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Become a King Onion & Support the Future of City Farm!

Urban Harvest, an evening to celebrate King Onion

Urban Harvest 2011 is upon us! On September 24 we invite you to a decidedly urban affair—on a farm. This unique event will feature hay rides and family activities from 4-6p m, featuring the Urban Worm Girl and food demos from Elena of the Kids’ Table.

Then after six o’clock, we bring out the stars—that is, the food made by our partner chefs, like Paul Virant of Vie and Jason Vincent of Nightwood, using freshly harvested produce from the farm. It’s the farm to fork to farm way of eating. It’s the King Onion way.

The Legend of King Onion

Onions are stinky little bulbs of goodness that add a sweetness to our dinner plates when sauteed and sometimes make us tear-up when we cut through their layers. And as the story goes, the wild onions growing along the mouth of the Chicago river gave Chicago its name. It is what some have come to refer to as the Swenson & McCafferty “smelly onion theory.” That is, John F. Swenson, an avid historian and heirloom plant advocate, along with friend Michael McCafferty published papers on the origins of Chicago’s name.

According to the legend, Swenson claimed that the name Chicago was derived from the Native American Algonquian tribe’s word for “wild onion,” shikaakwa. But other linguistics argue that it is a French word. But the legend, like the smell of an onion, lingers. And our City Farm emblem, the King Onion, is a bridge to the past—a past when local produce was abundant and accessible. Today, we look back over the history of the land to look towards the future, as we plan for new sites to grow new farms in the City.

King Onion is a champion of urban agriculture and on September 24 we are celebrating the past and future of Urban Harvests in the City of Chicago.

You & King Onion

As we prepare to grow the farm, we’re looking to our King Onion supporters to help pave the way to more acres. King Onion ticket holders will walk away with a special City Farm Reuseit.com tote bag, made out of recycled PET, and filled with City Farm t-shirts and goodies from Chicago’s own bluegrass band, Tangleweed and the Kids’ Table.

Are you a King Onion?