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Hyde Park Farmers Market Moves, Fulfilling Four-Year-Old Promise

By Sam Cholke | June 5, 2015 5:56am
 The Hyde Park Farmers Market returned to Harper Court on Thursday after four years away.
The Hyde Park Farmers Market returned to Harper Court on Thursday after four years away.
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DNAinfo/Sam Cholke

HYDE PARK — The Hyde Park Farmers Market has returned to Harper Court, fulfilling a promise made four years ago.

The market reopened Thursday morning at Harper Court and 53rd Street, close to the spot where it operated for years, a promise that was made when the University of Chicago started redeveloping the former shopping center in 2011.

“The plan was always for the farmers market to come back to Harper Court,” said Wendy Walker Williams, executive director of the South East Chicago Commission, which runs the market.

Farmers seemed satisfied with the move from Harold Washington Park Thursday morning.

“It wasn’t horrible for a first day for moving a market,” said Chris Gowan, a farmer from Coloma, Mich.

He said the season was still too early to make too many judgments, especially when most farmers were only offering asparagus and strawberries.

The South East Chicago Commission did its best to push the market on opening day as well, handing out a good portion of its 200 free tote bags.

The market will expand its options as the year goes on, with music and face painting for kids in the summer.

Market Manager Greg Fairbanks said he will have a few rotating spots in the market that he’s hoping to fill with craftsmen and others that may only want to come once a month.

The market runs from 7 a.m.-1 p.m. every Thursday through the summer and fall.

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