Ravenswood's Holiday Rewards Go to the First 50, and Small Business Saturday Is When the Forms Go Out

The Greater Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce runs two things over Thanksgiving weekend. The free Holly Jolly Trolley runs on Saturday, November 28, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Unwrap Ravenswood is a rewards program that starts on Black Friday and runs through Christmas Eve. The trolley is easy. Show up, get on and ride. The rewards program has a limit, and it shapes the whole day.

Here's the limit. On Saturday morning, the chamber's welcome station gives tote bags to its first 250 visitors, and each bag holds an Unwrap Ravenswood application. The program pays out to the first 50 qualifying shoppers who send in a completed form. So the welcome station alone hands out five times as many applications as there are rewards. Your place in line depends on when your form arrives, not on when you finished shopping. A shopper who spends the full $300 on the trolley Saturday and mails the form that week is ahead of someone who reaches $300 on December 23.

How the Rewards Work

The offer is spend $300 at three or more neighborhood businesses, and you get $75 back as three $25 gift cards to Ravenswood shops and restaurants. That works out to 25 cents back for every qualifying dollar. The rules decide which dollars count:

• Boundaries. Purchases must be made between Clark Street on the east and Leavitt Street on the west, one block past Damen, and between Foster Avenue on the north and Irving Park Road on the south.
• Minimum receipt. Each receipt has to show at least $25 before tax and tip. A $12 coffee stop won't count, even when the business is inside the boundaries.
• Groceries and liquor cap. No more than $100 of the $300 can come from groceries or liquor. Retail, dining, gift certificates and services all qualify.
• What's excluded. Memberships, medication, legal or accounting services, postage, auto repairs, business-to-business purchases and gasoline don't count.
• Paper submission. The form and copies of your receipts go by mail to the chamber office at 1770 W. Berteau Ave., Suite 101. Gift receipts aren't accepted, and receipts aren't returned.
• One per household. The chamber chooses which gift cards each qualifying shopper gets at random.

For this year's submission deadline and current form, check the Unwrap Ravenswood page before you mail anything. Because the rewards go to the first 50 forms, the printed deadline matters less than how early you send yours.

Gift certificates count toward the total. That means a shopper who has already budgeted for holiday gifts can finish in one Saturday afternoon by buying a gift card at a third stop.

The Seven Stops, in the Order the Day Runs

The chamber is running three trolleys to seven stops, free from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. You don't need a ticket, and riders of all ages are welcome. The chamber's list of stops:

1. Hazel, 1835 W. Montrose Ave. This is the trolley welcome station. Hazel sells greeting cards and paper goods, jewelry, accessories, baby gifts, housewares and gifts for men, including pieces from independent designers.
2. Dovetail Brewery, 1800 W. Belle Plaine Ave. The brewery focuses on Continental European beer styles and traditional brewing methods.
3. Chicago Artisan Market, 4325 N. Ravenswood Ave., at Artifact Events.
4. Urban Pooch, 4501 N. Ravenswood Ave. This canine life center combines pet retail, daycare, boarding, training, dog washing, adoptions and a dog bakery.
5. Is/Was Brewing, 5121 N. Ravenswood Ave. The taproom specializes in saisons. Its website currently features "lilac," a 5.3% botanical beer conditioned on lilacs foraged in Ravenswood. Only 108 bottles were made, and they're sold only in the taproom.
6. Paper Bunny Press, 4956 N. Damen Ave. The shop sells colorful, funny stationery: greeting cards, stickers and sticky pads.
7. Amy's Candy Bar, 4704 N. Damen Ave. It sells handmade caramels, artisan chocolate and candy bars.

The route covers the Ravenswood Avenue corridor from Belle Plaine north to 5121 N. Ravenswood, then comes back down Damen. Every stop is inside the Unwrap Ravenswood boundaries, so every qualifying purchase along the route counts toward the $300. The chamber also posted a Google Map of the route that marks nearby shops and restaurants.

The Day Is Weighted Toward the Morning

The trolleys run for six hours, but the scheduled events each have their own hours. Here's what the chamber and the businesses have posted:

The welcome station runs only from 11 to 2 and gives out bags only while they last. If you want a tote and the rewards form in hand before you buy anything, start at Hazel. Two stops run past the trolley schedule. Dovetail's holiday market goes until 6. Amy's Candy Bar is open until 8 on Saturdays, so it works as a last stop on foot after the trolleys stop running. Amy's is closed on Mondays, and it's open noon to 6 on Sundays.

The Artisan Market Is the Stop That Spans Two Days

The Chicago Artisan Market is the biggest single stop and the only one with an entry fee. More than 200 artisans set up across the North and South buildings at Artifact Events, selling food, fashion, home goods and art. There's artisan coffee and tea, pastries, plated food, bistro seating and a bar serving cocktails, wine and beer. The chamber says this year's market is newly expanded, with two stocked bars.

General admission is $8 in advance, and kids under 12 get in free. A deluxe market tote costs $2 more. Leashed, well-behaved dogs are welcome, and there's free parking along Ravenswood Avenue. Hours are 11 to 5 on both Saturday and Sunday. Sunday has no trolley, but it's a good day for a second, slower visit. Purchases on either day count toward the $300 if each receipt meets the $25 minimum.

The $8 ticket is a cost of getting in, not a purchase from a vendor. Unwrap Ravenswood counts receipts for retail, dining, gift certificates and services, so plan to reach your total with what you buy inside the market.

Dovetail's Market and the Other Stops

Dovetail's holiday market will fill the taproom with locally made, handcrafted goods. The chamber describes them as "kind of like their beer." The brewery is open noon to 11 on Fridays and Saturdays, so the market leads straight into a regular Saturday night at the taproom.

At the north end of the route, Is/Was Brewing has a different kind of local tie: a beer made with lilacs picked in this neighborhood, sold in bottles only at the taproom. The rules cap groceries and liquor at $100 of the $300, so if you're aiming for $300, buy cards from Paper Bunny Press, gifts from Hazel and candy from Amy's to make up most of it.

Urban Pooch is the stop for dog owners on the route. Its retail shop and dog bakery count as retail, and its daycare, grooming and training count as services. Both kinds of purchases qualify under the program's rules.

The chamber says more Small Business Saturday sales and events are coming soon. Its event page is the place to check before Thanksgiving. This year's sponsors include Chicago Artisan Market, Dovetail Brewery, Hazel, Urban Pooch, Bad Luck Club and Special Service Area #31.

One Damen Avenue Address to Watch

Del Sur Bakery & Cafe, at 4639 N. Damen Ave., is a short walk from the Amy's Candy Bar stop. It closed after service on June 14 to expand into the storefront next door, a move Block Club Chicago reported was meant to shorten its long lines and add more pastries. On October 26, WBEZ reported that the shop would reopen later this fall. WBEZ named its toasted rice croissant, made with black forbidden rice and Minnesota-grown wild rice, one of the best croissants in the city. The bakery's website lists its reopening as autumn 2026. The address is inside the Unwrap Ravenswood boundaries.

Jake Tasharski and TeamJT follow businesses on the Ravenswood Avenue and Damen corridors like these all year, not only in December. If you're thinking about a move in Ravenswood and want to know how a particular block works day to day, reach out to Jake.