Do White People Love Farmers Markets more than Flea Markets? Ask Logan Square

Dogs stroll along the muddy parkways.

What’s the difference between a farmer’s market and a flea market? Back in my day, the flea market was the spot to get a mix-tape. Bad Boy Bill or Julian Jumpin' Perez were found in abundance. If you wanted an airbrushed t-shirt - it was the Logan Square Mega Mall. Today, if you need a $10 jar of jelly or farm-to-table produce - the Logan Square Farmers Market meets your needs.

Another difference?...White people...like... farmers markets. Don’t just take my word for it. Check the experts at stuff white people like. The Farmers market is the fifth most popular thing white people like. That’s behind the obvious favorites of coffee and religions their parents don’t belong to, but ahead of organic food.

According to the website, white people like farmers markets for the following reasons:

"Is this organic and local?"

• buying direct from the farmer helps them assuage the fears from reading Fast Food Nation

• their undying need to support local economies

• because it is outdoors (they love being outdoors)

• they can bring their dogs

• it's an excuse to use their expensive strollers

• they get to see other white people

Now, why the hell is Joey Mac discussing his fellow whites and our love for farmers markets? Over the past two months the good (white) folks in Logan Square made quite a fuss over their beloved farmers market. In August the market was forced to shut down temporarily. It was so successful that it attracted unlicensed vendors hawking their merchandise side-by-side with the licensed vendors who paid taxes and followed the laws of our city.

The love runs deep for farmers markets

In the end, the powerful farmers market found a compromise and was allowed to close streets in order to safely accommodate a larger presence. Now the hipsters can buy their overpriced honey and handmade lavender soap without worry of cars driving by the boulevard. City department heads, police commanders and the mayor's office all urgently scrambled to find a solution to meet the needs of farmers market patrons.

Again, you’re asking, why is Joey Mac discussing this silly ass farmers market? There’s two reasons. One, I played tackle football on those same boulevard parkways. In the 1980’s neighborhood youth, mostly Latinos, were not so welcome when we played on the parkway. Two, the Mega Mall on Milwaukee Ave had very little protest when it was forced out of business.

I reached out to my old buddy, former Alderman Rey Colon. When Rey worked at the Logan Square boys and girls club he would regularly take the kids to play on Palmer Square. “Then one day someone put wooden stakes all throughout the parkway, they did not want us playing on their parkway.”

I witnessed similar efforts as well. The city planted 10-20 new trees and flower arrangements in the middle of our football field. The Boulevard's beauty was to be appreciated by the privileged, not the local youth. Flowers and bourgeois aesthetics trumped the fear of menacing youth. Today no youth play football, but there are plenty of 20-somethings who picnic and loiter with impunity.

Look closely, that's a Yeti under there.

Older gentleman greets new neighbors.

They do face an occasional neighborhood OG who hates their charcuterie boards and craft beers. In 2021 picnic goers narrowly avoided the dangers of an angry Ford F150 driver. Apparently, "the Yeti cooler became lodged under the truck and prevented the car from traveling further and causing more damage.” It pains me to ponder, but what if this had been a Coleman cooler? Those picnickers would have suffered much worse.

Photos of interior during mega mall demolition.

In 2o07 the Mega Mall was targeted by pro-gentrification forces. The market fought to stay alive as late as 2014, but bled a slow death until demolition in 2017. The Mega Mall did not serve the same clientele as the farmers market, it was mostly working class Latinos. The place was not trendy or well maintained, but it served the people. During its first 10 years of existence the city turned a blind eye and everyone was happy.

Beware Little Village! Things are about to change

Developers swarmed like vultures and the owner was increasingly cited with code violations and fines. Eventually, the owner surrendered and the area was developed for condos. No Logan Square activists rallied to save the flea market. Compare that to the the Little Village community, who recently fought to save their flea market. Beware Little Village residents: first they take your flea market, then they replace it with a farmers market.

Flea Markets and Farmers Markets both rent tables to small vendors. They are both popular on Sundays. One caters to the disposable income of the socially mobile, and the other catered to the working class of the old neighborhood. One got the attention it deserves and expanded, the other was driven away.

When the farmers market destroyed the parkway's vegetation, no wooden stakes were driven into the ground. No trees or vegetation were planted to push them away on Sundays, nor any other day of the week. Nobody complained about the aesthetics. When the Farmers Market was threatened, the powerful and well connected protected it’s existence. The plight of the Farmers Market and Mega Mall show us how race and class manifest itself in the ongoing gentrification of Logan Square.