Community Corner

Dale Duda: Harvesting Northbrook's Farmers Market

Duda has organized and managed the Northbrook Farmers Market since its inception five years ago.

Article by Elizabeth Manaster

The Northbrook Farmers Market is said to operate rain or shine, but Market Manager Dale Duda was forced to cancel the market on June 26 due to severe weather. 

“Our market is held, rain or shine, unless there are severe weather warnings,” Duda said. “As soon as we hear the word severe, that’s it and there’s nothing we can do.”

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Canceling the market is a burden for everyone involved — vendors come from out of town and out of state to sell food that can spoil if not sold promptly. In some cases, vendors will rush to sell items to local stores to mitigate their losses.

Duda has been the driving force behind the market since its inception five years ago and runs the weekly market for no pay. She's easy to spot, often in her yellow farmer’s market T-shirt and a hat.  

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Duda grew up in Niles and has a background in journalism, but considers herself a “Professional Volunteer.” She even lists that as her occupation on tax forms. 

She has been in Northbrook for the last 21 years, though, but laughs and says, “That’s still considered a newcomer here."

Newcomer or not, she's an active force in the community beyond the farmers market. She is a member of Northbrook’s Community Relations Commission, even responsible for introducing ‘Flamingo Fridays’ to the village.  

She also serves as the publicity chair for Northbrook Garden Club. Duda and her husband are also members of Our Lady of the Brook Church, where they both volunteer by bringing Holy Communion to people in the hospital. 

It's impressive the amount of work Duda accomplishes, considering she doesn't even own a cell phone. 

“I have On-Star in my car!” she said.

Duda came up with the idea for a Northbrook farmers market while helping with Our Lady of the Brook’s ‘Tea and Treasures’ fundraiser, which she describes as “an upscale rummage sale."

She looked out at the church’s parking lot and thought it could be a good spot to host a market. So in 2009, the church rented out the lot and the first market was held. The market has been Duda's passion ever since.

“It goes way beyond just having a fun day at the market,” she said. “It’s about getting people to eat more local, seasonal produce and locally made products.  It’s about educating the public about the benefits of shopping and eating locally. We’ve become part of the local food movement.".

For its first three years, the market was held at Our Lady of the Brook. Included in the rent was access to the church's kitchen, restrooms and some custodial staff. The church also helped with publicity for the market via their website and some church members volunteered with the market. 

Meanwhile, Duda had formed a small board of interested Northbrook residents to help run the market moving forward. With the help of the board, the Northbrook Farmers Market was incorporated by the State of Illinois in January 2012. In April of this year, the market became a member of the Illinois Farmers Market Association.

Despite Duda's relationship with Our Lady of the Brook, the parking lot's positioning did not offer a lot of visibility to people unaware of the market — it was tucked away about 100 feet north of Dundee Road. Even with big signs posted on Dundee and other smaller signs posted throughout Northbrook, many residents were unaware that it existed.  

Eventually, ongoing requests for the market to move closer to downtown Northbrook were heard, and halfway through the 2012 season, the market moved to the Northbrook United Methodist Church at the corner of Cherry Lane and Western Avenue.  

The market was expected to open there again this year, but just before the this season's kick-off, Jay Heitman, who owns Meadow Shopping Plaza, agreed to let the market use the parking lot there.   

Click here to watch a recap of this year's farmers market season kick-off.

There are 15 regular venders with one revolving business table and one revolving artist table weekly.

The Northbrook Farmers Market runs every Wednesday from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. through October 9 in Meadow Shopping Plaza at the intersection of Cherry Lane and Meadow Road. 


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