Your Chance to Reboot Edible Chicago
Plus market photos and a Good Food volunteer opp at the Illinois State Fair
I Get Around
Covering the local food community obligates me to visit multiple farmers markets each week (yeah, it’s kind of a dream job). And of course it would be rude not to buy some delicious local food at each stop.
My Tuesday haul (top photo) came from SOAR Farmers Market in Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood. My Wednesday haul came from Green City Market in Lincoln Park.
I’m hoping to hit Uptown Farmers Market this afternoon for my first visit this year. Chicago Market, the developing food co-op that presents the Uptown Farmers Market, just broke news that it is receiving a $5 million grant from the city of Chicago that will enable the long-awaited completion and opening of its brick-and-mortar store next year. I’ll have more about that tomorrow.
Your Chance to Reboot the Iconic Edible Chicago
Want to be a local Good Food media mogul? This could be the opportunity of a lifetime: Edible Communities, which publishes nearly 90 local food-focused publications across the nation, is seeking an entrepreneur to revive Edible Chicago.
The original Edible Chicago launched in 2008 and was much loved by members of the local food community, who have missed it since it was discontinued in 2017. I was proud to have some of my earliest food writing appear in Edible Chicago (as well as Edible Michiana).
It might seemed odd that I’m promoting the comeback of another local food publication, but I am persuaded that there is more than enough room in this big town for Edible Chicago 2.0. Besides, I know a guy who would make a great freelance writer for the new management. 😁
Here are the details from the folks at Edible Communities. And thanks to Sheree Moratto of the Rogers Park Business Alliance and the Chicago Farmers Market Collective for the heads up.
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Edible Communities Seeks Publisher in Chicago Area
Edible Communities is an award-winning network of nearly 90 independently-owned, locally-focused magazines and websites across the US and Canada that celebrate local food, season by season, community by community. With quality content, creativity and a mission-driven business acumen, our publishers lead today’s conversations surrounding quality, healthy food.
They are currently in search of a publisher for the Chicago area. They previously had a very strong readership in the area and are eager to have Edible back in the hands of a passionate local publisher. They reached out to us hoping we might know of someone who would be interested!
Owning an Edible publication is very much an entrepreneurial venture. Upon purchasing the license rights to a specific territory from Edible Communities, publishers craft their own business models within the parameters of our licensing agreement. They make their own decisions regarding editorial content, ad rates, magazine distribution, digital venues, local staffing, and advertising revenue generation.
To aid them in this endeavor, Edible Communities provides a very robust and turn-key suite of services and support, including training, sales tools, brand assets and standards, website design and hosting, operational tools and more. Prior publishing experience is not a requirement of being an Edible Communities publisher. If you are interested please visit EdibleCommunities.com/Start-Your-Own-Edible to learn more and get in touch.
Help Specialty Growers and Have Fun at the Fair
I’m sharing the following ask from the Illinois Specialty Growers Association, which needs volunteers to help out at their booth at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield from August 11-21.
Many of our readers probably know this already, but if the term “specialty crops” sounds a little chi-chi, it’s not. It is a term, embedded in federal law, for exotic things such as vegetables, fruit, tree nuts, dried fruit, and horticulture and nursery crops including flowers.
Go figure. Anyway, here’s the scoop from the association with a link to volunteer. Sounds like a fun way to contribute to the community.
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Illinois Specialty Growers Association (ISGA) needs volunteers to work the Illinois State Fair Farm Stand. Come promote our state's specialty crops by volunteering your time to serve slushies, ice cream, watermelon, and more, help with basic food prep, or handle cash register transactions. Sign up for a 3-hour shift from Thursday, August 11 to Sunday, August 21. Weekends are the busiest times of the fair; please consider filling a weekend volunteer shift.
As a volunteer, you'll receive:
FREE fair admission
Parking reimbursement
A FREE ISGA baseball hat
Complementary apple cider slushies, popcorn, sweet corn, ice cream, and watermelon during your shift!
NEW THIS YEAR - Partner Volunteer Day
Spread the word! ISGA is offering partner organizations the option to sign-up for a Partner Volunteer Day. Any organization to fill 8-10 volunteer slots will be promoted and highlighted as a farm stand partner. They will be able to bring materials to share, and we will have information available and shared on social media. Interested organizations should reach out to Raghela Scavuzzo at rscavuzzo@ilfb.org.
Some More Market Photos
From this morning’s visit to Green City Market.
Lots of corn from Smits Farms (Chicago Heights, Illinois).
Peaches, berries and cherries from Mick Klug Farm (St. Joseph, Michigan).
Eggplant is out in force at the stand of Nichols Farm and Orchard (Marengo, Illinois).
An excellent edition just like each one you create.