of the Market and what it could be. Do you have some crazy, hare-brained scheme for the Market that just might work? Bring it to Public Input Session #1! We want to hear from you.

If you're interested in Market at the Square stats and minutiae, you might enjoy reading the 2009 report, just delivered to Urbana's City Council last night (warning: it's a large PDF). Video will be up of the Council meeting sometime in the next day or two, if you're interested in the presentation of the report and Council Q&A - just check here.

I'm sure you've heard that the 2nd Annual Illinois Marathon is being run on Saturday, May 1. That also happens to be the date we open the Market - run or shine. While part of the race will be run in Urbana, don't let that deter you from coming to the Market - we'll have plenty of signage and people directing traffic to make sure Market patrons get to where they need to go in as timely a fashion as possible.

We'll accept LINK cards (as well as credit and debit cards) at the Market this season. How will you guys do that, you ask? People wishing to use any of the aforementioned methods to pay for something within the Market (from a participating vendor) bring their card to the City booth, swipe it, tell the Market staff how much they'd like taken off their card, and then receive that amount in Market tokens, which are then used same as cash (rules surrounding the use of LINK cards still stand for tokens). Vendors "redeem" the tokens with City staff and are reimbursed the following week. We're still working out the details, but this option should be available at the Market when we start on May 1.

Eat Here gets underway in May. This is programming designed to encourage people to re-think their grocery shopping habits and to consider the Market as a source for Illinois-grown fresh fruits and vegetables when they're in season. Look for much more about this program in the near future.

How many Sprouts events will we have this season? That's right, SIX. More details coming soon. Sprouts has its own Twitter feed and its own Facebook fan page, if you're into that sort of thing. There's also a blog. I promise these places will be active closer to the season opener.

Sound ambitious? Believe it or not, there's more, but I'll give it a rest for now. Or, uh, give myself a rest.

Public input! February 23! Urbana Civic Center! We need you! Be there!

The Work Never Stops

I hope everyone's enjoying the decidedly wintry season - and I also hope you've been able to make it to the Holiday Market in Lincoln Square Village in Urbana, because there are still plenty of local producers to support. Better get out there, though - this coming weekend is the final Holiday Market of 2009. Then it's time for a long winter's nap. Or something.

The goats of Prairie Fruits Farm - one of our many popular vendors during the Market season - have been, um, busy in the offseason. Most of the does are pregnant, and they'll deliver their kids in March, April, and May. Hey, goat ladies - how ya doin'?

For those of you interested in such things, our very own Sprouts at the Market has its own Facebook page and Twitter feed.

We're working on some amazing projects for the 2010 season - I'll tell more as soon as details get firmed up.

The Market opens in 135 days!

Thank You

Thanks so much to everyone for a fantastic season - we're already looking forward to 2010.

Closing Time

The last 27 weeks have flown by and now we find ourselves at the end of the outdoor Market season - with, of course, the nicest weather we've seen in weeks on deck for this Saturday. We hope to see thousands - yes, thousands! - of people out and about for the last Market at the Square on November 7, soaking up the sun and buying lots of food.

The Market will be small this week - we can now fit everyone into three rows. Small is beautiful, though, and the vast majority of our produce vendors will be out in force to offer you the goods:

apples, cilantro, celeriac, leeks, onions, heirloom potatoes, tomatoes (?), fresh carrots, chard, cabbages, lettuces and salad mixes, spinach, green onions, green beans, okra, eggplant, hot & sweet peppers, broccoli, kohlrabi, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, squashes (including pumpkins) — also, locally-raised meat and eggs, award-winning goat cheese, honey, and much more

You can also get a head start on some of your holiday shopping by patronizing the booths of our artisans out at the Market this weekend. If there's a Market geek in your midst, consider swinging by the City tent and picking up a limited edition Market poster for the low, low price of two bucks! They frame nicely and make wonderful gifts.

We'll be posting once a week during the off-season, so don't take us off your list.

Well, not until May 1, 2010 at 7 AM, that is.

****REMINDER: Many of the Market's vendors will be selling indoors at the Urbana Business Association's Holiday Market, which gets underway Saturday, November 14 at 8 AM inside Lincoln Square Mall. The Holiday Market will run through Saturday, December 19.
Yep - after this weekend, there will be no more tents in Lot 10X at Lincoln Square. ****

Week 27: Spooky Halloween!

Halloween just so happens to fall directly on a Market day this season, so... take your costumes out on a test run this weekend at Market at the Scare!! We'll have treats baked by Common Ground Food Co-op, some chocolate loveliness, apple cider, and maybe some trick-or-treat action at some of the vendor booths - all while supplies last, starting at 9 AM.

There's still plenty of food at the Market. To wit:

apples, arugula, fennel, fresh herbs, leeks, onions, heirloom potatoes, tomatoes, cabbages, carrots, lettuces and salad mixes, spinach, green onions, green beans, okra, eggplant, sweet potatoes, hot & sweet peppers, broccoli, radishes, kohlrabi, turnips, kale, squashes (including pumpkins) - also, locally-raised meat and eggs, award-winning goat cheese, honey, and much more

Next week's Market is our last for the 2009 season. The Urbana Business Association's Holiday Market, featuring many of the same vendors and several new ones, too, gets underway inside Lincoln Square on November 14 at 8 AM.

Market at the Square, Week 26: Pumpkins & Sprouts

First, let us gaze upom the awesome weirdness that is CELERIAC, also known as CELERY ROOT (and known to me as "that vegetable that looks like it's something from the Herbology classes in Harry Potter"):


Celeriac, besides being visually fascinating, is a wonderfully-flavored root vegetable that can be totally delicious raw or (my fave) roasted with other roots. These fine specimens were spotted at Tomahnous Farm's booth, at the south end of the Market's row 2.

OF NOTE THIS WEEKEND:

Sprouts at the Market - final event for 2009 is a healthy trick-or-treat!

Yep - one last Sprouts event before we close Market at the Square for the season on November 7, and this one is always fun:

1. Sprout arrives and checks in at one of the Sprouts stations throughout the Market (or at Sprouts HQ at the NW Market entrance).
2. Sprout receives free tote bag for treat-hauling purposes.
3. Sprout goes to other Sprouts stations to learn about fall/winter foods, sample them (or food made from them). '
4. Sprout takes away a few souvenirs and gets a Certificate of Participation.
5. Sprout's grown-up takes a short survey.

Sprouts gets started at 9 AM and runs through 11 AM. Please call 217-384-2319 for more information.

Pumpkins:

Bob Kleiss is having a pumpkin sale this weekend - if you haven't yet gotten your jack-o'lantern for this year's Halloween, this weekend's the perfect time. Bob will have a huge selection of pumpkins large and small to choose from at really excellent prices. Don't miss it - their pumpkin truck is right at the NW entrance to the Market, in row 1.

Pie:

Trisha Rux and her Red Oak pies & casseroles will be back for one last time this Market season. Find her this Saturday in row 4 - she's got those pink boxes full of pie!

See you out there!