New farmer's market director promises same old tasty treats

URBANA – Lisa Bralts describes herself as a Market at the Square geek. Now she's more than that – she's the person in charge.

Bralts left her job earlier this year as director of marketing and development for the Eastern Illinois Foodbank to take a position with the city of Urbana as an economic development specialist and director of the Market at the Square. It runs from May 10 to Nov. 8 this year.

"When I found out that this job was going to open up, I couldn't believe it," she said. "To find myself here working for it is really an honor. It's really daunting to take care of something that's so well-loved in the community."

Bralts, who has long been interested in local food, food systems and food-justice issues, has ideas for the weekly market but said those would result in subtle and mainly cosmetic changes.

Her main goals are to keep the event running smoothly and to meet everyone involved in the market, which has become as much a community gathering or mini-festival as a place to replenish a pantry.

Since it first opened in 1979, the Market at the Square has grown from just a few produce vendors into one of the largest and most diverse farmers' markets in the state. Last year, more than 150 people registered as vendors; not all show up at the same time.

All vendors are required to grow or make their products in Illinois. At the Urbana market they include vegetable, fruit, dairy and meat producers; specialty bakers and coffee-bean roasters; artisans who sell clothes, jewelry, painted furniture and other items; flower and garden companies; and musicians and other performers.

A few of the vendors have expressed interest in having a year-round market – after the outdoor market ends, the event moves inside Lincoln Square through the third weekend in December. That holiday market is operated by the Urbana Business Association.

Bralts will develop surveys for vendors and patrons that will ask many questions, among them interest in a year-round market.

"The long-term issue is going to be space," she said.

Wade Franklin, general manager of Lincoln Square, said the shopping mall has so many events through the year that it would be hard to dedicate the common areas to a four-season farmers' market.

Among those interested in a year-round market are Leslie Cooperband, who makes artisan goat cheese and raises organic fruit at Prairie Fruits Farm. When she and her husband moved to rural Urbana in 2003 from Madison, Wis., the Dane County Farmers Market in Madison went year-round, moving into the senior citizen center in winter. That market every Saturday features breakfast prepared by guest chefs.

Cooperband has heard that the winter market is going gangbusters, that some growers went largely to offseason greenhouse production so as not to compete with spring-summer growers.

"I don't know if the same thing might happen here, but it's a thought," she said. "I think if it existed, people might shift some things around so that they might have products available in the winters."

(Prairie Fruits already is getting a jump on the market season by having farm sales from 9 a.m. to noon Saturdays through May 3. Besides goat cheese, Cooperband sells spinach and asparagus from Blue Moon Farm and will have on April 19 and possibly April 26 ramps, or wild leeks, from Spence Farm in Fairbury. For directions, visit online www.prairiefruits.com or call 643-2314.)

Like Cooperband, Jon Cherniss, owner of Blue Moon, an organic farm in rural Urbana, advocates a year-round market here.

"It's one of those they'll-build-it-and-they-will-come things," he said. "I think there's enough product in the area. Two other market vendors already do winter deliveries of meat."

If there were a winter market, Blue Moon would pump up greenhouse production. Already, it sells potatoes, carrots, radishes and turnips at the holiday market.

"You wouldn't have a huge winter market immediately, but even now you're able to have the market through the third weekend of December," Cherniss said.

He cited the Madison winter market and the Michigan State University Student Organic Farm, a four-season farm dedicated to teaching the principles of organic farming via an organic-farming certificate program and community-supported agriculture.

"If they can do it in Wisconsin and Michigan, I think we can do it here," he said.

Bralts said if enough vendors and patrons express interest, the city would look at the possibility of a year-round market.

For now, she hopes to use the Market at the Square as a place to emphasize food issues; one thing she wants to do is re-establish cooking demonstrations using local foods.

Among her other aims are to provide to patrons educational materials about food, farmers' markets and cookbooks as well as a general site map of the market. She plans to post at the market a chart explaining what produce is in season, and she wants to analyze market traffic patterns to help ensure that all vendors are noticed and patronized.

Long-term plans include enhancing transportation and accessibility to the market to eventually bring more people to Urbana.

Bralts noted that Champaign-Urbana is a food-savvy town. Many market patrons are interested in where their food is grown, whether it's safe and how many miles the vendors traveled.

"I would encourage market patrons and food vendors to have lots and lots of conversations about those topics," she said. "It's an awesome experience you're not going to get at a big-box store."

2008 farmers' markets

— Arthur Amish Country Farmers' Market, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays, June 28 to Aug. 23, Gazebo Parking Lot, South Vine Street. Amish as well as "English" farmers sell fresh produce. 543-2242 or 800-722-6474.

— Country Fair Farmers' Market, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesdays, June 18 through Oct. 29, parking lot at Country Fair, Champaign. 253-2623.

— Danville Farmers' Market, 6:30 a.m. to noon Wednesdays and Saturdays, June 7 through Oct. 11, Temple Plaza, Vermilion and North streets. 443-3886.

— Kleiss Country Market, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, July 9 through Oct. 31, Villa Grove Road about 4 miles east of Villa Grove. 253-2623.

— Market at the Square, 7 a.m. to noon Saturdays, May 10 through Nov. 8, southeast parking lot of Lincoln Square Village, Vine and Illinois streets, Urbana. 384-2319.

— Monticello Main Street Farmers' Market, 3 to 6 p.m. Thursdays, June 19 to Oct. 9, State Street between Livingston and Center streets. (Monticello Main Street's eighth May Home & Garden Market is May 3.) 762-9318 or e-mail ourtown@mchsi.com.

— Paxton Downtown Farmers' Market, 7 a.m. to noon Saturdays, May 3 through Oct. 31, 200 block of North Market Street. 379-3388.

— Rantoul Farmers' Market, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays, June 6 and run through Oct. 31, corner of Garrard and Congress streets. 893-3323.