Woodstock Farmers Market opens for season, others across McHenry County to follow

After two years at the winter farmers market in Woodstock, Harvard-based Ramshackle Farm is making its summer debut this year, owner Shannon Mingalone said.

The farm is still a relatively new one, and Mingalone along her business partner and spouse, Eve Mingalone, have used the farmers market as a way to boost their business, Mingalone said. She’s often heard it can take five years to make a business profitable, but with “no deep pockets and nobody funding us,” Ramshackle doesn’t have five years.

“The farmers market is the business,” Mingalone said. “The connections we make with these folks, they start at the farmers market 99% of the time.”

With spring in full swing and summer not too far away, farmers markets across McHenry County are setting up for their return. This year, many of the markets will be bringing back a mix of old and new vendors, with some offering attractions like live music and activities for families.

The Woodstock Farmers Market started on Saturday, and the Pearl Street Market in McHenry will follow on May 18 at Veterans Park. The Farmers Market+ At The Dole moves outside May 28, and the downtown Crystal Lake Farmers Market starts June 17. Spring Grove’s market will start May 20, Huntley’s will follow on May 27 and Cary’s kicks off June 4.

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Flowers were on display at the Von Bergen’s Country Market booth during the farmers market Saturday, April 29, 2023, on the historic Woodstock Square. (Patrick Kunzer for Shaw Local)

Woodstock, which boasts arguably the largest farmers market of the bunch with thousands of people attending each week, made its summer debut this past weekend, marketing manager Kelly Kempf said. It will return to the historic Woodstock Square every Saturday and Tuesday through September, before switching to Saturdays only in October.

“It’s go-time,” Kempf said.

It’s Kempf’s first time leading the market, she said. As part of her first year, she’s made it a goal to bring in new vendors and artisans.

The goal is paying off. The market is slated to have about 20 more vendors this year than last year, bringing the total up to about 65 booths on Saturdays and 45 on Tuesdays.

The vendors, both new and old, that will be participating are a mixture of farmers and artisans, Kempf said. As a producers market, the seller must be the farm or craftsman behind the product.

Along with Ramshackle Farm, other new vendors joining the summer market include a new bakery, a person who crochets, a watercolor painter and the Blue Lotus Buddhist Temple, Kempf said.

Crystal Lake resident Brad Kroll with Candle Cubby is also among the new vendors.

He began making candles as a “happy accident,” he said, when someone contacted him by mistake asking to review a candle she had made. Kroll had wanted to start making candles, but with a friend starting the practice at the same time, they decided to join forces.

Being at the Woodstock Farmers Market for the first time, Kroll said they are “very fresh.” Getting an opportunity to grow a larger customer base and engrain themselves in the community are some of what he hopes to get out of it.

“The candle market is fairly saturated,” he said. “The goal is to appeal to everyone who might come to your booth. It’s not how they look; it’s how they perform.”

Meanwhile, some, such as Bridge N Sweets, have been attending the market for several years now.

Gary and Bridget Welsch started their business in 2016 and have been attending the markets ever since. They are still sorting out which markets they will do this year, but “for sure” will be doing Woodstock, with Gary Welsch calling it “one of the best markets out there.”

“We have to be thinking about where our dollars are going. Walmart doesn’t need our money. Our farmers really do.”

—  Woodstock Farmers Market marketing director Kelly Kempf

Downtown Crystal Lake’s farmers market sees about 500 people per week, but its last event of the year, the Johnny Appleseed Festival, draws into the thousands, Downtown Crystal Lake Executive Director Lynn Reckamp said.

Describing it as a “very traditional farmers market,” Reckamp hopes to have about 20 vendors this year, which would be up from 18 last year.

Along with the vendors, the market will have live music, which “lends itself to a very festive atmosphere,” Reckamp said. There will also be children’s activities sponsored by a downtown Crystal Lake business each week.

Live music is something the Pearl Street Market in McHenry is bringing this year too, with a new main stage band each week for 18 weeks, President Molly Krause said.

Pearl Street will also feature 34 vendors this year with a different mix of goods, Krause said. There will also be two kids nights this year, on July 13 and Aug. 10, with several free family activities.

While businesses both new and old look to their local markets as a way to help boost their business, seeing the community gather to support local vendors is important, Kempf said. The ability to keep food dollars in the community and have them reverberate is one of the most important aspects of a farmers market.

“We have to be thinking about where our dollars are going,” Kempf said. “Walmart doesn’t need our money. Our farmers really do.”