May Newsletter

In this month's newsletter:

• Word from the General Manager 
• Art Gallery 
• Plant Sale 
• Owner Appreciation Days 
• May Owner Deals 
• Farmers Market 
• Spring Still Life In-Person Art Class 
• Macrame In-Person Art Class 
• Kombucha In-Person Art Class
• Recipe Feature 
• New Products 

Word from the GM

Hello Cooperators,

It has been a busy time for us here at Common Ground!

Our new coolers are fully installed and operating reliably. Our Financial Meeting of Owners happened yesterday, April 30th and tomorrow my favorite activity begins! 

I know Spring officially started back in March, but for me it doesn't truly begin until the outdoor Farmers Market starts up again. That time is finally here and I am so excited that tomorrow we can all get together to kick off Market Season! Please join us in supporting our local farmers and producers on Saturday, May 2nd on the corner of Vine and Illinois Street!

Also coming up very soon are our Spring Owner Appreciation Days and we are getting ready for our 18th Annual Plant Sale, both happening the week of May 6th - 12th. We have some very exciting classes coming up in May so keep your eye out for those!

This is a great time of year for us and we look forward to seeing you all soon.

Take Care Everyone!

Art Gallery Reception

May  26th, 4-6pm

Stop by the Flatlander Art Gallery in a couple weeks to see the newest installation featuring the work of Zoya Wu, the signature artist of Boneyard Arts Festival! 

Zoya is a painter and illustrator who specializes in watercolor, creating pieces that blend the natural world with vivid abstractions. Her work combines careful attention to detail with expressive color and imagined spaces.

Plant Sale Fundraiser

May 6th - 12th 

Our 18th annual Plant Sale is happening in May! The plant sale is a full week and will feature seedlings grown by some of our amazing local farms including, Sola Gratia Farm, Kristi's Garden of Eatin', The Sustainable Student Farm, and Delight Flower Farm, as well as Urbana High School's Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences Club (MANRRS).

We will have a large selection of tomatoes, greens, herbs, flowers, and other plants available for purchase. All proceeds from the Plant Sale go to our food accessibility program, Food For All. A Food For All grant covers full Owner equity as well as discounts on produce and our Co+op Basics line. All plants are $3 each!

Owner News

News for our Co-op Owners

Owner Appreciation Days

May 6th - May 12th

Owner Appreciation Days are our special sales celebration where all of our Co-op Owners get great store-wide deals! Owners will receive a 10% discount off their entire purchase of one shopping trip of their choice (excluding Co+op Basics, alcohol, and items already on sale).

Owners will also receive a special coupon book with exclusive deals from May to August. Additionally, there will be free Golden Ticket items, and the chance to win one of four amazing raffle giveaways!

May Owner Deals

Dozens of sales every month for Owners

Owner Deals are bigger and better than ever, with dozens of products on sale all month! With updates happening behind the scenes, be sure to keep your eye out for our changing cycles. Each one brings a fresh set of deals, so there’s always something new to discover.

Urbana's Market at the Square

May  - October 

It's the best time of the year! The market returns for its 47th season on Saturday, May 2, 2026. The market runs from 7 a.m. to noon every Saturday through October at the corner of Illinois and Vine Streets. As Illinois' top farmers market, it features over 150 vendors selling local produce, meat, baked goods, and crafts, rain or shine.

Classes & Events

Every month, we host both In-Person and Virtual Classes in our Flatlander Classroom!

Spring Still Life In-Person Art Class

Friday, May 8th from 5:30 - 7:30pm

Explore the moods & textures of Maytime in this Spring Still Life Art Class, led by local artist Vivian Krishnan. Participants will learn the fundamentals of drawing from observation, watercolor painting, and mixed media techniques by studying a still life vignette featuring the season’s harvest.

This course is open to all skill levels! We will begin with ink and incorporate more mediums along the way.

$40/ticket. Owners can use promo code: OWNER for $5 off their ticket. 

Macrame In-Person Art Class

Wednesday, May 13th from 5:30 - 7:30 pm 

Join Emily Alley, local fiber artist, as she takes you through step by step instruction on how to create a beautiful macramé Tree of Life! Its a perfect beginner project. In this class you will be working on a 7 inch hoop, learning various knots, such as the larks head and double hitch.  

$40/ticket. Owners can use promo code: OWNER for $5 off their ticket.

Kombucha In-Person Class

Saturday, May 30th from 12 - 2pm

Discover how to craft your own kombucha in this hands-on class led by Tom Bassett and Carol Spindel! The class will cover the two-stage brewing process. Participants will prepare a gallon of kombucha for the first fermentation stage along with detailed instructions on the bottling process for the second stage of fermentation.

$40/person - Owners can use promo code: OWNER for $5 off their ticket.

Community News

Round Up For Good Update

Take a look at the incredible impact we made together to raise funds to support some of local community projects right here in Champaign-Urbana!

April's Round Up For Good Grant

$5,256 raised for Prairie Rivers Network

Mission: At Prairie Rivers Network, our mission is to protect water, heal land, and inspire change. Using the creative power of science, law, and collective action, we protect and restore our rivers, return healthy soils and diverse wildlife to our lands, and transform how we care for the earth and for each other.

Project Proposal: Clean Water Forever Campaign - Clean Water Forever starts with protecting the drinking water of Central Illinois. 

The Mahomet Aquifer is vital to Central Illinois, providing drinking water to nearly a million people across 14 counties. It’s a resource that we all depend on every day, but it’s now facing serious threats from proposed, large-scale carbon- capture and sequestration (CCS) projects through the Mahomet Aquifer. While these projects are painted as a way to reduce our carbon emissions, the reality is they pose a serious risk to our aquifer and those that rely on it daily. Given that the Mahomet Aquifer is our only viable source of drinking water, the stakes couldn’t be higher. 

To protect our water, Prairie Rivers Network is working to educate the public of the importance of Illinois’ only Sole Source Aquifer, and to mobilize our community to demand protection of this vital resource for the long term. With support from the Round Up For Good Grant, PRN will be able to produce educational materials such as posters, billboards, and digital ads that inform people across Central Illinois about the dangers of CCS projects proposed to inject carbon dioxide through and store carbon dioxide under the aquifer and its recharge zones. We’ll also share personal stories from residents who rely on the aquifer, bringing a human face to the issue and inspiring others to get involved. 

By educating and engaging the public, we can build strong opposition to these projects and push for a ban on CO2 injection and storage in our community.
Our goal is simple: to make sure that individuals who depend on the Mahomet Aquifer for clean and affordable drinking water understand the importance of this resource and how to take action to protect it. 

This is just the beginning of the Clean Water Forever Campaign. In addition to protecting the Mahomet Aquifer from threats from carbon capture and sequestration, we plan to expand the program to other efforts, including ensuring that the public has access to rivers and streams in Illinois, that Illinois waters are free from pollutants that are harmful to human health and the environment, and that we know what’s in our water.

Waters in Illinois are in rough shape. According to the Illinois EPA, 89% of Illinois’ rivers and streams are impaired by pollution such that they cannot fully support “primary contact,” i.e. swimming. Forty-two percent of rivers are too polluted to fully support aquatic life, and 100% of rivers assessed are too polluted to fully support fish consumption. These figures should shock and alarm us and demand our attention.

By educating people about the importance of the Mahomet Aquifer and elevating voices in support of clean water, we hope to build a movement that will allow us to take action on other water quality issues. We plan to expand monitoring efforts and push for policy solutions that will protect water across Illinois forever.

With support from the Round Up For Good Grant, we can activate the community and together, help protect our shared water supply.
 

May's Round Up For Good Grant

Proceeds benefit Common Ground Food For All Program

May's Round Up For Good organization is Common Ground Food Co-op's Food Cor All Program. Mission: "Common Ground's mission is broken up into 5 Ends that guide our organization.

End #1: The Co-op is the center of an inclusive, vibrant community.

End #2: The cooperative movement is strengthened.

End #3: The Co-op serves as an educational resource on food issues.

End #4: The local food movement is equitable, robust, and environmentally sound.

End #5: The Co-op supports our community's resilience while ensuring it's own economic stability. 

Project Proposal:

Food For All is our food accessibility program. One aspect of our fourth end is to ensure that healthy and affordable food is accessible to all people. Food For All was created to do just this, and through grant donations and fundraising, we have been able to keep this program going. A Food For All grant will cover full owner equity, giving members all of the same benefits that owners receive. They also get a 10% discount on our entire produce section as well as on all Co+op Basics products. All of the funds raised through Round Up For Good will go directly towards providing our customers with that 10% discount.

Recipe Features

We've been cooking up some healthy and affordable recipes for your enjoyment!

New Products

Take a look at some of our new items and fan favorites!

Thanks for Reading!

Enjoy the coupon below on your next shopping trip.