This year’s farmers market season in Park Ridge came to a close Saturday, with some vendors looking to unload their inventory and customers gobbling up deals – including buying bushels of apples, lots of squashes and other fall staples.
The farmers market in the north suburb is one of the longest-running ones in the area, dating back over 30 years. It was set up on Prairie Avenue, with a Memorial Day through the end of October schedule.
This year, the last day of the farmers market featured crisp morning temperatures. Tracy Lusk picked out pumpkins with her children and said she would miss the weekly trips to the market.
“We come every weekend,” she said. “We love all the local stuff.”
The 2025 market season included more than 50 vendors, with some from as nearby as Chicago and others from Michigan and Wisconsin. The farmers market has been more than a selling space, and utilized special events and more to highlight sellers and educate buyers.
The Business of the Week was a “non-commerce space intended to showcase products/ services and share free information with market shoppers,” according to the farmers market website. There was also music by live bands or musicians, areas for kids and space for nonprofit organizations to market their offerings.
Jason Braaksma, the owner of Skibbe Farms out of Eau Claire, Michigan, told Pioneer Press Saturday that the market not only had local products but also different food. Braaksma had a variety of fruits for sale, but especially apples.
“These here, these were just picked off a tree. The ones in the store have wax on them. These don’t have wax,” he said of the fruit he had for sale at the market.
Some varieties can’t be found in stores, Braaksma said. He also had grapes.
He had crates of red and green apples, with each crate containing a different apple name. Some standards included Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious and Jonagold. But there are some uncommon ones, too, like the Ruby Rush and the Nova Spy — apples that, for whatever reason, aren’t usually found on store shelves.
This year the future of the market was a little uncertain as the new owners of the AT&T building near Prairie Avenue where the farmers market is held asked that the market find a new home. The owner, Reign Capital, has in the past expressed intentions to develop the parking lot.
However, as the season wound down and the market’s last days drew closer, organizers of the farmers market worked behind the scenes to secure its future. Earlier this month, the Park Ridge City Council voted to keep the market where it is, even without using the AT&T parking lot. The council followed the suggestion of the Farmers Market Committee, which voted in July to keep the market on Prairie.
But whatever changes to the parking situation may come, the vendors and their produce are expected to return next spring – rare apples, grapes, pumpkins and all.
One of the apple shoppers, Liz Fichter, said she’ll be waiting.
“I try to come every weekend,” she said. “I’m definitely going to miss it.”
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Jesse Wright is a freelancer.