Green City Market Lincoln Park — Attraction in Chicago

Parking around the Green City Market is tough. So it's easy to get excited when you find a ParkChicago spot within 1/4 of a block from the market on Clark. You pay for time on the ParkChicago app (which does not at all indicate that parking, in that zone is not permitted at that time, and greedily takes your money) and think you've lucked out. You see no cones, or flags, overt signs that you can't park...so you do. And continue to "feed the meter" as you patronize the market. Then you come back to your car, or should I say, where your car WAS. You've been towed. And not just you (as you find out when you run into other patrons of the market at the City's impound lot...located on lower, lower Wacker Dr - a location that required asking 2 City employees, and a very patient Lyft driver to find), but to several people just in the past couple of hours. There are, in fact, permanent signs that say you cannot park in these spots during "market hours". And perhaps it's naive to think that if the ParkChicago app let's you pay in what would normally be a legal spot, you can. But when I asked the market's organizers about the situation, they had zero empathy. They rejected any suggestion that they work with the City and/or ParkChicago to better communicate the parking ban in the area at these times. To be clear, I don't blame the vendors, who pay hefty amounts to sell their hard farmed/produced products. Juat beware that what might seem like that prime parking spot might coat you $170 in towing fees + a...

They foster this "green" image, but then proceed to allow the selling an unsustainably harvested species with roots and all ripped from the ground... AKA ramps. Don't believe me? They're seeing major population declines across the US and Canada. They take 10 years to reach maturity and start producing seeds, and the seeds do not have a high germination rate. Colonies take a long time to recover from indiscriminate picking which is exactly what restaurants and the sellers at this and many other farmers markets are doing to feed the craze. They are normalizing the image of improperly foraged ramps with no education surrounding it when in reality seeing the plants with all the roots and bulbs is not how responsibly harvested ramps look. The solution? Sell the leaves only and then leave the rest of the plant to grow. Wish they could do better but greed always wins out apparently.

Vendors not doing this are great, though arrive early because a lot of vendors tend to pack up...

Pros: it's easily locatable and accessible from the bike path on the lakefront trail, it's in a chill scenic park spot, they have one of the best nice matching programs for LINK card holders in the city (allowing vouchers for buying non-produce things like baked goods, drinks etc), it starts early (7am), they have a good array of vendors, it's doggie friendly, and they have a port-o-potty on site.

Cons: it's very crowded on Saturdays but not so much on Wednesdays, non-produce vouchers for LINK can only be used at Green City market, not enough organic farmer booths, hard to find parking for bicycles.

Overall, I like this market because it offers more than most other city farmers markets. It's worth a trip to. If the challah bread people are there I highly recommend you...