The Aurora Farmers Market will open for the season a little earlier this year, officials said.
The event, which is the oldest farmers market in Illinois, will begin its 113th season on June 1 at 65 S. Water St. in downtown Aurora. It will be open from 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays through Oct. 5.
Last year’s farmers market in the city began June 10.
The market will also close a little earlier for the season this year on Oct. 5. Last year the market closed on Oct. 14.
Market officials said one of the many new things this year will be the market opening earlier than ever before in order to take advantage of late spring weather and to close for the season a littler earlier to avoid issues later in October when weather can get a little more unpredictable.
Market manager Felicia Freitag, who helped with the market last season and now takes over for her first full year in charge, promised there will be a large group of merchants participating and that she is hoping to put her own stamp on the popular weekend shopping and meeting place.
“This is our 113th season, and we wanted to move up the opening day because it seems like last year – going later into October – the weather gets a little more unpredictable, and so we thought June 1 would be a good starting day,” Freitag said.
She said the market at this point “is pretty full with the vendors” that will be taking part but as the market goes on, “there are a couple of gaps that we can still fill.”
“Each week, there will be 35 to 45 vendors, but over the course of the season we’ll be working with somewhere around 80 vendors total,” Freitag said.
New vendors set for this year include Aurora business Candy Crunch which offers freeze-dried candy that Freitag said has “been pretty popular online on social media” as well as Gindo’s Spice of Life, a hot sauce company based in St. Charles.
Many old favorites will return including Lopez Farms out of Michigan and Blue Freedom Farms of Sterling.
A new farmer taking part at the market this year will be Soul Shine Farms out of Woodstock.
Don Pounds of Montgomery fills a sack with onions at the Aurora Farmers Market last Oct. 14, which was the closing day of the season for the event. This year the market will close for the season a little earlier in October, organizers said, due to the unpredictable weather that time of year. (David Sharos / For The Beacon-News)
“Lopez and Soul Shine try to do low till, organic farming which people like,” Freitag said.
Services like The Finer Edge which does knife sharpening will also return as well as the Aurora Noon Lions Club which is hoping to host some activities for children this year at the event.
“I have a few special event days throughout the season,” Freitag promised. “The petting zoo will be here Aug. 10 for National Farmers Market Week, and also for our fall celebration when the petting zoo will return on Oct. 5.”
Some features still being planned, Freitag said, include a seed planting demonstration, herb planting and “celebrating National Honey Bee Day with a beekeeper and a demonstration hive.”
“We’ll probably make some at-home bee houses and different things,” she said.
Freitag said her vision is to make the market an even bigger community event.
“I’m trying to continue the community-building of the market – to really get people to come back and see it as a place to spend their Saturday mornings. More than going to buy whatever necessities they need for the house or groceries, but someplace that families can gather and make part of their weekly weekend routine,” she said. “We’re going to have new garden beds and upping the picnic tables and making it more hangout-friendly.”
Freitag said based on feedback from patrons last year about vendors, this year’s market will feature more food options as well as activities.
“We’ll definitely have some more food … as well as more of those activities for children,” Freitag said.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
