The Farmers Market Came Back to Leland Avenue This Year. Three Tuesdays Are Left.

Today, Thursday, October 29, is the last Thursday evening market of the season. It runs from 3 to 7 p.m. in the lot at 2301 W. Leland Ave., beside the Western Brown Line station. After today, three Tuesday mornings remain: November 3, 10 and 17. The Lincoln Square Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce lists the final one as November 17.

This was also the market's first season back in that lot after two years down the street. With it came a new plaza and a run of restaurant changes farther up Lincoln Avenue. Together they moved Lincoln Square's center of gravity back to its south end for most of 2026. The calendar for the next month moves that center north again, one corner at a time, until the Giddings Plaza tree lighting takes over on November 28.

Two years on Lincoln Avenue, then home to Leland

In 2024 the market moved to a parking lot at 4513 N. Lincoln Ave. because of construction at the Western Brown Line station and around it. Block Club Chicago reported in April that the 2026 season would open May 5 back at its longtime home on Leland, with more than 50 vendors selling seasonal produce, fresh bread and sustainably raised meats.

The corner the market came back to had changed. The southeast corner of Western and Leland was one of the areas the 2019 Lincoln Square Master Plan singled out for improvement. A 2018 study had described it as outdated and in need of better access to nearby shops and restaurants. In mid-May, crews took down the chainlink fence around the new public plaza just north of the station. That opened up benches, plantings, string lights and pavers next to the upgraded Leland Avenue bike lane and the new traffic pattern at Leland and Western, according to Block Club.

The station is a separate CTA project with its own timeline. In early June, officials expected the remaining construction to wrap in about two months. The CTA's Western Brown Line project page has the latest on the station and bus service.

So the plaza is open and the market is back beside it. Since May, a Tuesday or Thursday at Leland and Western has meant the neighborhood's farm stand, a transit stop and a new place to sit, all within a few steps of each other.

The last market days, in order

The chamber's schedule lists Thursdays from May 7 through October 29 and Tuesdays from May 5 through November 17. The City of Chicago's farmers market schedule also gives November 17 as the closing date.

1. Thursday, October 29, 3 to 7 p.m. The final evening market.
2. Tuesday, November 3, 7 a.m. to noon.
3. Tuesday, November 10, 7 a.m. to noon.
4. Tuesday, November 17, 7 a.m. to noon. The last market of 2026.

The two days have different vendors. On the chamber's lists, Tuesday sellers include Daisies and Lafevor Farm, and Thursday sellers include Dorothy's Bakery and Global Gardens Chicago. If the Thursday sellers are your regulars, October 29 is your last chance to see them this season, because the Tuesday mornings that follow have a different lineup.

The market also brought back its Link Match program, which doubles the buying power of SNAP shoppers. In 2025, Link Match redemptions rose 7 percent, and nearly $32,000 in SNAP and Link Match funds went directly to local vendors, the chamber told Block Club.

The walk north from the market lot

From the Leland lot, the stretch of Lincoln Avenue heading north toward Giddings Plaza holds most of the neighborhood's 2026 restaurant news. Read in address order, it runs like this.

Goosefoot, 4520 N. Lincoln Ave. The contemporary French-American restaurant closed its 2656 W. Lawrence Ave. location in 2024 after 12 years. It quietly reopened on Lincoln Avenue in March and held a grand opening October 10. Owners Nina and Chris Nugent have lived in Lincoln Square for 25 years. They looked specifically for a storefront with an apartment upstairs and bought the building, formerly an Italian restaurant, in the winter of 2024. The new space includes an outdoor patio. In Block Club's September profile, Nina Nugent greets diners this way:

"You are in our home because we live upstairs."

Chris Nugent told the same outlet, "We always wanted to be on Lincoln Avenue."

Lincoln Square Food Wine & Spirits, 4605 N. Lincoln Ave. It opened in February, according to Block Club's March food roundup.

Ardor By Chance, 4624 N. Lincoln Ave. It opened in January, per the same Block Club report.

4701 N. Lincoln Ave. The former Market Square space was announced in March as the future home of Et Chi, a Turkish-fusion restaurant. Check the storefront before you plan a meal around it.

Grecian Taverna, 4761 N. Lincoln Ave. The longtime Barba Yianni address is serving again under a new name, as The Infatuation noted on October 12.

All but one of those addresses sit between the market lot and Giddings Plaza at 4731 N. Lincoln, and Grecian Taverna is a short walk past the plaza. For most of this year, a market morning on Leland and dinner on Lincoln made one easy loop. Once the market closes, the north end of that loop has to carry the neighborhood's evenings on its own.

Eleven days, then Giddings Plaza

The chamber's 2026 market schedule ends November 17. The neighborhood's next big gathering comes eleven days later, about four blocks up Lincoln Avenue. The annual tree lighting at Giddings Plaza is Saturday, November 28. A pre-show with Derek Bish starts at 5 p.m., and the tree is lit at 5:30 p.m.

The tree lighting lands in the middle of a full holiday weekend on the chamber's calendar, with neighborhood concerts at the Old Town School of Folk Music on top. Here's how the stretch lines up:

The chamber's holiday events cover the wider Lincoln Square and Ravenswood district, which reaches well past the Lincoln Avenue strip. The Ravenswood side has its own rhythm, which we covered in our post on the industrial corridor along Ravenswood Avenue.

A November plan built around the handoff

The market and the plaza went back to Leland and Western this year. The restaurant changes stretch north from there, and the holiday calendar picks up at Giddings Plaza. With all of that in mind, here's one way to plan the month:

• Thursday, October 29: the Thursday market until 7 p.m., then walk up Lincoln Avenue for dinner.
• November 3, 10 and 17: Tuesday mornings at 2301 W. Leland, 7 a.m. to noon. The 17th is the last market of the year.
• The weekend of November 27 to 29: Plaid Friday into Small Business Saturday. Get to Giddings Plaza before 5 p.m. on the 28th for the pre-show and the lighting.

For a wider look at the neighborhood beyond this season, our Lincoln Square neighborhood page and what it's like to live in Lincoln Square fill in the rest. Market days and holiday listings can change, so check the chamber's pages before you head out.

If you're thinking about how this stretch of Lincoln Avenue fits your next move, Cadence Realty is happy to walk it with you. Schedule a concierge consultation.