Friends, there are officially NO MORE TABLES left for sale for this year's Record Fair! To put that another way, we've got a full house and are ready and raring for the Fair to get here - just over two weeks now!

To those that weren't able to score a table in time, we look forward to receiving your contract next year - late February/early March, to be safe!

To this year's crop of vendors, we CANNOT WAIT to see all of the wonderful wax you'll be sharing with us! We'll be sending out a table map soon, along with confirmation emails for those of you that haven't heard from us yet - in the meantime, if you have any questions about the Fair, please email us at recordfair@chirpradio.org.

 

Attendees, you can see this year's crop of vendors on our Vendor page - it's gonna be a great year!

Planning on riding your bike to this year's record fair? It's a great way to avoid the natural disaster that is parking in Chicago, and is a bit more flexible and reliable than the CTA. But what will you do with it when you get there?

Worry no longer! We're happy to announce that West Town Bikes will be providing bicycle valet service on the day of the fair. So come dig for records with the comforting knowledge that your bike is not being stolen or run over by a garbage truck - West Town Bikes has your back!

Happy March, everyone! Spring is just around the corner - above-freezing temps are in the forecast, daylight savings is this weekend, and we're just over a month out from the 13th annual CHIRP Record Fair! Get excited!!

In case the preceding imperative sentence didn't work on you, here are some things to get excited about:

 

Chicago's own public access kid's show, Chic-A-Go-Go, will be hosting a live dance party on stage during the fair. You know what that means - a joyous interlude of uninterrupted crate perusal time while your kids are grooving to the tunes! Or, if you're anything like me, a joyous interlude of dancing time to shake the stiffness out of your joints after hours of uninterrupted crate perusal. Either way!  

 

First Time will be on hand to host a miniaturized version of their monthly storytelling series. Reminisce about your own first record, first concert, or first time at the CHIRP Record Fair as the First Time speakers share their own anecdotes!  

 

And just in case attending a record fair wasn't enough to prove to your friends and family that you're a total music buff, CHIRP will be hosting a hard-hitting session of music trivia! Join CHIRP DJ and longtime former Record Fair coordinator Mary Nisi and test your music knowledge with trivia questions written by music nerds (i.e. us), for music nerds (i.e. you, hopefully!). Maybe hold off on the beer until after trivia - you're gonna need the full use of your brain for this one!

 

Finally, an update to potential vendors: over half of our tables are already booked!! If you've been dragging your feet on your vendor contract, now's the time to get started! Download a copy of the vendor contract here. Anyone can be a vendor, so if you've been looking to offload some of that massive record collection gathering dust in your basement, now's the time!

 

Enjoy the sunshine! T minus 36 days...

Great news, fairgoers! You can now buy your CHIRP Record Fair 2015 tickets online via Eventbrite! And don't worry, the $7 or $25 ticket price includes fees, so what you see is what you get. We'll be scanning printed or mobile tickets at the door, so get yours today and skip the line!

You can buy tickets here:

 

 

Can't wait to see you all in April!

Scouring the crates for hours to find that perfect record can take a lot of energy, which is why food and beverage providers have always been an integral part of the CHIRP Record Fair experience. This year, we are happy to welcome back Dark Matter Coffee, who will be present to provide sustaining caffeine throughout the day. For the lunchtime refuel, UIC-area restaurant Mox ee brings its "authentic, low and slow barbecue" to the Fair for the first time this year.

Keep an eye on the "Friends" page for future additions to our growing list of food, drink, and other sponsors.