We're excited to bring you a guest blog post from Kate Jakubas, Owner #406, who has a producer's perspective on the value of Chicago Market in our city.

In early 2013, probably right around when you were starting to get some traction on the Chicago Market idea, I had a little seed of an idea that I wanted to make cleaning products.

Martha Feldman, Owner #1515 joined us recently and we're excited to get to know her.

Readers of Chicago Market’s blog – and attendees at our Co-op events – often hear us refer to Chicago Market’s “Business Owners.” We’ve started to get questions about who they are, what they do – and what the benefits of Business Ownership are. To answer these queries, we’re taking the classic journalism approach to deliver everything you need to know about this great opportunity to support Chicago Market – and your business, too!

Connie Smith was one of the Uptown residents who signed up to become an Owner of Chicago Market at the Up & Under Fest on September 15! Learn more about her here....

Uptown bright spot Fat Cat welcomed a number of co-op-curious folk on Monday, October 1 as the Market moved 2 Owners closer to our goal of 2000 by year’s end to keep the build-out of our Co-op moving forward. That puts our current Owner tally at 1,408!

As at all Co-op Mixers (this was our third to date this fall), several enthusiastic Chicago Market Owners stepped up to the mic to share a bit about who they are…and what drives their support of Chicago Market. Here’s a bit of what they had to say:

Lakeview Pantry
Minutes: Sara Dinges
In attendance: Lee, Kristin, Sara, Greg, Dan, Pat, Dana, Ankit, Sofia
Guests: Rachel Ramirez, Jessica Droeger

Dana and Josh, longtime Uptown residents, are thrilled to be two of the newest Owners of Chicago Market - #1344. Learn more about them...

Chicago Market currently has more than 1375 Owners...which puts us 625 shy of the minimum number of Owners we need by December 31 to secure funding to continue design and construction of the Gerber building.

That's a lot of people. In fact, it breaks down to the Co-op needing to ink more than 6 Owners each and every day.

So...is there a single, convincing argument for WHY we believe becoming an Owner of Chicago Market is one of the most important decisions you'll make this year? Actually, No. In fact, there's almost as many reasons for buying into the Co-op as there are current Owners!

If you're searching for just the right reason to become an Owner, relax! Take a look at some of the ideas that have prompted your fellow Chicagoans to become a part of the Chicago Market community and see if you can see yourself among us.... 

WOW! 

The Uptown neighborhood and hundreds of Chicago Market Owners showered Up & Under Fest-- the debut festival for the Wilson Underline -- with tons of warmth and good vibes on a beautiful and sunny September afternoon. 1000 Owners, Uptown residents, prospective Owners, co-op-curious folks and passers-by wound their way through Saturday's Fest. And it's fair to say a great time was had by all.

(See more of our new Owners here.)

You'll never guess what 3 words Megan, Owner #1302, uses to describe herself...not to mention she has a super interesting and impactful job. Read all about her!