Beginning at 10:00 am on Saturday, October 24^th, the Beverly Area Merchants of 99^th and Walden Parkway will roll out the welcome mats and close off the street to traffic for a free family harvest festival featuring food, entertainment, and bargains!

Download the Flyer including some Valuable Coupons! >>> 99th St Fall Fest 09

Beginning at 11:00 am, Calabria Imports of 1905 W. 103^rd Street offers Hot Dogs and fresh hot chips until 2pm. Loads of activities for kids and families will be available. There will be free face painting from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, cookie decorating at Cakewalk Chicago, 1741 W. 99^th Street, from 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm, a children’s musical variety show from 12:30 to 1:30 pm at Bluemoon Coffeehouse, 1742 W. 99^th Street, a Puppet Show called Buddy the Bus at 1:45 pm, and Taffy Apples available all day long, courtesy of My Sister’s Knits, 9907 S. Walden Pkwy. For $1.00, there will be pumpkin painting from 10:30 – 1:00 pm, and you may have your picture taken inside the Great Pumpkin for $5.00 all day long.

For moms and dads, the merchants of 99^th and Walden area will have their doors open and their newest fall and holiday stock available. The Blossom Boys, European Floral Designers at 9911 S. Walden Pkwy will offer 20% on all Halloween Merchandise and Gifts. Next door, boutiques Ms. Priss and My Sister’s Knits will offer 15% and 20% off sales all day. Cakewalk Chicago and Bluemoon Coffeehouse will both offer discounts and sales on their culinary offerings.

Local artisans Dan McCabe, pottery, Lulu Bell, jewelry, Laura Hubka, millinery, and Christine Funk, photography, will also be on hand.

The Bluemoon Coffeehouse will be unveiling their new website, by ChicagoCreativeDesign.com, at the event. Chicago Creative specializes in making enterprise level web solutions and marketing accessible to small businesses and has also developed TheBlossomBoys.com among many others.

The Puppet Show, Buddy the Bus, is based on a children’s book by Chicagoan Brian Jones, and the stage adaptation will be presented by Jeannie McQueenie Production’s Jean Vanier, an area reading enrichment and outreach presenter.

The Fall Festival at 99^th and Walden offers the community a chance to enjoy an afternoon of family fun, get to know these unique merchants, enjoy the fall weather, and begin your holiday shopping. The Festival will be held from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm, Saturday, October 24^th, at corner of 99^th Street and Walden Parkway in Chicago.

Steve English of The Blossom Boys

He is the proud father of a 30 year old son  named Jason who he  adopted when he was three years old. He had developmental disabilities and needed special care. He had a stroke at 6 months old .

He became friends with a successful florist in downtown Chicago who needed to hire Steve to help deal with the staff. By accident, Steve became interested in floral designing and worked there for 15 years.

Along came Ryan Steinbach, now the co-owner of Blossom Boys with Steve. They  met on line. After six to eight weeks of communicating, they arrange to  meet each other. They discover a mirage of things they have in common. The first and most important, is that they both love fabric stores. Ryan didn’t own a car at the time and Steve did. Ryan had a long list of car errands he wanted to do, and the most impressive to Steve was the stop at a fabric store. It was love at first sight… of a bolt of fabric.

By this time Steve was no longer working at the Floral Store. He was freelancing at Christmas time, making wreaths and other holiday decorations. He brought Ryan on board at the Floral Store and Ryan worked his way up the corporate floral ladder, so to speak.

Ryan was not happy at the store and noticed an ad for a florist shop for sale  in Chicago’s Beverly area. He brought the ad home to Steve. They both made the journey to Beverly from the north side to see the shop. Steve’s first words were “I  don’t think so”. What turned him around was Ryan and the influence of  Ryan’s mother’s obsession with organization which  had been deeply ingrained into Ryan’s upbringing.

English was the expert  businessman and Steinbach  had the artistic talent and incredible sense of colour to bring to the business. There is a generation gap between the two Blossom Boy owners. Ryan has a different outlook than Steve and this enables them to  complement, challenge and motivate each other.

English would like to turn the shop into non-stop shopping. He noticed a need in the neighborhood for convenience and affordable shopping. English has a good eye for merchandise that moves well.

They recently bought a Tudor styled home in the Beverly neighborhood, and are busy making it into their own home. (English highly recommends the plumbing company Men in Sewers who  did some outstanding work on their home).

English says of the Beverly neighborhood “it is the nicest community, very friendly, very little pretense”.

He and Ryan both love the community and are happy to have their business and their home here.

English also  had a successful Ebay business selling antiques. He is a self made entrepreneur in the truest sense of the word.

The Blossom Boy - Ryan!

After attending one  year of school at Eastern Illinois  in Charleston, Ryan informed his family he was withdrawing  from the University to pursue his interest in art.  It was not an easy decision to make, but it was the right one  according to Steinbach. He applied to Illinois Institute of Art where he was accepted and happily studied fashion design. He then moved to Chicago and lived in student housing. He graduated with a B.F.A. in Fashion Design. Soon after graduation, he became a costume stylist at Broadway Costumes. While there, he became the personal assistant to the owner and the masquerade stylist.. He was responsible for all  masquerade  rentals on holidays and pulled costumes for theatrical productions. At first he enjoyed it, but felt his artistic soul was not being nourished. He moved  on after two years. Soon after, his craving for a more artistic expression of himself  led him into his own, personally designed  line of hand bags named “Dandy Boy”.  He did very well selling the beautiful hand  crafted  limited edition designed  hand bags at  trunk shows .

After another several years, Ryan felt the artisitc urge to move on again.  His  next career move was into a  floral  company with a large corporate business  located in downtown Chicago. At first he began taking care of plants in offices and large corporations. He quickly rose to a position in  floral design where his extraordinary sense of  color, design and fashion found a perfect harmony. Steinbach  was a natural in floral arranging

Again Steinbach, was ready to branch out and start something that was his own. One day at work he saw an ad posted for a floral shop for sale in Beverly Hills. Steinbach and his partner, Steve English, came to see the shop  at 99th and Walden Parkway. Steinbach immediately fell in love with it. English wasn’t quite convinced, but they eventually decided to forge ahead and  combine Steinbachs artistc qualifications with English’s business background and voila… The Blossom Boys began. They are thrilled to announce  they are celebrating their one year anniversary being in business with the shop. The floral business is flourishing for the duo and they have branched out into novelty gifts, cards and fair trade jewelery which  has been a smashing success for the shop.

In addition to starting a business here, they have also taken a major step and purchased a home in Beverly. Formerly from the north side of Chicago  they were glad to leave it and the commute to work behind. It has been, in Steinbach’s words, “A refreshing new start”. They profess their love of  the  neighborhood, the people, the beauty, and are thrilled to be a part of this community.

A Wedding Table

A wedding centerpiece

Let us help to make your wedding memories more beautiful!

The Blossom Boys carry a complete line of flora and Fair Trade decor, always ready for cash-n-carry at the store at 9911 S. Walden, Chicago. For custom designs, weddings, holidays, and special events, call in your special order to 773.779.4400. We Specialize in custom design floral arrangements and theme decor! We are located in Beverly.