Lincoln Square Markets

Tuesday mornings and Thursday afternoons in the heart of Lincoln Square, near the intersection of Lincoln/Leland/Western, this farmers’ market offers locally produced farm-to-table food from more than 40 vendors. Tuesday/Thursday vendors include Dotson’s Farm: a fourth generation agricultural family whose grandparents worked closely with the City of Chicago to create the popular Chicago Farmers Markets in the 1970s. They sell potted and cut flowers, herbs, and vegetables. Jacobson Family Farms is a certified naturally grown farm devoted to responsible land stewardship and time-honored traditions as well as natural, holistic practices, whose products include an assortment of vegetables, fruits, herbs, mushrooms, eggs, and a variety of pasture-raised meat. Mick Klug Farm is a 120-acre family business committed to sustainable agricultural practices and locally grown fruits, vegetables, apple cider, jams, and honey. Local cheesemaker, affineur, purveyor, and smokehouse Stamper Cheese Company sells small-batch, hormone-free cheeses, using milk from small, sustainable family farms.

Thursday-only vendors include winner of The Hatchery Dream Commercial Kitchen Pitch Contest, Dilly Dally Provisions, selling preserved goods including relish, beans, mustard, red onions, and pineapple hot sauce; Elsie Mae’s Canning & Pies, ranked #34/40 best pie shops in America, selling baked goods made with recipes passed down through generations using local produce; Fons Empanadas, plant-based turnovers, lemonades, and vegan garlic sauce; and Zimt Bakery, offering a modern twist on German plätzchen (cookies) crafted with locally sourced and organic ingredients, jams, and spices, born out of the #BakersAgainstRacism social movement of 2020.

Tuesday-only vendors include Chicago Meat Collective, dedicated to reintroducing butchery into the home kitchen by selling local sustainably raised frozen beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and sausage; Dorothy’s Sweet Shoppe, offering participants opportunities to practice customer service through the Gateway to Learning program; and Anticonquista Café, practicing a cultivation-to-cup business model in which coffee is grown and harvested in Guatemala and Honduras, then roasted and brewed in Chicago – all by the same family.

– Cora Saddler