Lake County Gazette

At its Jan. 10 meeting, the Libertyville Village Board discussed approval for all Main Street special events for 2023, with the exceptions that the farmer's market be moved to Church Street, where it started.

Among the residents who participated in the public comment portion of the meeting, Mark Anderson, president of Main Street Libertyville, and Al Scott, the manager of the market, said moving the market to Church Street would force the market to lose 15 vendors – about a third of the total vendors – and would directly impact their fundraising. 

They also said that the market is Main Street’s most attended event all summer, bringing in about 20,000 people, a lot of which can be attributed to the area of Cook Park where the market is located. Without that space, they said, it would not be the enjoyable event that it has been these past few years. 

Other public comment participants made similar arguments, asking the city council not to move the market back to the smaller Church Street.

The proposal to move the farmers market was  prompted by heavy traffic pulling up the grass and wearing out the greenery of Cook Park. Board members said that they would try and help find funding or ways to maintain the beauty of Cook Park to allow the farmer’s market to remain. The board passed the special events agenda without the exceptions stated prior

Village Trustee Peter Garrity opposes the move.

“(The Farmers Market has) created more of a ... downtown buzz, (it) gives us a little bit of uniqueness and and I'm not in favor of moving everybody back to Church Street," Garrity said. "I understand that evolution and and there was a reason to be on Church but [...] I think we can work together. This is a partnership. This is a partnership between the village and Main Street. And for us to say you have to change how you're doing business, reduce the number of vendors because we have a grass issue is just not the way to go at this.”

The board also discussed a resolution to pick Bear Construction’s bid of $108, 977.50 to complete the Civic Center Elevator Modernization project. It’s expected to be done by April 30, 2023.

The board will meet again at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 24, at 118 West Cook Ave.