Rockford City Market prepares for 15th season with new leadership, new ways to incubate business

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — Jazmin Diaz started journaling in a flimsy spiral notebook when she was a student at Auburn High School in need of a creative outlet.

The practice, one she sees as beneficial for people’s mental health and creativity, stayed with her after she graduated. But she could never find a journal she liked that was durable enough to last.

“So I decided to make my own journal and design it from scratch,” she said.

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The result was the creation of Write Something Co., a passion project that turned into business for Diaz, whose been selling faux-leather journals online and on Instagram for about six months.

Now, she’s preparing to use a new feature at Rockford City Market to try to connect with more potential customers.

On Friday, Write Something Co. will be the first small business to occupy City Market’s new Incubator Tent, which will feature a different vendor every week. One of City Market’s goals since its founding in 2010 was to help incubate new businesses, and this tent gives the easiest and cheapest way to participate in the market yet.

“It gives people a really accessible entrance into the market if they can’t commit to a full season,” said Becca Bartels, the market’s new director. “And it just offers some variety for patrons to see every week.”

For Diaz, City Market gives her a chance to engage with the community and meet potential clients.

“It’s a really good way for new artists who create their own products to be able to see what their clients are interested in,” she said. “It’s also a really good way to network and collaborate with other artists in the community.”

About 70 vendors will start the season at City Market on Friday.

New leadership

The incubator tent is one of a few new things you’ll see at City Market when its 15th season debuts on Friday at State and Water streets in downtown.

The changes start at the top.

Bartels is taking over as the market’s second director in its 15-season history. Cathy McDermott, who led the market from its inception through its one millionth patron and beyond last year, announced her retirement last month.

“Cathy, obviously, she’s left really big shoes to fill,” said Bartels, a 30-year-old native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, who moved here in 2018. “She was such a pillar in this organization and this community.”

City Market will celebrate its 15 years with a birthday party of sorts on June 7, the closest Friday night this year to its anniversary.

It started as a “farmers market on steroids” and developed into a happening gathering place on Friday nights, drawing more than 111,000 people during its peak season in 2019. It supported the start of dozens of businesses, including 18 that went on to open brick-and-mortar storefronts.

“We’ve worked really hard in now 15 years, creating an atmosphere that’s just enjoyable,” Bartels said. “To support those vendors, to support our local makers, to listen to music and have a beer and support our local breweries, and just kick off the weekend in a fun way.”

Bartels also wants to embrace that early idea of a “farmers market on steroids” by encouraging more local farmers and growers to participate both in the City Market on Friday night and the North End City Market on Saturday mornings at Auburn and Main streets.

“I am really passionate about creating opportunities for local farmers,” Bartels said. “That’s why I love our North End City Market, because that is a true farmers market. So just creating as many opportunities as we can as an organization to connect the community to local growers to give them a consistent source of income but also to connect the community with fresh, local produce.”

Last year, City Market drew more than 82,000 visits in a season shortened by one week because of extreme heat. People came here from 27 different zip codes, and 90% said their primary reason for coming downtown was to shop at the market, according to City Market survey results. Nearly 70% of those surveyed said they wound up visiting another downtown business after the market.

https://infogram.com/rockford-city-market-attendance-1h7k230v1081v2x?live

New cocktail lounge

Also new this season is the City Market lounge, which makes use of the garage-door style opening to the Indoor City Market adjacent to the outdoor pavillion.

Inside will be Vintage Goose Cafe, an artisanal coffee seller typically recognized by its mirror-like silver 1964 Globetrotter Airstream mobile shop. City Market will also have its own craft cocktail service and it plans to incorporate artists displays and live paintings into the space. For example, Roni Golan, a prolific professional artist who runs The Underground Art gallery a few blocks east of City Market, is slated to do a live painting in the lounge later this season.

“We really want it to be interactive,” Bartels said. “Just to create an atmosphere that’s a little bit more of an upscale curated experience with cocktails, coffee, an espresso.”

If you go | Rockford City Market

When: 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Fridays, May 17-Sept. 27 (7:30 p.m. closure after Labor Day)

Where: Market and Water streets in downtown Rockford

Online: rockfordcitymarket.com

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas