Belmont Cragin's October Calendar Is a Map of What Got Built This Year

"It's the Chicago Farm Lab so every project is an experiment," Marnie Ware told Block Club Chicago this summer, walking past eggplants growing out of straw bales on the two-acre farm she co-directs at 2148 N. Long Ave.

The same description fits a lot of Belmont Cragin this fall. Most of this month's public events take place somewhere that changed in 2026. One fieldhouse is a few weeks old, a greenhouse went up this summer, a free market is about to move to a new building, and a plaza at Grand and Fullerton still has no confirmed opening date. Working through the October calendar also takes you past each of those projects.

Finished: A Fieldhouse Nearly Three Times the Size of the Old One

The Chicago Park District cut the ribbon on Cragin Park's new fieldhouse in the last week of August. The district's announcement is dated Aug. 31, 2026. The new building has 4,000 square feet. It replaces a 1,500-square-foot concrete structure built in 1954, which had stood on the 3.26-acre park for about seven decades. The $7.1 million project was paid for entirely with TIF funding.

The floor plan explains how the park can now host events. The building has a half-size gym that can be split into two clubrooms, along with a pantry, restrooms, an office, a lobby and storage. Outside, a large terrace, a new service drive, pathways and landscaping surround it, and the park got new water and electrical service as part of the work.

The Mini Pumpkin Patch on Saturday, Oct. 10, runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It will be one of the first big public events since the ribbon cutting. A $10 wristband covers everything except the pumpkins, including a decorating station, carnival games, inflatables, a harvest photo station and the JG Reptile Show. Clover sells the pumpkins separately, from $2 to $15 depending on size, and neighborhood food trucks sell snacks. At noon, Yves Francois Rocambu plays a jazz set that the Park District lists as a free, all-ages event of its own. You can buy wristbands in advance through the link on the Park District's event page.

Added: The Farm Lab Can Grow Through Winter Now

The Chicago Farm Lab sits in Hanson Park, a park owned by Chicago Public Schools and surrounded by Prosser Career Academy, Prieto Math and Science Academy and Hanson Park Elementary. Ware, a longtime Prosser biology teacher, started it in spring 2014 with a dozen garden beds on an unused, fenced-off soccer field. It now draws more than 1,000 volunteers a year, and about 70 families tend plots in its free community garden.

This summer the farm added a greenhouse, paid for with a $50,000 grant from the Chicago Region Food System Fund. Most of the farm's seeds used to be started in classrooms and in neighbors' basements. The greenhouse lets the Farm Lab extend its season toward year-round growing and gives it space to hold classes.

As a result, the farm keeps working after the first frost. Its calendar lists Wellness on the Farm for Sunday, Oct. 11, from noon to 2 p.m., and a Fall Clean Up Day for all gardeners on Saturday, Oct. 24. Regular volunteer hours are Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Co-director Jim Lichon said the farm plans to plant a "food forest" of nut trees at the back of the property and add 10 more community garden beds next year. Ware said the top priority is for the farm to stay "free and accessible to the community 24/7."

Growing food on this land goes back a long way. The ground was the Hanson Family Farm in the 1800s and was later donated to the city so residents could grow food, which they did through the 1950s.

Moving: The Diversey Market Has Two Dates Left Before It Relocates

Onward Neighborhood House launched a free monthly farmers market in its parking lot at 5413 W. Diversey Ave. in September 2025. It opens at 9 a.m. and runs until the produce is gone, usually around 11 a.m. or noon. Anyone can come, and shoppers choose the items they want. The produce comes through The Common Market, a nonprofit wholesale distributor that sources food from within 250 miles of Chicago, with funding from the Reva and David Logan Foundation. In its first 10 months, the market served more than 2,000 people and gave out more than 25,000 pounds of food.

The remaining 2026 dates are Oct. 17, Nov. 21 and Dec. 19. After that, the market is expected to move. Onward broke ground on March 30 on its $7.5 million CARES Community Center at 2644 N. Central Ave., which replaces an old funeral home, and the market will move to the new center's parking lot once the building opens. In August, Onward said that would likely happen in December. That date is still a projection, so the Dec. 19 market could take place at either address.

The new center is planned to include:

• a pediatric clinic run with the Infant Welfare Society of Chicago
• bilingual mental health services offered with Cicero Family Service
• an expanded food pantry designed to feel like a grocery store, with carts and a checkout
• a demonstration kitchen that teaches cooking with the same ingredients found at the pantry and the market
• a rooftop garden

Gerbis Badell, Onward's director of community services, said he would eventually like local businesses at the market handing out free samples. Once there is more room on Central Avenue, that idea becomes easier to pull off.

The Older Parks Fill In the Rest of the Month

The new and changing spaces account for about half the calendar. Older parks cover the rest, especially the 57-acre Riis Park. On Friday, Oct. 9, Riis hosts a free Día de los Muertos altar-making workshop for teens from 3 to 6 p.m. Participants can bring copies of photos to include on the altar. On Friday, Oct. 30, the 30th and 36th Wards host the Belmont Cragin Trunk or Treat Fall-4-All at Riis from 6 to 8 p.m., using the 6241 W. Wrightwood address.

A week earlier, Kelvyn Park at 4438 W. Wrightwood Ave. holds a free Halloween Monster Mash Party on Friday, Oct. 23, from 3 to 6 p.m. The Park District describes an evening of costumes, games, music and candy for all ages.

Unconfirmed: The Plaza at Grand and Fullerton

One gathering place in the neighborhood is still missing from the calendar. On Aug. 19, 2025, officials broke ground on La Placita de Belmont Cragin, on the grassy triangle where Grand and Fullerton meet, across from the Brickyard. The plans call for a pergola for outdoor performances, an archway, benches, picnic tables, concrete pads for food carts, decorative fencing with Latin American art, bike racks, a walking path, public art and trees. The Chicago Department of Transportation is leading construction with Community Development Block Grant money, and the Northwest Side Community Development Corporation is the grant recipient. The target for completion was spring 2026.

Jason Estremera, the CDC's executive director, described the goal as a place that feels like "the epicenter of the neighborhood," with food carts run by vendors who live nearby. For four years before the groundbreaking, the CDC and Ald. Gilbert Villegas's office held pop-up markets, dance classes and Christmas tree-lighting ceremonies on that same patch of grass.

We could not find a published opening date or a revised timeline. The 36th Ward's September 2026 newsletter lists the ward's fall events and says Trunk or Treat flyers are coming soon, but it does not mention the plaza or a tree lighting. The ward shares event flyers on social media and by text message, so this year's tree lighting date and location will likely appear there first.

When a new fieldhouse, a greenhouse or a plaza opens near you, it can change what your block feels like. Irais and the bilingual team at This Is IT keep track of these Northwest Side projects as they open. If you have questions about what is being built near you in Belmont Cragin, or how it fits your plans for your home, reach out to us. We'll walk through it with you in English or Spanish.