Organizers hopes the event will help local businesses and community members connect and support each other.

ROSELAND — Far South Side neighbors can shop from small businesses at this weekend’s Shop Roseland event.

The event runs noon-4 p.m. Saturday at 27 E. 111th St. It will feature nearly 50 vendors selling clothes, candles, custom eyeglasses and other items. There will also be food from local restaurants, a live band, DJ and a kid’s corner with a bouncy house, said Andrea Reed, executive director of the Greater Roseland Chamber of Commerce.

Community members who attend Saturday’s event can get information and resources from local groups.

CTA representatives will be at the event to tell residents about the Red Line Extension Project, which would add a station to Roseland, while the Chicago Department of Transportation will have information on the proposed streetscape upgrades for parts of Michigan Avenue and 111th Street. 

The original goal of Shop Roseland was to address the community not having local vendors to shop from in the main commercial areas, Reed said. She also wants to “activate the area with positive loitering,” she said.

Reed hopes the event gives local businesses without a store a chance to sell to neighbors while giving community members the chance to support community businesses, she said.

“We also want people to feel comfortable shopping in their own corridor, in their own community,” Reed said. “Most of the residents travel outside of the community because there’s just not a lot of local products or services that people typically want to buy or support. 

“Because we have so many different goals that we’re trying to accomplish, and it’s gonna take time or trial and error, we’re moving things around and trying to see what works, what fits. Hopefully, this particular Shop Roseland event will ignite the flame to make the change that we’re hoping to see.”

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