Chicago Fire Will Film Scene At County Fair Foods

CHICAGO — When producers for the hit NBC drama Chicago Fire needed to film a scene for an upcoming episode set to take place at a rural Indiana grocery store, it only made sense to keep the film location within city boundaries. That's because the Beverly neighborhood on the Far South Side boasts its own grocery store that fits the bill for everything they had in mind.

Bill Baffes, owner of the beloved County Fair Foods at 108th and Western, says the store will be closed from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. Thursday, July 25, as the scene for the show's upcoming eighth season is filmed inside the store.

"They approached us," said Baffes, who gained national attention last year as "Mustard Man" when he was captured with a smudge of the delicious yellow condiment on his face during a Chicago White Sox game.

"I'm speculating, but I think they (Chicago Fire) wanted an independent grocery store, a neighborhood grocery store and one that is a little quirky."

County Fair surely checks off every item on that list.

Baffes said the scenic locale is supposed to be in Indiana but did not have additional details on what the show will be about.

"I think our farmstand, the barn we have, caught their imagination," he said. "The architecture of our store and the farm theme we have must have made us stand out."

The show contacted Baffes about filming at County Fair just a week-and-a-half ago, and everything is already pretty much all set for Thursday.

About 35 people from the show will be there, but only five or six actors Baffes said. A few of the cashiers and butchers who work at County Fair are already on as extras.

"It has been interesting thus far," Baffes said. "Our customers are excited about it. Everyone is getting a kick out of it."

Even better that the grocery store is a centerpiece of a Beverly-Mt. Greenwood-Morgan Park neighborhood that's home to a large concentration of Chicago firefighters.

"It's the perfect storm," Baffes said. "Going to be a lot of fun."