Logan Square's New Square Faces Its First Fall Without the Sunday Market

Trish Carnevale opened Pixie & The Boy at 2605 N. Milwaukee Ave. in 2021. This summer she hired staff for the gift shop for the first time. She told Block Club Chicago that the biggest boost came from the new crosswalk outside her door. "I was always busy on Sundays, and then for the two [construction] years, it really messed up my sales," she said. "But as soon as this crosswalk was put in, oh my God, it just got better and better and better."

That crosswalk has a longer light, and it feeds a Sunday crowd the city spent years designing for. After this month, the crowd has fewer reasons to come. The Logan Square Farmers Market finishes its first season in its permanent home on Oct. 25. The plazas built around it go into their first cold-weather stretch without the event that has filled them since May.

What $27 million rebuilt, and who has used it

The city's $27 million redesign of the old traffic circle took more than a decade of planning and two years of construction. It added new plazas, almost an acre of park space, wider sidewalks, new lighting, and a mixed-use path that circles the Illinois Centennial Monument. Bike-only crosswalks lead into and out of the square.

The market moved onto that new ground in May. The layout splits it by type:

• Farmers and food vendors: 103 rotating vendors, 44 of them weekly farmers, set up inside the Milwaukee plaza and along Logan Boulevard.
• Vintage vendors: 14 rotating sellers work out of La Placita, the plaza in front of Reno, Same Day Cafe and other Kedzie Avenue businesses.

That's 24 fewer booths than in past years because the space is tighter, according to Nilda Esparza, the market producer and president of the Logan Square Chamber of Commerce. The smaller footprint hasn't shrunk the crowd. In June, Esparza said the market had drawn more than 80,000 visitors to the square since opening in its new home.

Fewer booths, better Sundays for the vendors

The vendors interviewed this summer described a tighter market as a better one. Kyle Washington, founder of Frogtown Juice Co., told Block Club Chicago that earlier years had "a little bit of paralysis by analysis" because the market was so big, and that the new layout "allows people to be more intentional" with their shopping. He said he sells about 1,000 bottles of juice a week. Between 40 and 50 percent of his customers come back regularly and get a discount for returning their glass bottles.

Kevin Gorman, co-owner of Gorman Farm Fresh Produce, said business was "up a little bit," and he credited better visibility and clearer separation between farmers and vintage sellers. At La Placita, Camila Forero sells clothing every third Sunday under her brand I Find Cool Stuff. She was one of the unofficial vendors who set up near the market's old location in 2020. "Now I have a spot and it's very affordable," she told Block Club. "There's no dirt floors, so it makes a difference."

Those gains reached past the tents. Webster Wine Bar sits at 2601 N. Milwaukee Ave., next door to Pixie & The Boy. Owners Tonya Pyatt and Nik Wells said their bigger patio has been consistently full most evenings since construction ended. Block Club counted at least 10 businesses near Kedzie and Milwaukee seeing gains from the extra outdoor seating, weekly art events and new crosswalks.

Dominik Kapias, owner of Smoke Station at 2627 N. Kedzie Ave., put it most plainly. "What these bazaars have taught us is that the businesses in Logan Square do live and die by foot traffic," he told Block Club Chicago. He also said there "should have shopping events a few times a week to get people walking."

Two Sundays left, then four weekends without a market

Only two outdoor market days remain, Oct. 18 and Oct. 25. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The indoor season starts Nov. 28 at Avondale Collective, 2800 N. Milwaukee Ave., first floor. It runs 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. through March 27, 2027, and the market says it stays open on holidays.

That leaves four weekends in between with no market. It also means the winter market won't be on the plazas at all. It moves a short way up Milwaukee to a stretch that has quietly filled in this year.

Comfort Station, the arts space on the square, is also closed for now. Its historic building is under major renovation and is expected to reopen in late spring 2027. In the meantime the organization calls this period the "Year of Comfort Station" and runs its programs in new ways around the city. Its Oct. 5 announcement named Kitty Rauth executive director. She had been interim director since January, and her photo in the post is from the 2026 Dog Days of Summer event.

The Chamber has said it plans to bring more non-market events to the plazas. As of this writing, no names or dates for fall or holiday events on the square have been announced.

The stretch of Milwaukee where the winter market lands

The blocks near Avondale Collective had a busy late summer. Mate & Company opened at the end of August at 2778 N. Milwaukee Ave., in the former Buzz Cafe space. That same month, Chengdu Impression opened its fourth location two doors down at 2770 N. Milwaukee Ave. That storefront had been home to Chiya Chai for about a decade until it closed in May. Chiya Chai's owners have said they plan to come back to the Northwest Side in a smaller space.

Closer to the square, Tropical Smoothie Cafe opened in June at 2620 N. Milwaukee Ave., in the old Uncharted Books storefront. On the southeast edge of the neighborhood, Logan Inn opened Sept. 11 at 2001 N. California Ave. It's a cafe and bar serving coffee, sandwiches, cocktails and nonalcoholic drinks. On Fullerton, Txa Txa started regular hours at 3268 W. Fullerton Ave. on March 6, after two soft-opening days.

One project is much further out. The Afterlife Bar and Grill is planned for the former Diversey Funeral Home at 3601 W. Diversey Ave. As of mid-September, permits were still pending and construction was expected to take at least a year.

The late-October calendar

Block Club Chicago's Halloween guide lists a pumpkin patch, a DJ, a costume parade, face painting, pumpkin decorating and a Día de los Muertos ofrenda at the Unity Park event. Showtimes for the Halloween weekend screenings are on the Logan Theatre calendar.

The square's design is still being adjusted

Work on the square's design is still underway. Cyclists have had mixed reactions. Some told Block Club Chicago the marked lanes feel safer. Others said the shared path around the monument gets crowded with walkers on weekends. A group of neighbors started "Refine the Redesign" to gather feedback on what's working, as Streetsblog Chicago reported in June. In July, Ald. Anthony Quezada (35th) said his office was working with Chicago Department of Transportation engineers on possible changes like clearer signs, better wayfinding and new pavement markings. "No project is perfect on day one," he said in a statement. As of this writing, local news hasn't reported any changes made since then.

The parking concerns from July haven't been resolved either. Some nearby business owners still hear complaints about parking, while others said the loading zone in front of the Blue Line has made deliveries easier. The square's first full year will run through a winter. The two remaining market Sundays are Oct. 18 and Oct. 25, and Pixie & The Boy, Webster Wine Bar and Smoke Station will still face the plazas after the tents come down.

If you're curious how a year of new plazas and new storefronts shows up on the streets around the square, the Chicago Home Partner team follows Logan Square block by block and would be glad to talk it through. Schedule a complimentary market consultation whenever it suits you.