Work at Dundee visitors' center will affect farmer' market

"Pardon Our Dust During Reconstruction," is not a sign that will make everyone happy at the Dundee Township Visitors' Center in East Dundee.

Organizers of the weekly farmers' market claim the landscaping work scheduled for the coming weeks will cut into their selling area and be a mess for customers.

"I don't know why they have to do this work now," said organizer June Boeckh. "We're coming up on our busiest times and we'll end up losing 15 spots. Why can't the village wait?"

The work can't be delayed, said Heather Ziepparr, assistant village administrator.

"We have to use the money we received from the (Kane) county grant by Nov. 1. If we don't, we'll lose it," she said. "Before we started, we met with the groups that use the center and told them what it would involve."

East Dundee received a matching Small Cities grant for $25,000 to re-landscape and clean up the North River Street building. One tree has been cut down and others will be trimmed, Ziepparr said.

"We also plan on planting four more trees, two shade and two ornamental, installing picnic benches, and paving stones," she said. "And, we'll replace the two front doors, fix two lights and powerwash the building."

When the work is done, no doubt the village-owned building will look nice, said Bill Zelsdorf, a member of the center's board of directors, but it will come at a price to some vendors.

The market is held every Saturday morning from May until the end of October. The 35 to 40 vendors who take part every week, sell their items in the yard. In September, more bring their fresh produce. That brings in more customers.

"I only hope we don't need a bridge to let people walk to the washrooms (during construction)," Boeckh said.

The visitors' center board leases the building from the village. Its members are responsible for paying some of the expenses it incurs, such as utilities. The center is along the bike path that runs through the country and reaches into McHenry and DuPage counties.

The whole idea for the work is to make its grounds more inviting to residents and for people who use the path, said Dan O'Leary, East Dundee village president.

"We've had people tell us there's no place to sit. We have one picnic bench out there now," he said. "Our original intention was to put in 10 picnic benches, but we cut it in half because of the concerns of the people at the farmer's market."

"We just want to make it more of a parklike setting."