There’s a new kid on the block in the central Illinois farmers market scene.
Peoria Heights will bring back its farmers market after a long absence, with 20-30 vendors setting up shop on the historic Pabst Brewery grounds, 4541 N. Prospect Road, starting on Thursday, May 26, and continuing every Thursday thereafter – 19 Thursdays in all -- through Sept. 29.
The markets will run between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. and feature a variety of growers, makers, food and drink proprietors, live music, the Heights pedal bus, etc. There will be an emphasis on local involvement from those small businesses that have brick-and-mortar operations nearby.
Spaces also will be reserved for local and area not-for-profits looking to bring attention and resources to their causes, and the market will provide opportunities to donate to the Heights’ two food pantries at St. Thomas Catholic Church and Peoria Heights Congregational Church, as well as local school service organizations.
Once a month, the markets will sport a theme. There will be a Meet Your Heroes Thursday featuring first responders, for example. Another market may showcase school mascots. Organizers also would like to take advantage of the space the site offers with, for example, a disc golf table that allows visitors to try out its wares.
The dynamic duo behind the Heights market consists of real estate broker Julie Bielfeldt and Samantha Hutchison, the owner of Bear’s Bites, a dog and cat food operation. They faced multiple challenges in launching.
First, it had been seven years since the Heights had last hosted a market, that one at Heritage Square, and the organizers needed to gauge whether there was still an interest and a willingness to get behind it. “I’m like, ‘It’s time. Let’s bring it back,’” said Bielfeldt, adding that the enthusiastic response of Village Hall allayed those concerns.
Second, they needed a location. Bielfeldt believed the “perfect” spot was the parking lot behind the Pabst facility. She made her pitch and found a receptive audience in the building’s owner, KDB Group, whose CEO Greg Birkland made the property available.
Finally, they didn’t want to compete with other farmers markets, so they inquired as to whether conflicts could be avoided.
Junction City agreed to move its event to Tuesdays, with Keller Station on Wednesday, the Heights on Thursdays, and Peoria’s RiverFront Market on Saturdays.
“Now you can buy fresh, buy local throughout the entire week,” said Bielfeldt, who didn’t have to be sold on the value of that. She likened it to “a string of pearls.”
Indeed, when you factor in the distance most food travels before it ends up on a grocery store shelf and ultimately on a plate at home – it tends to be about 1,500 miles in the United States -- the resulting nutrition loss, and the supply chain snarls that have exacerbated all of that, it made Bielfeldt wonder why there aren’t more farmers markets.
“Living in the Midwest, we are so close to our food source,” she said. “We are sitting in the best spot in the country.”
Meanwhile, the opportunity to promote community, socialization, the outdoors made the whole thing a no-brainer, she and Hutchison said.
“There’s an intimacy to a farmers market,” said Bielfeldt. “It’s about relationships. Everybody’s got each other’s back. That’s community to me.
“Hopefully, people will stay and enjoy the Village. They’ll walk around and eat and shop … The Village is not franchise row. We are Mom & Pop shops. I want to be very respectful of what we have here.”
While a number of vendors already have signed on, the Heights is looking for high-quality, non-duplicative operations. “It’s more important to us to have local, homemade, handmade,” said Hutchison. The cost to reserve a full-season spot is $150, for a single market $10.
“No pun intended, there has been an organic nature to pulling this together. It has just been a pleasure,” added Bielfeldt. “There are some things that just seem right, and this is one of them.
“The Heights has had its successes. We just want to build on that.”