Winnetka Farmers’ Market breaks attendance record 

Fourth of July weekend often brings with it sparks of attendance at community events. But the holiday weekend this year proved to be one for the record book for the Winnetka Farmers’ Market. 

During her staff report at the Village Council meeting on July 16, Trustee Tina Dalman said more than 2,800 people attended the Winnetka Farmers’ Market on Saturday, July 6. The figure represented a new attendance record for the weekly event, hosted by The Winnetka-Northfield-Glencoe Chamber of Commerce.

“We’re pretty excited and proud of what we have been able to accomplish,” said Teri Dason, executive director of the local chamber, “and it’s all due to the incredible vendors that we have at the farmers market.”

Trustee Dalman told the council that attendance at the market averaged around 1,000 visitors per week when the event was hosted in the parking lot adjacent to Village Hall. 

Two summers ago, the market moved across the street to the Metra parking lot and Station Park at 745 Elm St. Noticeable upticks in attendance have followed. 

“That’s a really substantial (attendance) increase over a several-year period,” Dalman said. 

Dason went into more detail:

“(The move) greatly helped because of the fact that the 10,000 cars that drive through, or the vehicles, that drive on Green Bay Road in front of the current farmers market help a lot,” she said. “But it’s fun to see all the tents in the parking lot from both ends. So you are driving through the village of Winnetka and you see all these fantastic tents in the park, and in the parking lot by the train, and you think ‘wow what’s going on there? I’ve gotta check this out.’”

According to Dalman, the record-breaking market on July 6 featured 58 vendors, with 48 located in the parking lot and 10 located in station park.

“This thing is just growing,” Dalman said, adding that officials are noticing a lot more young families in attendance, who are coming to the market and then staying and visiting businesses in Winnetka’s downtown area. 

The market is in its ninth season in Winnetka. It is open for a total of 22 weeks this year and will continue every Saturday from 7:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. until Oct. 26, according to information from the village. 

In 2023, more than 40,000 visitors attended the market over the course of the season, the village says.

Could it break its season attendance record? Dason isn’t ruling it out.

“I do think it is very possible because of the fact that we are not a secret anymore,” she said. “Everyone in the community, due to being home those couple of years from COVID, has nothing else to do because kids weren’t in school or at sporting events, and they weren’t traveling as much so people were here and they got used to finding vendors they became friends with and they wanted to see and they would see all their friends at the market and then people start making friends at the market. So it’s a big social event on top of the fact that they are buying from the vendors because they are excellent.”

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