Today we’d like to introduce you to Whitney Richardson.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Whitney. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’ve been working on the Management Team for the Logan Square Farmers Market since the summer of 2015. My title now is Special Projects Manager of the LSFM, but I started as the General Market Manager. My role today focuses on communications, partnerships, public relations, and fundraising for the market. I help drive business development and growth opportunities for the market alongside our Executive Director and that it remains a fun, conscious and educational space.
The first time I stumbled on the Logan Square Farmers Market was as a visitor, with my mom, back in 2009 during the first Indoor Season of the LSFM. I was about to move to New York after college. I was always, always seeking opportunities to engage with local agriculture wherever I was, and I was really pleased to find this outlet in my home city. In New York, my curiosity and passion for food systems work took me to all ends of the spectrum, from large-scale food events, to sustainably sourced added value product management, to food security advocacy, to culinary education, to organic flower production at a high school…
I came back to Chicago armed with quite a few experiences that translated well into skills needed for the LSFM. My first job back was a Field Rep for a perfume made using flowers grown at over 150 growing sites in Chicago, which got me acclimated to the urban agriculture field here. That role put me into the market as a vendor for a few pop-up appearances in 2013. When the management position became available in 2015, I was living just two blocks from the outdoor site, and was thrilled to dive in. Like a lot of things in life, unwavering passion, a vision, and the right circumstances tend to be the best recipe.
Since then, I’ve also begun working full-time for The Kitchen Community, a national non-profit that installs and supports a growing network of school-based Learning Gardens. I work for the Chicago region, which currently has 154 Learning Gardens in CPS. Learning Gardens are ADA-accessible, professional-grade outdoor classrooms centering around edible garden spaces. When I started down the path of local food systems, there was no established career path for what I wanted to do. It’s incredible to see how many more opportunities there are today, and will continue to be as the local food system strengthens. These roles work so well together, and I really enjoy what I do.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
This was not a path with clear career outputs. It was definitely not driven by monetary gain. I spent a handful of years doing dedicated unpaid work to get experience, insight and really get to fall in love with the work I wanted to do.
As far as the market itself is concerned… I’ve learned, through all of my event management experience, that the number of hours it takes to operate a weekly market far exceeds common sense. There are so many details to take into consideration. This is truly a labor of love for our local farm and food community, as well as our neighborhood, and we always intend to make the market as accessible and enjoyable as possible for everyone participating.
Some other challenges:
Many, many people know about the Outdoor Market (although you’d be surprised by how many new people we continue to see at new locations that have just learned about it!), but far fewer still are aware of the Indoor Market. We are still the only farmers market in Chicago that operates weekly indoors from November through March. We feel it’s important to provide an ongoing opportunity for our visitors to stay connected to their source of food all year, and provide local, small-scale farmers and food producers a consistent revenue stream through the year.
We also continue to seek a permanent indoor site for the market, that will allow us to stay put in future seasons and grow into space. The landscape of the neighborhood is forever changing, and we want to remain a permanent fixture through all of the seasons.
I think another struggle is how to diversify, and sustain, funding for one of our beloved programs, the Double Value Program, that allows LINK Users (and WIC/Seniors with Farmers Market Nutrition Program Checks) to get their purchases made using their benefits matched in additional coupons they can spend on fresh produce at the market. Despite ongoing outreach, many LINK Users just aren’t aware of this program or how it works. With sustained funding, the awareness building efforts can continue to grow, since there wouldn’t be a time limit for when the programs are operating. Our capacity and experience have grown over the years we’ve begun to administer it, and I think it will continue to grow and improve!
Oh, and lastly, keeping our waste streams free of contaminants is a challenge in Chicago! Unfortunately, most “recyclable” items are not actually recycled by the city, so we’ve adopted a compost policy to limit landfill waste. This policy we require vendors to use compostable disposables at the market, so we’re not contributing needlessly to environmental degradation. We believe in investing in regenerative systems. It’s super hard to continue educating our consumers as well as vendors on the nuances of compostable and landfill items, but we continue to do our best to reduce waste at the market, and are grateful to have created an environment where this education can take place.
Please tell us about Logan Square Farmers Market.
The Logan Square Farmers Market is a project of the Logan Square Chamber of Commerce. It was taken over by the City of Chicago in 2007. The Logan Square Farmers Market is a Producer-Only farmers market, showcasing regional food and agricultural producers by the makers themselves, with a strong emphasis on those within 250mi of Chicago. (Basically, this means that we don’t host food distributors or third-party reps. For example, if it’s an agricultural product, it needs to be sold by the farmer/producer themselves.)
The majority of stalls set aside are for regional produce farmers, with some additional space for small-scale livestock farmers, flower farmers and then Bakers/Processors and Prepared Food Vendors. We’ve only had a couple of Farmer/Producer vendors outside of this regional limit. One of these is Sitka Salmon Shares, a fisherman-owned cooperative offering wild-caught salmon from Sitka, Alaska. The other was a grain farmer milling his own products out of the Driftless Region. These are both agricultural products that Midwesterners consume regularly but we don’t have many producers in the region offering the product, so we’ve allowed space to exhibit these high-quality items that meet our sustainability standards. We also like to emphasize Logan Square owned and operated businesses at the market. Many of our Prepared Food Vendors are Logan Square restaurants.
We were the first farmers market in Illinois to accept LINK (shout out to Paul Levin for this!). As I mentioned earlier, we’re also the only farmers market in Chicago that runs weekly through winter (barring the few holidays that may interfere with Sunday schedules). We might be the first market in Illinois (possibly the nation?) to require the use of compostable disposable products and ask that Prepared Food Vendors source at least one ingredient directly from a local farm, with a preference for purchasing directly from our own farmer base.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Honestly, I was a huge reader and loved water sports. My favorite moments involve water, waves, exhaustion and then passing hours and hours with books. I also have a distinct memory of discovering tiger lilies in the sidewalk behind our house. I was an only child, and the oldest baby in the family, so I spent my first few years as a lone ranger.
I liked to figure things out for myself. I was pleasantly surprised to find these tiger lilies. I was also very aware of what they were because of the Tiger Lily character in Peter Pan. They symbolized adventure and unknown beauty. I totally couldn’t articulate that feeling at the time, but I remember the charge I wandered back inside with after finding them. The most simple moments often leave me with the strongest impressions.
Contact Info:
- Address: Logan Square Chamber of Commerce Office:
3147 W Logan Blvd., Suite 12, Chicago, IL 60647 - Logan Square Farmers Market Indoor 2017-18 Location:
Emporium Arcade Bar, 2363 N. Milwaukee, Chicago, IL 60647 - Logan Square Farmers Market Outdoor Location:
Traditionally it’s been at the corner of Milwaukee & Logan Blvd., Chicago, IL 60647 - Website: www.logansquarefarmersmarket.org
- Phone: (773) 489-3222
- Email: info@loganchamber.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lsfarmersmarket/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LoganSquareFarmersMarket/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/lsfarmersmarket
Image Credit:
the Logan Squarist, Sean Lemaster from Lemaster Family Kitchen
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
