Low-Line Market

For a small market, there's a good variety. Fruit, vegetables, eggs, meat, cheese, honey, jam, bread, a couple of options for lunch. The vendors are quite good. I haven't yet had problems with unpleasant staff, unlike at other markets (ahem, Bronzeville). Some of the range of services/activities (the Experimental Station's bike shop setting up a booth, a chef's demo) are cute, though I don't really partake. But I have a bit of a gripe...part of the (heavily advertised) mission of the market is to bring fresh local food to the Woodlawn "food desert." While the market accepts food stamps, I just don't see this happening. Like basically all farmer's markets, it's a haven for liberal, fairly affluent, mostly white people. I see very few members of the poor black community in Woodlawn there. And I don't blame them: if I were struggling to make ends meet, a $5 half-pint of blueberries or a $7 small jar of honey wouldn't be on my shopping list. I see little effort to bring in vendors who will sell anything for cheap and instead an effort to focus on local, organic food. While admirable, this emphasis makes me wonder: does "bringing organic/local food to Woodlawn" mean helping current Woodlawn residents or helping to gentrify Woodlawn? (Bronzeville actually did better for the community in this regard and was a larger market, though now that they moved their day to Saturday, conflicting with 61st St., I decided to stick with the closer-by market and don't go anymore to Bronzeville.) All told, though, 61st St. is a good little market.