Eating locally
Del Williams
delannw at dlogue.net
Thu May 24 07:49:14 EDT 2001
Liz,
I can imagine what other people have been through with towns but our
experience here in Kankakee was very different. Farmers' markets do help
revive downtown areas and Kankakee was/is one of those cities trying to turn
around a crumbling downtown area.
The area in which we sell on Saturdays used to be a block of abandoned
buildings. The city demolished the buildings, paved the lot and offered the
entire lot to us for a Saturday market. They cover the liability in the
lot. They buy the banner that goes over the street for the entire market
season. They bring over a gazebo and picnic tables for our customers. They
do not charge us to sell in their lot. They are arranging promotional
events for the market. They arranged for restroom access on Saturday.
Tim Schmidt, the Executive Director of the Kankakee Development Corporation
made every effort to get us to sell in downtown Kankakee when it was
certainly not our first choice.
After one market in an affluent area to the north (Bourbonnais) where:
- the mayor told us his community didn't want or need a farmers' market,
- told us to pack up or be arrested (we were selling on private commercial
property),
- asked us later for a $250 (apiece) application fee for a license,
- illegally tried to get us to fork over sales tax on what we had sold that
morning
.... we all went back to Kankakee.
Besides kissing my behind and begging on their knees or maybe paying ME to
sell there, Bourbonnais will never see the Kankakee County Farmers' Market
Association send its members to their town. You're right about one thing
Liz. If the city can't show it's appreciation take your market somewhere
else. The city of Kankakee has been a partner to the development of our
market.
Del Williams
Farmer in the Del
Kankakee County Farmers' Market Association
Clifton IL
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