Art Adventure and the Custer St. Fair

What: Art Adventure
Where: Ukranian Village
How Much: Free
How to get there: Red line to Clark and Division, Division St. bus to Damen

In the next month, I will be moving to the Ukranian Village or the surrounding area, so my friend Nicole thought I might like to check out the area and see some art in the process. The Art Adventure is a scavenger hunt of sorts. You start at one place and get a map that shows the local businesses that are showcasing local art. Then you walk around the neighborhood and stop in different bars and restaurants. Many of the bars had free beer, and some of the restaurants had specials. I met Nicole and Eric at Barista, where Eric's friend was performing poetry. I got a delicious $1 iced coffee and settled in. Two poets read and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Then it was off to see more art.

Eric and Nicole are posing with some robots made of industrial odds and ends. I think the one on the left was made of an old school VCR. There were about 12 of the robots in all and pretty darn cool.





Next we were off to the "afterparty" at the Sculpture Garden. The party proved to be very loud, very hot, and it smelled not a little like cats. We lasted only a few minutes before we headed off to the Club Foot. I'm proud to say that my new neighborhood has a shit fountain. You heard right.




What: Custer's Last Stand
Where: Evanston
How Much: $1 donation
How to get there: I scooted- you can take the purple line to Main

This was my third Custer St. Fair and I went with my friend and co-worker Marci on Sunday morning. The fair was the place to be as I saw two other coworkers as well- Brenda with her family and Amy with her fiancee Simon. Amy and Simon are getting married at the beginning of August! Simon made fun of the way I say "blog" with a Chicago accent. (Brenda, you can click on the pictures to make them bigger)

This is easily the best fair so far this summer with regards to free stuff and affordable but cute merchandise. There were lots of free goodies to sample. I tried a "fruit 2 day" drink that was delicious. I must admit that ever since those came out I have pooh-poohed them, being a big fan of real fruit myself. I was wrong. I also got some organic chocolate with chili in it that rocked my world and some chocolate covered vitamins I haven't tried yet.

The fair stretched through about 4 blocks and there was every kind of merchandise you can imagine. I ended up with two pairs of earrings ($10 total), two vintage ads- one for Pepsi and one for Shredded Wheat ($1/ea) and this bag.

Cheryl : Does this bag make me look like a hippie?

Bart: Yes.

Oh well. You can see why it spoke to me, and it will be an awesome bag to take on the scooter and also for toting the camera and other things I bring with to all the festivals.

There was lots of entertainment in addition to the good for sale. A circus troupe entertained children on one end of Chicago Ave and a large stage for bands was set up at the other. A native American pipe band played on the smaller center stage.

All in all, Custer's Last Stand gets an A+ from me in every aspect. The size, goods for sale, and affordability outdid every festival so far. So come on Chicago, step up your game. We can compete with the suburbs, can't we?

After Custer it was off to spend some quality time with an awesome guy- my dad.

So, that was 5 festivals in all this weekend. Now it's 11 on Sunday night and I have done absolutely no work for school. Two more weeks, two more weeks....

Next weekend is Chicago Summerfest, the Jeff Fest, the Highwood St. Market, the Fountain Square Arts Fest, Pride Fest, and the Green Music Fest. I will for sure be at the Pride parade on Sunday, and then the Green Music Fest at 7 pm to see Cloud Cult with Kim. Who's coming with me?