Do This: Chicago Downtown Farmstand's Birthday Party

By Anthony Todd in Food on Oct 13, 2010 3:40PM

October marks the second birthday of Chicago's Downtown Farmstand, one of our favorite under-appreciated gems. The farmstand is dedicated to selling only food produced within 250 miles of Chicago and stocks a great selection of goodies. This month, there will be tons of different local food events, tastings, conversations with local producers and special exclusive products only available in October.

Today is the official birthday party. To start, Sweet Miss Giving's will be selling a special limited-edition Pumpkin Birthday Cupcake topped with candied ginger. Inteligensia will be giving away samples of their new farmstand blend. Just tweeted out this morning: there will be samples of Pumpkin Spice ice cream, made with oven roasted pumpkin, rum and cider. Samples will be available all day from tons of vendors, including Pasta Puttana, Nice Cream and Rishi Tea. At the end of the day, from 6-8 PM, the Farmstand will be hosting a Culinary Conversation called "Local Food from Farm to Table" with a number of local producers, including representatives of City Provisions, Seedling Fruits and Kinnikinnic Farm.

If you can't make it to the event, there are free tastings from 12-2, Tuesday through Friday. If you've never been to the downtown farmstand, this is a great chance to check it out. As Farmers Market season ends, and it gets harder to find these local products, the Farmstand will be your go-to spot.

Chicago's Downtown Farmstand is located at 66 East Randolph Street.