CHATHAM — An all-day shopping event launched by local faith leaders to encourage neighbors to support Black-owned businesses will return to the South Side Saturday.
“Spend in the Black: Resurrecting the Black Dollar” will take over 75th and King Drive 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday. Neighbors can shop at pop-up vendor booths and businesses along the 75th Street corridor, connect with community leaders and learn more about Black-owned businesses in the city. Over 100 vendors are expected at this year’s event.
Traffic flowing north and south on side streets intersecting with 75th Street will be blocked for the pedestrian-friendly event beginning 6 p.m. Friday and will reopen midnight Sunday, Ald. William Hall (6th), whose ward includes the event, announced on social media.
Rev. Charlie E. Dates, who serves as senior pastor at Progressive Baptist Church and Salem Baptist Church of Chicago, hosted the first “Spend in the Black” alongside Hall last year to help circulate dollars in the community and uplift Black entrepreneurs. Vendors sold goods ranging from clothing to coffee beans under pop-up tents while well-known businesses on the 75th Street corridor, like Brown Sugar Bakery, opened doors to customers.
Shoppers spent more than $1 million on goods and services at last year’s “Spend in the Black,” surpassing expectations by more than double, Dates said in a video announcing Saturday’s event.
“It was the single greatest concentration of Black businesses in a single corridor on a single day in our city,” Dates said.
This year, leaders are honoring that success by giving away 10 emergency savings accounts of $1,000 and one $15,000 grant to an entrepreneur working at Saturday’s event, Dates said.
“We want to not only give you the money, but we’re going to walk with, we’re going to coach you, and we want to make sure that next year, you’re not only there at ‘Spend in the Black,’ but you’re somewhere in Chicago, preferably the 6th Ward,” Hall said.
Live DJs will be on site at the family-friendly event, which is free and open to the public.
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