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Chicago’s Lycee French Market brings French culture to holiday season

CHICAGO – You don’t have to travel far to get a taste of France in Chicago.

One weekend in November, the halls of Lycee Francais School are transformed into a market to kick off the holiday season.

“It’s grown so much and yeah, it’s like people from outside state come now,” said vendor Barbara Sawyer, who has been selling items at the market since the beginning. “It brings people together and artists that are not necessarily known or anything, so it’s a very nice event.”

Parents of students at Lycee Francais de Chicago started the Lycee French Market 20 years ago as they wanted to raise money for the school to promote its programs and share the French culture.

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This weekend, the market attracted 3,000 visitors and featured a myriad of items such as art, apparel, jewelry, home decor, champaign and wine.

“I hope they do get a flavor and a flair. We do try to have like the flowers that you might see at a French market and the smells of the French bread and the champaign,” said Jennifer Lee, co-chair of Lycee French Market. “We do try to find vendors that sell French goods that are French themselves, and some of those are not going to be at the farmers market or at some of those other street fairs that you see.”

However, the market’s top attraction was undoubtably the bistro, where many menu items were sold out by lunchtime.