WOODLAWN — The 61st Street Farmers Market starts its 10th season at 9 a.m. Saturday as it moves back outside Experimental Station now that the weather has warmed.
The market runs once a month through the winter, and Saturday’s market from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. marks the move back to a weekly market outdoors at Experimental Station 6100 S. Blackstone Ave.
Connie Spreen, executive director of Experimental Station, said in an announcement of the market's return for the spring that the goal this year was to increase attendance to 1,300 customers each market day from 1,200 last year.
“As we increase our customer base, we ensure that our farmers are making a profit, and we are able also to increase the number and variety of farmers and vendors who sell at the market,” Spreen said.
The 10-year-old market has been a leader among city markets for pioneering the acceptance of Link and doubling the value of food subsidies for people buying produce at the market.
The market also teaches kids from neighboring Carnegie Elementary School about eating healthy and instructs seniors at Jackson Park Terrace Apartments how to grow their own food.
