More than 100 Black-owned businesses will set up shop at Soldier Field this weekend as the traveling marketplace Black on the Block makes its first stop in Chicago. The event runs from 1 to 7 p.m. Sunday at Stadium Green, the outdoor lawn space at 1410 Special Olympics Drive, and organizers expect more than 4,000 attendees to pass through over the course of the day. Mayor Brandon Johnson is set to attend, and the lineup includes live performances, DJ sets, food, games, and giveaways.
The Chicago stop is part of a broader national expansion for the marketplace, which started as a single planned Juneteenth event in Los Angeles before growing into a touring festival. As Block Club Chicago reports, the market was initially planned to include just 30 vendors and drew a little over 70 vendor sign-ups in its first year, pulling in roughly 1,500 attendees. It went on to run monthly in Los Angeles for four years before expanding into a monthly LA event and, eventually, into stadium-scale stops in cities including Dallas, Houston, Charlotte and Washington, D.C. Chicago is the newest city added to the lineup.
Sisters Lanie and Char Edwards, who are Pittsburgh natives, founded Black on the Block together. Char Edwards, who previously worked in costume design, makeup and fashion, said attendees are welcome to bring blankets for a picnic-style atmosphere on the lawn, per the same report. Lanie Edwards, who previously worked as a content manager for LiveGlam, said Chicago's history of Black entrepreneurship, culture and community made it a natural fit for the event.
Why Live Nation Urban Got Involved
The Chicago stop received a little over 400 vendor applications for spots among the more than 100 businesses that made the final cut, according to the same account, which will sell apparel, jewelry, and health and fitness products alongside food and other goods. Last year, the event supported over 2,000 vendors nationwide and generated more than $4 million in revenue for participating Black-owned businesses, the market's organizers say.
That scale is part of why Live Nation Urban signed on. The company officially partnered with Black on the Block in January 2025 to expand the festival across seven major U.S. metropolitan markets, providing production backing and stadium venue access, according to Pollstar. Live Nation Urban President Shawn Gee has said the company backed the market because its founders showed how live entertainment could generate direct, sustainable revenue for small minority-owned businesses, according to BuyBlack.org. During a stop at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, in March 2025, the market hosted over 170 participating brands and drew more than 9,000 ticketed attendees in a single day, per KERA News.
Co-founder Char Edwards has said tour stops are chosen strategically in metro areas with high Black consumer buying power and deep cultural networks, according to The Washington Informer. Stadium Green, the site hosting Sunday's event, sits on the southeast side of Soldier Field along Chicago's Lakefront Trail and can accommodate outdoor festival layouts of up to 8,000 people, per the Soldier Field Private Event Rental Guide.
A Response to a Persistent Wealth Gap
Beyond the weekend festivities, Black on the Block operates a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arm, Black on the Block Community Outreach Inc., which provides small Black entrepreneurs with vendor fee grants covering standard entry costs of around $250, along with business training and funding, according to Essence. Lanie and Char Edwards originally conceived the market in 2021 after repeatedly finding themselves the only Black vendors at mainstream Los Angeles retail pop-ups, Forbes reported, at a time when only about 6% of U.S. business owners identified as Black.
That gap remains visible in Illinois today. While Black residents make up over 14% of the U.S. population and Black-owned businesses account for roughly 11% of all businesses in Illinois, only 2% of Illinois businesses with paid employees are Black-owned, according to U.S. Census Bureau data cited by the Illinois Times. Cook County, which includes Chicago, leads every county in the nation with more than 110,000 Black-owned businesses, per BlackDemographics.com, though the vast majority operate as sole proprietorships without paid staff.
A March 2026 Brookings Institution analysis of Census Bureau survey data found that business equity is the second-largest driver of household wealth building in the U.S., underscoring the potential impact of marketplaces that funnel consumer spending toward minority-owned firms. Mayor Johnson has said opportunities like Black on the Block are essential to helping local entrepreneurs expand and thrive, according to Block Club Chicago's reporting.
What to Expect Sunday
The event is presented in partnership with the city, Live Nation Urban and the mayor's office, and doubles as a family-friendly festival with shopping, food, music, games and giveaways. Taylor Bennett will emcee, with performances slated from Antoinae, Ryan Alexander, Shanø and Yaya Marceline. DJ sets are planned from Ryan Moses, Francesca Eva, DJ Ca$h Era and EvieTheCool. FX will also provide a photo booth installation promoting “The Drop: A Snowfall Saga.”
Tickets cost $17 and are available via the Black on the Block app or Universe. Organizers describe the market as a traveling platform focused on Black culture and commerce, designed to give Black-owned businesses visibility, customer connections and revenue that can outlast a single weekend.
