During this unprecedented time, around the globe and throughout the entire city of Chicago, we are seeing remarkable examples of communities coming together. People are rallying to help each other. Despite a Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that continues to pose a widespread, deadly threat, we are encouraged that so many of our fellow residents are doing what they can to help their fellow neighbors in these trying times. And we’ve also been heartened to see necessary measures taken in the city recently – greater restrictions placed on public gatherings and the practice of social distancing adopted quickly among the residents of our city.
In addition to the devastating threat to public health, we recognize that this is also having an impact on a number of small businesses and the workers that have started these companies or rely on it to make their living. We’d like to help in any way we can. So here’s what we’re planning this week in hopes of making things a little brighter while we all stay home:
In our little corner of sustainability-focused businesses in Chicago, the BIDE Market has quickly become the go-to luxury experience in the city to help sustainable small businesses meet new customers and showcase their plastic-free, cruelty-free, quality products and services. With its scheduled March 22nd event now cancelled, both BIDE Market and several sustainable vendors that rely on sales from this quarterly gathering face significant losses. While it may be impossible to make up every dollar of lost revenue, this week we are partnering with BIDE Market to launch a virtual event so these same small businesses have a chance to reach an audience online that will be home this Sunday and want to show these companies their support.
The virtual BIDE Market will feature the same luxury items and great Chicago sustainable leaders promoting ways to better ourselves and the planet. But instead of the in-person experience at Wicker Park’s wonderful EXCHANGE312 location, BIDE will move to Facebook Live on Sunday so people can still attend the event at home. Additionally, the virtual event will feature a guided meditation and leading sustainability experts discussing some of the biggest issues facing the industry. As we all continue to deal with the fallout of the pandemic and do our part to stay home and keep people safe, we hope this will create a fun and engaging distraction and help some cool companies along the way.
And we hope you’ll join us. This Sunday at 10 a.m. you can tune into Facebook Live to watch and attend the virtual BIDE Market. Learn more about the creators behind these products, why they are focused on sustainability, and what they’ve created to give your home and life a boost in these trying times. Later this week, we will email out a link to watch the event live.
We’ve been so impressed by all the amazing work BIDE Market Founder Parisa Morris and the entire BIDE Market community has done to already help Chicago become a more green and sustainability place. This weekend, we want to keep one cancelled event from stopping a movement to make our city better. We hope this will help. Thank you for being along the ride for the journey.
