The Section 8 Chicago Annual General Meeting is this Saturday, January 25 at 1pm CT at ChiTown Futbol (2255 S. Throop) in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood.

The annual event serves as the starting gun for the Independent Supporters Association for the new year, bringing Fire fans young and old together out of the offseason doldrums to begin looking forward to the new season.

Beyond that, the most important item to tackle are the elections for Section 8 Chicago leadership for the 2014 season.

Retiring Section 8 chairman Joel Piktel leads the list of four outgoing 2013 board members. If I can quickly editorialize, Joel’s work as a supporter’s conduit with the club has been invaluable in his four years of service (two as Chaiman, two as Vice Chair) to the Section 8 board as have been the contributions of the other outgoing members.

Piktel and the other 2013 board members will address the Fire supporters in attendance regarding the past year before the voting begins. In regard to the elections, there are eight open board positions of which two races are contested: Chairman and Vice-Chairman.

Current Vice-Chair Jeffrey Marinacci of supporters group WB05 is running against former Section 8 Merchandise Director Peter Bychowski aka “Chow” (Independent) for the Chairman while Pattrick Stanton (WB05) faces Braulio Diaz (Ultras Red Side) in the Vice-Chair election.

Other uncontested races are for Communications, Marketing, Finance, Operations, Events and Merchandise. All candidates will also address the audience in attendance before voting takes place.

Most if not all candidates have outlined their platforms on the Section 8 Chicago forums so if you’re planning on attending (and you should) do some research on what folks want to enact to continue the growth of the ISA.

In addition to board elections, the ISA will also be voting on amendments to their bylaws, particularly in the case of Membership and Directors as well as organization issues covering not-for-profits.

There is no membership card needed to attend or vote at the Section 8 AGM. All that’s required is for those in attendance to be Fire supporters.

AND as if you didn't need another reason to be there, Fire head coach Frank Yallop and first assistant coach C.J. Brown will be in attendance.

Get out to ChiTown on Saturday and help steer the direction of Section 8 Chicago in 2014.