Rustic Fox brings outdoor market to Carol Stream
Following its success in North Aurora, The Rustic Fox in Carol Stream will offer an outdoor market starting this May.
The “Farmer & Artisan Market” will be held in the parking lot at 570 S. Schmale Road from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the first and third Saturdays, beginning May 3 and running through to Oct. 18.
Granted special event approval by Carol Stream’s Administration Department in late February, it’s believed to be the first large-scale outdoor market in the village.
“It’s kind of like an extension of what we have inside, but then we offer things that just are better suited for a pop-up market, so the customer has the opportunity to meet the people behind the stuff they’re buying and they can create a relationship with them,” said The Rustic Fox’s Nicole Kolosowski.
Not the conventional market offering vegetables and fruit, The Rustic Fox market will showcase baked goods, pastries, cheeses, specialty meats, home decor, antiques, jewelry, candles, plants, and other items from curators and creators, said Kolosowski, a partner in the business with Lisa Asturrizaga and Martin Bernal.
In addition, plans call for food trucks, beverages and music. Kolosowski said she hopes the Carol Stream market will attract 3,000 people on any given Saturday.
Starting with its October 2024 proposal to Carol Stream, The Rustic Fox worked with the village and police department to alleviate public safety concerns, including possible obstruction to businesses by holding the market in the parking lot.
“We’re certainly looking forward to the traffic that it’ll bring to the area,” said Carol Stream Community Development Director Don Bastian.
“Who knows, maybe it’ll draw people to Carol Stream that haven’t been here before, and, hopefully, they’ll like what they see,” he said.
The Rustic Fox celebrated its grand opening in Carol Stream on Aug. 3, 2024, and currently has 130 permanent vendors.
Twenty-five of them had to deal with a break in a water pipe that forced The Rustic Fox’s closure in January and February, but “things are back on track,” Kolosowski said.
“It’s been going really well,” she said.
The Rustic Fox started at 1790 Towne Center Drive, North Aurora, in September 2020 as an outlet for small businesses displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic. It currently also has about 130 permanent small businesses.
A farmers and artisan market debuted in North Aurora in 2022 on the second and fourth Saturdays, starting with about 30 vendors and since growing.
“North Aurora’s been great for us. It’s definitely our most popular event of the year, we have a very big turnout. We have 135 pop-up vendors there, so it’s a very large market,” Kolosowski said.
“It’s a fun day out for people because there’s so much to shop and so much to see, it’s just a great morning to spend there,” Kolosowski said.