Rolling Meadows Farmer’s Market & Food Truck Rally

This event is not a «farmers market» there is one tent with produce at prices higher than whole foods!
There were maybe 5 vendors I’d interact with like discounted Pampered Chef, Tupperware, and shoulder massages. However there were about 10 vendors I walked by and tried not to make eye contact… Like the little old lady with a hand written sign for «baby bath robes, «or the tacky sequined purses & jewelry.
There was a pretty good selection of food trucks… Maybe 5 or 6 with pizza, BBQ, tacos, cupcakes, and coffee & smoothies.
Calling this a farmers market is very misleading. We stayed only 10min grabbed a cupcake and did our produce shopping at Whole Foods!

This has the makings for something great. It’s a nice space and there’s plenty of street parking. It’s FREE and they even gave me a small reusable shopping tote.
As I said it has the makings for something great because there really weren’t that many vendors there. When I see «Farmer’s Market» or «Food Truck Rally», I’m picturing a plethora of goods. I’m not interested in Tastefully Simple or free ice cream from the electric company, bring on the GOODS!
I know this is something new for RM, so I hope it will grow. I know the Toasty Cheese truck was down for repairs (yeah, I follow them on FB), but even if they attended, there’s still lots of room for vendors. The only stand selling fresh produce came from a Ryder truck and he didn’t have any signs or business cards saying what Farm he was from. And the prices were high, even for organic prices.
The Calle Wagon (tacos) and GiaVia Sweets truck (cupcakes) were there. But the best so far is the Foodielicious caterers with their cake push pops and cupcakes and the Ice3 (ice cubed) truck with their inventive ice cream and popsicles.
I might give it a go next month (this event is held monthly) as maybe more fresh produce vendors will be there.

One a month from June through October from 10am to 2pm, Rolling Meadows City Hall puts on this small, but eclectic and fun little Farmer’s Market & Food Truck Rally in their parking lot.
Some vendors are there each month, and some vary depending on the date (below), but you can see a bit of what you’re in for on their website (and below). In my head, I’ll admit, I thought it would a lot more official — like, uniform tents and table cloths and stuff — but I get it. It’s put on by the city and it’s not this big-​budget production, but they do a really nice job at this totally free-​to-​attend gathering. Very family friendly and with a nice variation of vendors, though they could use a few more savory food options as it was a bit heavy on the sweets, making the one, single savory truck at last Saturday’s event a very hot (re: 30+ minute line for tacos… that were reportedly excellent) commodity.
As with any multi-​vendor event, each business brought something a little different and special and prices varied. I got two amazing cupcakes from Foodielicious at a 2 for $ 5 rate, and I also got a $ 5 gourmet popsicle (that was also excellent). They’ve got picnic benches and chairs and some tall table to eat on, while there wasn’t much shade unless you were under on the vendors tents and not many drink vendors either so I’d recommend bringing your own water bottle or whatever you chose as your non-​alcoholic poison for the day.
There was also this cool police tank type vehicle for kids to check out, and at one point they turned the lights on and it was neat for kids to see. If your kids are into police officers and giant vehicles, this is certainly worth a stop, even if for only 20 minutes.
Is it worth driving out of the way for? No.
If you happen to be in the general vicinity, should you stop by: Absolutely. What’s a short 30-​minute detour to peruse something a little different (though still developing) in the burbs.
Dates for 2013:
Saturday, May 25^th
Saturday, June 22^nd
Saturday, July 20^th
Saturday, August 24^th
Saturday, September 28^th
Saturday, October 26^th
Committed vendors (from website) include:
Toasty Cheese– a innovative grilled cheese and french fries food truck
Beaver Donuts– a fresh donut food truck
Brockway farms– a local farmer specializing in seasonal fruits and vegetables
Foodielicious Catering — creative cupcakes, granola, sandwiches and more
High Rise Baking Company– a local bakery specializing in artisan breads
Red Leaf Tea– a tea smoothie maker
Scenter of the Mind– a specialty soap maker
TOK Graphics– a seller of specialty handmade paper products
Klassy K9 Confections, Ltd.- a specialty organic dog treat maker
Annake Designs– a local jewelry maker
Jadarie Handmade– a local designer of handmade hand bags
The Calle Wagon — a food truck selling Mexican and Mediterranean influenced tacos, burritos and quesadillas
Tastefully Simple — a vendor of specialty prepared foods
Favorites Favors — local chocolatier specializing in party favors
Mama T’s — local florist
Jeffrey Farms — farmer based out of Des Plaines selling locally grown produce
Baby Cakes — a food truck specializing in freshly made pancake creations
Ice Cubed — an ice cream truck specializing in small batch ice cream, hand-​crafted pops and frozen desserts
Pampered Chef Spices and Sauces — a vendor selling spices and sauces
Joe’s Blueberries– a Michigan blueberry farmer
Natures Honey– a beekeeper based out of Schaumburg
Cookie Lee Jewelry and Scarves by Fern — a vendor selling finely crafted jewelry along with home knitted scarves
And other locals selling homemade jarred goods and home crafted items.