Homewood's Village Board Approves Farmers Market Contract

Homewood’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously to approve a three-year contract with Bensidoun USA for the management of the Homewood Farmers Market.

This approval comes less than a month after the board's original decision to not support the motion.

Community Information Coordinator Rachael Jones addressed previous concerns regarding the lack of a specific marketing plan. Jones showed the board a tentative schedule to run the market May through October and highlighted the two amendments to the contract from the March 22 board meeting.

The first change involves a guarantee that vendors’ fees for founding vendors will be frozen. The second requires Bensidoun to reimburse the village for set-up and tear-down fees.

In addition, the Village of Homewood, along with Bensidoun’s financial backing and support, intends to engage in direct mail efforts, local fliers, newspaper advertisements and the village's electronic newsletters to promote the farmers market.

“I believe Bensidoun will provide the best service and has the best reputation to manage and expand Homrwood’s market into the leading market in the South Suburbs,” Jones said. “I also believe the success of the market will provide economic impact to our central business district.”

According to Jones, there has been a significant positive response from local vendors and residents in support of the Farmers Market outsourcing.

Homewood Farmers Market vendors Kate Duff and Rick Bloomberg were at the meeting on Tuesday night to show their enthusiasm for the outsourcing of the market.

“We had some initial concerns, but we feel that Bensidoun has come back and addressed those concerns regarding our fees (and) regarding the types of new vendors that they are going to attract,” Duff said. “We feel very satisfactory about the arrangements (of letting Bensidoun manage the farmers market).”

Bloomberg says his support of Bensidoun has grown considerably since the last meeting.

“I think it’s safe to say that I was probably one of the most critical people of Bensidoun, but now I think I’m probably the biggest supporter,” Bloomberg said.“It’s a good thing for Homewood, it’s a good thing for vendors, it’s a good thing for downtown.”

Trustee Barbara Dawkins was very vocal in her support of the contract.

“You can either continue doing the same thing and remain the same, or you can take a chance,” said Dawkins. “I think this is really a no-brainer. It’s no cost to the village … the sky is the limit as far as how big and great this could be."

Trustee Anne Colton said that local citizen support for Bensidoun was a major reason for the Village Board's altered its stance on the issue.

“For the last couple weeks, my email box has been filled, people walk up to me at parties and at Walt’s and wherever, and I haven’t heard one bad thing about this,” Colton said. “It’s a great idea and it is wonderful to have someone else take the headache of the insurance, take the headache of the set-up and the tear-down and all of the liability.”

Bensidoun USA is a French company that currently operates 36 markets in the United States, including those in Wheaton and the West Loop, according to Jones. 

"This is something that we owe to our residents, it’s something that will put us on the map as far as making us a destination, it’s something that will help the downtown businesses," said Dawkins."It’s something that people can wake up to on a Saturday morning and enjoy.”