It’s Never Boring in Our Local Food Community
As in most years, there is a summer lull in the local food events calendar. But now that Labor Day is behind us and autumn is practically staring us in the face, Local Food Forum is learning about all kinds of events in the coming weeks.
Before the lineup gets rolling, a reminder that I’ve created an easy form you can use to submit your upcoming events. The new Local Food Forum website, which will launch very soon as a complement to this newsletter, will have a formal events calendar. Click the button for the form.
To keep this tidy, the following list is just the facts. There is a link with each entry for more information and tickets where applicable. All events are in Chicago unless otherwise noted.
Thursday, September 7
Green City Market Chef BBQ: https://www.greencitymarket.org/chef-bbq
Thursday, September 7 and Friday, September 8
Plant Based World Expo (New York, New York): https://plantbasedworldexpo.com/ (h/t to Chicago’s own Jenny Yang, whose Phoenix Bean/Jenny’s Tofu is exhibiting at the event)
Saturday, September 9 and Sunday, September 10
Mariah’s Mums and More (Clinton, Illinois) Mum Fest 2023: https://www.mariahsmums.com/mumfest
Sunday, September 10
Chicago Urban Ag Crawl and Backyard BBQ fundraiser for Growing Home, Grow Greater Englewood and Urban Growers Collective: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/annual-backyard-barbecue-urban-ag-crawl-tickets-654331020697
Illinois Stewardship Alliance Harvest Celebration (Petersburg, Illinois): https://www.ilstewards.org/harvest-celebration-tickets/
Sunday, September 17
Free Walking Tour of Terra Vitae Regenerative Livestock Farm (Woodstock, Illinois), organized by Crate Free USA, a farm animal welfare non-profit that supports our local farmers: Email info@cratefreeusa.org to sign up.
Katherine Anne Confections (host) & Bartleby’s Ice Cream Cakes fundraiser for New Moms non-profit: https://www.katherine-anne.com/
Thursday, September 21
The Evolved Network-Bridges & Space collaboration with elevated appetizers and open bar: https://theevolvednetwork.org/bridges_and_space
Saturday, September 23
Farm Aid live-stream instructions: https://www.farmaid.org/blog/how-to-watch-farm-aid-2023-on-september-23/
Wednesday, September 27
WEDTOBERFEST Beer & Bubbly Wedding Show featuring leading area craft breweries: https://www.wedtoberfest.com/
Sunday, October 1 & Monday, October 2
Northern Illinois Young Farmers Coalition Midwestern Farm-ily Reunion (Harvard, Illinois): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2nd-annual-midwestern-farm-ily-reunion-tickets-707567311877?aff=oddtdtcreator
Saturday, October 7
Illinois Stewardship Alliance Farm-to-Fork Feast (Naperville, Illinois): https://www.ilstewards.org/farm-to-fork-feast-tickets/
Thursday, October 12
Cooking Up a Care fundraiser for Scleroderma Foundation of Greater Chicago (chaired by Chef Cleetus Friedman): https://secure.qgiv.com/for/sfogc/event/cookingupacure2023/
Monday, October 16
The Evolved Network’s Eat and Evolve Annual Fundraiser and Tasting Event: https://theevolvednetwork.org/eat_evolve
Friday, November 3
Pilot Light Feed Your Mind Gala: https://pilotlightchefs.org/calendarevents/pilot-light-gala-2023-feed-your-mind/