Homewood Board Fails to Approve Farmers Market Contract

A motion for a three-year agreement to allow Bensidoun USA, a French farmers market management company, to manage Homewood’s Farmers Market failed during Homewood’s March 22 board meeting.

Since 2008, the village has managed the farmers market, according to Community Information Coordinator Rachael Jones. According to Jones, a variety of factors influenced her decision to consider outsourcing the management of the market.

“We’ve gotten a lot of feedback as we staff each market, speaking with the public and also our existing vendors,” Jones said. “They would like to see more variety (and) see it grow even more.”

Jones said she studied successful markets that have a similar history to Homewood’s, but have exhibited a faster growth rate. Of all the successful farmers markets that she has been researching, Jones says the common denominator is that they are all run by Bensidoun.

According to Jones, Bensidoun would operate the market at no cost to the village, and offer a much larger variety of vendors of meat, wine and dairy, to name a few. She said a key feature is their secure canopy system. It is designed to shield shoppers from the elements while they peruse the market.

Bensidoun USA Midwest Market Manager Leslie Cahill also spoke at the meeting.

“We don’t want to look anywhere outside,” Cahill said. “As far as making it a community market, you have enough people in this community, and enough small businesses, farmers, producers that are looking for a great venue to be a part of.”

Trustee Barbara Dawkins felt the partnership with Bensidoun would be a worthwhile investment for Homewood.

“I believe that Homewood is a leader in our region,” Dawkins said. “I think that this is the sort of thing that we need to … do in order to take our town to the next level. I don’t see what we have to lose.”

However, despite their enthusiasm, Jones and Cahill were unable to garner the support of all of the trustees. The lack of a concrete marketing plan, in particular, did not reside well with Trustee Joe Casella.

“I’m really disappointed because you don’t have any advertising plan set up,” Casella said. “…We are kind of going from zero to 60 here. I’m just not ready for this.”

In the end, with two trustees absent from the meeting, the final vote was 2-2.  Lacking the required four trustee votes to pass, the motion failed. 

Village Manager Mark Franz says he expects the motion to be revisited, but the details are yet to be determined.