Fairs coming up

Hello! After a marvelous and refreshing time in MN I am back. I come bearing some new clothes (no sales tax on clothes in MN). Tomorrow is my first real day of summer at home and I plan to spend it doing absolutely nothing.

That's a lie. I will try to do nothing and end up doing lots of things. I wish that for once I could learn to sit around for a whole day and watch Hulu.

Anyways, this weekend promises to be a good one for festivals after the drought of last week. If you were raised in the 90's, you may be interested to know that Barenaked Ladies are playing the Old St. Pat's World's Largest Block Party on Friday night at 8:50. It'll cost you a hefty $40 to attend but you get a free drink with your entrance. Woohoo.
If that's too expensive for Friday there's always the Irish American Heritage Festival! I like beer, and I might be kind of Irish (sort of) so I will probably be there.

While not exactly a festival, the L.A.T.E. ride is on Saturday night. It's a bike ride that starts at midnight and winds 25 miles and 6 hours through Chicago neighborhoods. Friends that have been there and done that say it's a blast. My bike is from 1967 and weighs about 1 gazillion pounds, so I won't be participating.

The Smoking Popes are playing the Boulevard Bash in Logan Square at 8 pm on Saturday if that's your thing. If you're into art, there's the Chicago Tribune North Michigan Ave Arts Festival. I'm assuming that one will be similar to the Wells St. Art Fest. There will be a whole bunch of crappy local cover bands at the Rock around the Block.

The Chicago Folk and Roots Fest is not as boring as it sounds. Located in Lincoln Square, it's a great neighborhood and there is a real stage for the bands, who will introduce you to sounds you never even knew you loved. I hope to make it there on Saturday afternoon sometime. There's also the Taste of Little Village (I am betting this is one neighborhood you have never explored, go for it) and the 5th annual Great Performers in Millennium Park. Speaking of Millennium Park, don't forget they have free music every Monday night.

Last but not least are West Fest at Chicago and Damen which I plan to attend Saturday night, and the Roscoe Village Burger Fest. The Gin Blossoms are playing there on Sunday night at 8:15! Remember them? If you make it there, I can highly recommend food from the Bad Apple. I had a chicken sandwich there a month or so ago that was out of this world.

So, that's where I'll be. Who's coming with me?

Green Music Festival

What: Green Music Festival
Where: Ukranian Village
How Much: $5 donation
How to get there: Red line to Clark and Division, Division Street bus

After a nice afternoon watching the Pride Parade, Kim and I headed to the Green Music Festival to see a band we're both quite fond of, Cloud Cult. We arrived a few hours early and walked around the neighborhood. Kim had a sore spot on her foot from her sandals so we stopped at a Walgreens for a bandaid. After purchasing the bandaids, we were standing outside the store so that Kim could apply it and a Walgreens employee came outside. He asked if either of us had an iphone and I said yes, thinking he was going to ask us to look something up. Instead, he held one up and asked, "Like this one?" People never cease to amaze me. Awesome.

He was going on a break, so we asked him his name (Devon) and he headed over to the fair with us to have some dinner. We found a stand with delicious goat cheese, sundried tomato and artichoke pizza. Those are pretty much my three favorite things, so even though I wasn't hungry, I ate my whole slice. Deeelicious. I would say this was the best fair food I have had so far, and I really wish I had taken a picture of the name of the restaurant so that I could talk it up.

After 20 minutes, Devon had to go (after getting Kim's number) and Kim and I explored the booths. I bought a necklace with three different kinds of metal and a deck of restaurant cards. I am pretty excited about these cards. Each one describes a different independent restaurant in the city and entitles the bearer to $10 off a purchase of $25 or more. There are 52 cards in the deck, a savings of $520 if you used every one. The deck sells for $20 and pays for itself in two visits. The point is to get the word out about interesting, "niche" restaurants in the city. I can't wait to start trying them!

The festival was smaller than most, so we had some time to spare after visiting the booths.We tried a new beer, Peak Organic, as we sat around waiting for our band to take the stage. Finally it was time and we made our way over to find a spot in between the hippies and drunken teenagers. The boy standing in front of Kim was more drunk than anyone has any right to be, let alone the underage. He had trouble standing for the entire concert but managed to smoke about 15 cigarettes and remember the words to every song.





Cloud Cult took the stage at 8:45. The band consists of a cello, violin, keyboard, french horn, guitar, bass, and drums. There are also two artists that paint in the back while the band is playing. At the end of the concert, they auction off the paintings to the highest bidder. The painter on the left is the wife of the lead singer.
Kim and I have seen Cloud Cult once before, and just like last time I was entranced by the violinist, Shannon. She has this same serene look the entire time she is playing or singing.

Despite the drunken teenagers and the smoke, I was thoroughly entertained. If you ever have the chance to see this band or pick up an album, do it. You will listen to nothing else for weeks.

Those were the only two festivals I made it to this weekend. My mom is turning an important number on Thursday (which I won't disclose here) and her friends organized an incredible surprise party for her on Saturday. Somehow we all managed to keep the secret for months and she walked in with spacers between her toes from a pedicure. I have never seen someone so completely shocked. Happy Birthday, Mom!

Next weekend I will be out of town, but if you have the time, the Taste of Chicago is still going on.
May your lives be long, and may your wishes all be simple, and may your hearts stay strong.

Pride parade

What: Pride Parade/ Pridefest
Where: Lakeview
How Much: Parade is free, fest $5
How to get there: Red line to Belmont, walk to Ohio and Broadway

In the case of the Pride parade, a picture is worth a thousand words. So enjoy! Overall, I was disappointed in the general lack of depravity in this year's parade. I know it's a family affair, and for the sake of the little girl across the street (whose parents I could not identify), I suppose I am glad there wasn't more T and A present. This might have had something to do with the fact that I watched the parade from pretty much the end of the route, and most of the walkers were half unconscious from heat exhaustion before they reached my vantage point. I did see one boob and lots of mostly naked bodies.
I am lucky enough to have a friend whose apartment faces the parade route. So while others sweltered on the sidewalk, my friends and I watched the goings on from the air conditioned comfort of her bed. The parade officially kicked off at noon, and it reached the apartment at about 1:30. It ended at 4:00. That's right, two and a half hours of parade. I would say about half of it was politically oriented and the other half was just for fun.

Every major group I can think of was represented, from the Jewish to the Egyptian. Some of the floats featured crazy club dancing and others chose to emphasize unconditional love. I saw countless "I love my gay (insert relative here)" shirts, signs, you name it. The floats handed out stickers, wristbands, and condoms. One thing that captured the attention of my company was these two girls, who decided it would be prudent to remove their shirts and put stickers over their nipples. Only, it was about a thousand degrees on Sunday and the stickers kept falling off due to sweat. Here they are asking someone from the parade for new stickers. He seems happy to oblige.

On my way to my friend's apartment I passed some crazy street preachers. These people make me angry in a way that few things can. I just don't understand the religious need to force one's beliefs on other people. Those of you who know me are snorting because I happen to be quite opinionated about more than a few topics. I think the difference lies in what happens to those who disagree with me. At the worst, you'll make a bad decision. At the best, I'll be completely wrong and you will attain great wealth, happiness and success. Compare this to evangelists. At the worst, you're damned to an eternity in hell. In addition, the police surround these negative nellies and protect them from the dangerous, body-flaunting crowd.

One of the best things I see happening from my little festival experiment is that it is really helping me remove some layers of shell. I haven't had a free weekend moment in the last month and that's ok with me. I can tend to be the friend that waits for you to call. Now, I find myself asking friends out more and more, and I feel so enriched.

That's Sarah in the middle, it was her apartment. Sarah's brother is on the couch and his girlfriend Robin is in the back in the pink. Kim is leaning over and Sarah's boyfriend Mike is in plaid. Sarah's friend whose name I can't remember is on the bed.

Thanks for having us over, Sarah! Kim and I also went to the Green Music Festival, post to follow.

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?

The Raven, Randolph St. Market,Taste of Randolph

What: The Raven
Where: Ravenswood
How Much: $5 donation goes to the Chase Park Advisory Council
How to get there: Red line to Lawrence, #81 bus, walk
The clock struck 3:15 and after a beautiful day bringing the kids to the park for ice cream, the stormclouds rolled in. By the time my train reached my apartment on Friday afternoon, gale force winds were blowing. I heard some windows were even knocked out of the Sears tower (oh sorry, the Willis Tower :P ) After a few hours of ominous green sky and pounding rain that I was afraid would break my building's skylight, the rain stopped and all was peaceful again in Chicago. Peaceful enough that I felt safe venturing to the Raven Festival in Ravenswood. This is a neighborhood I have never explored before, and it was nice to see. Restoration work was going on at a church across the street from Chase Park, where the festival was taking place. Whether due to the weather or location, the crowd at the Raven was scarce.
16 candles played 80s hits to a scattered crowd- although the few who were there had enough enthusiasm for a much larger venue and band.
Food vendors and carnival games stayed open until the fair closed at 10. Then it was off to get some Mexican at Garcia's, where I ran into Joe. Joe leads a theater group at the school where I teach and I run into him EVERYWHERE. Seriously, it's like he's stalking me.

3/4 of the way through my margarita, I looked out the window and gasped. It was again pouring rain, and the sky was lit with lightening although no thunder. My mom later told me that she and my dad were in the car on their way home from the airport when it started back up and it was the worst storm she's ever seen in this area. The calm, pristine and dry me from the picture at the top of this page turned into this at the end of the walk to the train:

I even asked the waitress for a to-go bag for my purse so that it wouldn't get wet! 10 years ago I would have made Bart stop and dance in the rain but luckily with maturity comes common sense and we ran for the train instead.

You're welcome for the free advertising, Dunkin' Donuts.

The next morning dawned sunny and hot, and I set off once again for the Randolph St. Market.

What: Randolph St. market and Antique fair
Where: West Loop
How Much: $9 online prepay or $12 at the door
How to get there: Red line to Lake, Green line to Ashland, walk to Randolph

This is the lovely Melissa posing for you at the Randolph St. market. This was the first fair I hit this summer and I couldn't resist going back. I will probably go every month, but I promise this is the last time you will have to hear about it.

Melissa found this stray elephant. Not sure how her cats felt when she brought him home, but he was just too cute to pass up.

The market was the same as last time. The theme for this month was supposed to be Americana but I only saw one booth that really adhered to that theme.

If you missed the market this time, head out on July 24 and 25. The theme then is "French Invasion". While you're there, stop and take a pole dancing class at Flirty Girl Fitness. I saw no less than 3 bachelorette parties.Antiquing finished, Melissa and I headed to the Taste of Randolph St.

What: The Taste of Randolph St.
Where:West Loop
How Much: $10 donation
How to get there: Metra to Ogilvie, walk

The Taste of Randolph St. held particular allure for me because I have spent a lot of time and money on Randolph in the past two years. I occasionally take swing dancing classes at Big City Swing. I have walked past the restaurants on this street a million times but never stopped to eat at one. The West Loop is an up and coming neighborhood- its fancy restaurants and swank gyms are offset by a distinctly warehouse feel. A meat market selling goat can be right next to an upscale sushi restaurant, for example.
Melissa and I managed to arrive about 20 minutes early and sneak in before they started asking for the donation. As a tip, this is a great way to avoid donating at any fair- just be in it before it starts. They can't stop you from wanting to go to the stores and restaurants along the strip. I thought it was silly that this foodie fair didn't start until 2 in the afternoon- many people were already out by then and I am sure that more than a few of them would have sprung for lunch.

Regardless, there were several vendors open early selling jewelry. Melissa spotted a tent by Nomadic Ant and realized she was wearing earrings she had bought from them several years ago. We decided to forgo the fair food and pick a restaurant along side the fair. There were two stages set up at either end of the fair.

After four hours of festivals, it was time to bid my social butterfly friend adieu as she was off to a date at Summerdance. Summerdance runs all Summer long until August 29 and features free classes in many different forms of dance. Bring a date like Melissa or be brave and find someone there!

That evening I hit the Art Adventure in the Ukranian Village- separate post to follow.

Wells St, Old Town, and Midsommarfest

What: Wells St. Art Festival
Where: Old Town
How Much: $7
How to get there: Red line to Clark and Division, walk to Goethe and Wells

It was a nasty day in the neighborhood yesterday. Pouring rain in the morning meant I was off to a late start. That proved to be a good thing, however, as I spent Friday night in Milwaukee seeing my supremely talented friend Kim perform with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Arriving home at 2 am derailed my plans to be up and about at 8. I took advantage of the ugly weather and finished a quiz for my summer online statistics class before heading out. 90%, what what!!
By the time the train reached old town, the rain had mostly abated. The stroll from the train station to the fair took me through a farmer's market. At the gates, they were asking for a $7 donation. I asked what the donation goes to and was told that it pays for the set up and general maintenance of the show. It also benefits the Old Town Merchants and Residents association. I prefer to donate to fairs that go to help schools or charities, but in many cases you don't have a choice.

The Wells Street Fair is, in the words of Bart, "extensive and expensive". The booths seemed to go on and on and on and on and on. And the art ranged from $25 for a 4x5 print to upwards of $6k for some huge original pieces. This is the 36 year for this particular fest, and the art is juried, meaning it is judged and the best artists receive ribbons.

The jewelry was also impressive, though all out of my price range. If you can afford to live on Wells St, you can probably afford to buy some of this stuff. Regardless of my purchasing power, everything was beautiful- it appears they accept nothing but the best. The music was another story- over on a stage tucked behind some buildings, bands played to tiny crowds of people who were looking for a place to sit down and eat. I managed to catch "Jaktripper".

Speaking of food, the selection was impressive, from small booths set up by local eateries to your normal fair vendors. Something I saw in abundance was "chocolate dipped cheesecake on a stick". Excuse me? Who in the world needs to eat anything like this? It's right up there with "deep fried snickers on a stick". Why must it be on a stick? Are we really that lazy?

Just kidding, all of that is a cover for the fact that I desperately want to eat chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick. Even if it is disturbingly uniform. I stuck with a small slice of thin crust cheese pizza and a diet coke instead.

After an good hour and a half at the Wells St. Art Festival, it was time to walk over to the Old Town Art Festival. I had never really explored Old Town before, and it is BEAUTIFUL. Old Town even smells good. The houses there remind me of the most beautiful parts of Boston. I want to own one of these someday. You know, after I pull myself out of the crippling debt I am about to incur going to grad school.

The walk brought us to the Old Town Art Festival. After a look and a walk around, I decided this fest was basically a smaller version of the Wells Street Fest and I opted not to spend another $7 donation going in. My friend and co-worker Jake says this is his favorite fest of the summer, but... I'm not sure why. Getting lost on the way to Clark St. also reveled the Party at St. Mike's, which was still setting up for the night.


Old Town Entrance

After that it was a long bus ride on #22 to get to the Andersonville Midsommarfest.What: Andersonville Midsommarfest
Where: Andersonville
How Much: $5 donation
How to get there: Clark St. bus #22


The Andersonville Midsommarfest is capital-G Gay. And I don't mean that in the commonly accepted slang way. I mean that the fest takes on the flavor of it's surrounding community, which has a large LGBT component. Everywhere you looked there were gay and lesbian couples and groups of friends hanging out (or letting it all hang out, in some cases).
There were jewelry and clothing vendors tucked in among the gay rights tents. I was propositioned more than once to pay $40 to join gay rights groups. Now, normally this is something that I support wholeheartedly. But when I go to a street fest, I'm not really in the mood to fork over my credit card number to some kid on the street with a clipboard. This musical group of two scantily clad ladies was singing to a rapt audience of three poorly supervised children about being "Nasty Girls".

There were drag queens, lots of food choices, and vendors more in the price range of people my age. All of the Clark street businesses were open as well. There were pony rides for the youngins and a "battle of the bands" type stage set up for teenagers to throw down. I was very impressed with those I saw- it takes guts to get up on stage in front of that many strangers. I hope that all their dreams come true and they all become rock stars.

An hour of perusing was about all I could handle at the end of this day. This festival is open until 10 pm tonight, so if you want $3 cocktails and some bare tattooed chests, then head on over.

Today it was all I could do to walk over to the Rogers Park farmer's market and then drive to Trader Joe's. So, I missed the Blues Festival and the Printer's Row literary Festival (although I did watch some of the televised lectures from the latter). If you made it, let me know how it was!

Next weekend, I'm going to try for The Raven on Friday night, the Midsummer Festival on Bryn Mawr and the Chicago Peace Festival on Saturday, and the Custer Street Fair in Evanston on Sunday morning. Then I'll be spending the rest of the day with my dad, because you know, Dads are cool. Who's coming with me?

Do-Division St. Festival and June Jam

What: Do Division Street Festival
Where: Wicker Park Bucktown West Town Ukranian Village does anyone know where the lines for these neighborhoods are?
How much: $5
How to get there: Red line to Clark and Division, #70 bus to Damen

This is my totally hot friend Robin posing for you at the entrance to the Do Division Street festival. Although the weather was foreboding, we managed to escape the rain for all but the last 10 minutes of our trip. She is posing with the security guard because he had a shirt on that said the name of the festival, but there was no sign at the entrance tent. He was really confused about why we wanted his picture. I neglected to mention that I was posting it on the internet.


Sorry, guys, she's taken.
First things were first when we arrived, as I had just spent the whole morning running around at the Gospel Fest and then riding the train. I had some chicken satay, which I forgot to take a picture of due to being enthralled with a story Robin was telling. But it looked like this, without the sauce:





After lunch it was time for some shopping. The fair consists of three or four blocks of typical fair things, like vendors and henna tattoo stands and people handing out promotional frisbees. Dogs are allowed and even encouraged.

When you tire of vendors, there are about 7 blocks of Division street that have "sidewalk sale" racks outside. This is a particularly eclectic part of Chicago and typically regarded as a Hipster's paradise. After visiting some of the shops however, I'm not sure that anyone my age could afford to buy anything here. The plain t-shirts on the racks were "on sale" for $70. All is not lost, however- there are some of my very favorite stores along this stretch of Division, including Renegade Handmade and Elevenses. Renegade Handmade supports local artists. There are Renegade Handmade Craft Fairs all over the states, and Chicago's will be the weekend of September 11. If you like unique, funky jewelry, clothes, accessories, and home decor, then you should come out!

These lovely ladies were living mannequins at the Green Hearts Shop, a fair trade store. They had paper there made of elephant poop!
Since I am looking to move to this area within a couple months, it was really nice to explore and see the sights and the people. I really feel like I fit in here and that I will like it a lot! Speaking of moving, I looked at two apartments this morning and neither particularly struck my fancy.

So, what did I buy? Glad you asked. I was really excited for this fest because last year I saw some fabulous vintage dresses at the sidewalk sale. I don't know if it was the on and off rain or what but vintage pickins were slim. I did walk away with three purchases:

Earrings by Red Ava Designs, Necklace from Jewelry by Kristina, and vintage wiggle dress from a random vendor shop.

After several hours, it started to pour rain and Robin and I decided it was time to leave. But there's lots going on in this neighborhood this summer, including the Wicker Park Street Fest July 31/ Aug 1, the Bucktown Arts Fest Aug 28 and 29 and the Ukranian Village Fest September 11 and 12.

What: June Jam
Where: Roscoe Village
How Much: $5 donation goes to Audubon School
How to get there: eeek! We drove, as we were looking at apartments in the area that morning.

This festival is hardly worth mentioning. There were lots of kids, only one block of vendors, Irish folk dancing going on while we were there, and limited adult activities beyond drinking. The donation went to help a local elementary school, so I'm ok with the fact that we spent $10 to be there for 20 minutes. There were carnival games and a climbing wall for the kiddos. That's about all there is to say for this one. Sixteen Candles is playing tonight if you are still thinking about checking it out.

Pic proves I went!


Next Weekend is a doozy, folks. I'm going to try to make it to the Andersonville Midsummer Fest, Printer's Row Literary fest, Wells St. Art Fair, Old Town Art Fair, and the Jewish Festival in Morton Grove. There's also a Humboldt Park Arts Fair but I don't think I'll make it. Who's coming with me?