This is the season of celebration — however you choose to do so — and it’s off with a lurch. I had imagined it would be fairly quiet, but then I went out and got myself into the mix with the seasonal popup markets. Actually, I created one. I asked friends and collaborators to join me after I asked a gorgeous new food hall in downtown Chicago if we could do a tiny holiday popup market in some of their free space. “Funny that you should come by now and ask that,” said the operations manager. “We’ve just been discussing that very thing.”
And just like that, I organized my first market with associates who also hand make products and with other small business owners, particularly my buddies and collaborators Bookish Chicago, whose business model is based on curating an assortment of books, toys, games and novelty items for kids and adults.
Other guest vendors have included Twenty Thou jewelry, Chat Noir jewelry, Sister Threadz candles and jewelry, and Vintage Wit cards/prints. I am excited that the high school arts program After School Matters will join us on Tuesday, December 13! It all came about because I dropped in at their retail store, located at 66 East Randolph St., and asked if they would join us one day. Check them out here: https://afterschoolmatters.org/.
We gave our market a test run on Nov. 17-18 and then started in earnest the week of the Thanksgiving holiday. We’re in gear to keep it going until Friday, December 16.
So if you’re in Chicago and the countdown has begun on your seasonal shopping, Christmas or otherwise, drop in to check us out. Here are the deets:
Urbanspace Holiday Market featuring Jean Williams Studio, Bookish Chicago and an assortment of rotating maker and small business friends. Location: 15 W. Washington Street. Time: 11 am-6 pm, Tuesday-Friday.
Urbanspace Chicago offers an eclectic array of eats to satisfy the foodie soul, from Thai to Greek to Indian to vegetarian to Asian — and more! There’s also a full-service bar up front. So, you can make a whole afternoon of it, and when you’re done, you can even partake of other holiday delights in the area at the Christkindlemarket, just feet away over at Daley Plaza, the Macy’s holiday window display, and the city’s official Christmas tree in nearby Millennium Park.
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