There is one day of the year that's been requested as a day off every year for the past seven years…read moreand it ain't my birthday and it ain't Arbor Day. It's B-Fest. Held the last weekend in January at Northwestern University B-Fest is a 24 hour bad movie marathon spanning 6pm Friday until 6pm Saturday and has shown some of the worst films of the 20th and 21st centuries. Such heyday gems as Kingdom of the Spiders and The Magnetic Monster all the way through psychedelic 60's bombs, 70's blacksploitation, 80's classics and even contemporary used diapers like Baby Geniuses II and Battlefield Earth have seen screentime. But that's only half the story, the real attraction is the MST3K-like audience participation that takes place as well as the crowned king of B-Movies, Plan 9 From Outer Space as the perennial midnight movie at the fest. Get your tickets early as it's sold out quicker and quicker every year. Show up with comfortable clothes, a pillow, a blanket, a stack of paper plates and enough lozenges to quell your inevitable laryngitis from yelling out every quip that occurs to you. It's simply put the most fun you can have without waking up the next morning to something awkward.

B-Fest is 24 hours of cinematic mayhem - if you're coming to "enjoy the movies," you might as well…read morestay home. This is all about yelling back at the screen and making your fellow festgoers laugh. B-Fest rewards thorough preparation and caffeine consumption, so do your homework and bring a toothbrush. If you love b-movies, you don't want to miss B-Fest.

Located 10 minutes from Sedgewick Brown Cta train line, through winding streets, this enclosed yard…read moreof the church holds concerts and Japanese food. Teriyaki chicken for $20 is a big draw and popular. This year, customers can pay vendors directly. The shaved ice is refreshing on a hot day. I tried the udon cold noodles, and it was tasty. There's a few vendors selling japanese items. The concerts had seats, but it was quite sunny with little shade. I would love it if the food vendors stopped using aluminum containers for homemade lemonade. Also, if vendors start using paper food containers, versus the nonrecyclable styrofoam food containers.

Awesome festival! Local artists and vendors. Singers, dancers, and taiko drums performance. Plenty…read moreof souvenirs and handcrafted art.

Provocative and intense... Chicago artists at their best... A community event That stitches…read moretogether the soul of the city!

It's very cool...but...so cool you almost can't figure out how to get in. There are two doors. The…read moreone before Family Dollar is the one you can get in. This location is NOT handicap accessible as far as I can tell. Could be because I arrived mid-show but there was not much staff or direction or interaction. I paid my entry fee with nary a word and enjoyed a very weird, but intriguing show of experimental electronic sound. Their sound system is impressive! Very 8D, I could really feel the movement of the sound and despite being remarkably off-putting, it was also visceral and intriguing. Parking in the area is a little weird and unreliable.

Stopped in for a Screen Printing show with artist from near and far…read more BUSY but the crowd was mindful of their space and flow offering relatively free movement despite the space constraints. Picked up a few pieces for myself to add to my collection and caught up with friends.

Chicago land exhibit- while in Evanston, I was able to visit the Block Museum twice ! They had a…read morevery interesting exhibit focused on the American Indians and their art !! They had some amazing pieces. Some from natural sweetgrass, lots of paintings and lots of basket weaving techniques!! Great installation and totally free and sponsored by Northwestern university . Totally ten star experience!! Highly recommended !!

So weird to have security follow my every step through this place. As an older woman I am hardly…read moregiving theft vibes. I felt stalked. ‍ Lighten up and back off....I'm just here to look at the art that was reportedly "open to everyone" (But the art is cool... so I gave it 2 stars)

Evanston holds a lot of events throughout the year and with so many of them happening in the…read moresummer, there are many options to choose from. I've gone to a number of them over the years and find Custer Fair to be a top summer destination in the city. During our walk down Main street, Chicago, Washington, and Custer Avenues (this fair covers 4 streets) a few notable things I saw were vendors selling air plants hung from glass containers, vintage Chicago posters, handcrafted jewelry, a caricature artist, cool hand crafted toys for kids and, if you wanted to relax from all the walking, there was a booth that charged for chair massage. The food stalls had a good mix which included typical carnival fair like funnel cakes and corndogs. They also had a Taqueria stall, local craft beer, Pina colada stand, Texas bbq, Gyros, and Soba noodles. With all the savory food and tempting refreshments abound, the real hero on a hot 90 degree day was the lemonade stand. Every refreshing cup of lemonade had a whole half lemon in it. I was able to double my servings of lemonade by squeezing the half lemon and adding water and sugar when I got home afterwards. Bonus! Consider yourself lucky if you've scored a parking spot around the neighborhood. You will need to arrive an hour prior to opening to find a space. Your best bet is to take public transport by taking the Purple line train and get off on the Main Street station. It takes you right there. Pro Tip: Most stalls are cash only establishments with a few taking credit/debit cards. If you forget to bring cash, there is a Chase bank less than a block and a half across from the Main street purple line stop south on Chicago Avenue.

I had the honor to work at one of the food vendors this year. In fact, it was my first time…read moreexploring the "Custer Fair" in Evanston. I was quite impressed by the number and the variety of merchants that participated. I guess the time has changed and we are becoming a cashless society. Many vendors were able to accept credit cards (with a surcharge fee). Nevertheless, the trusty green bucks still would still get you all-inclusive access! There was at least one (1) PNC bank ATM outside the CTA Main Purple Line station for visitors' convenience. The sound quality for the music lineups was decent. Fortunately, our area wasn't bombarded with an excessive volume while the concerts were in session. The tent we set up was near the center stage, and thankfully, we didn't have to "shout" to the customers to ask for their orders. As always, most ladies can have a difficult time getting used to the porta potties. Here's my recommendation: be patient and reserve some energy by going to the nearest grocery/Liquor stores, such as WholeFoods, Target, Trader Joe's, and Binny's to use their facilities. They are not located feet away from the festival, but within walkable distances.

Thanks to Yelp for free tickets to check out the Chicago Comedy Film Festival! One of the…read moredirectors of the film was at our screening which we thought was very nice. Our movies included How to Eat Bacon, Bingo!, and Bear Force One. Each of the movies had their funny parts. I thought the movies were done well but you could tell they were independent movies with limited resources. Nonetheless, done well. Lots of creativity. I'm glad that this festival was organized to encourage more comedy filmmaking. So happy we were able to make it to this event!

What a fun event! Thank you to Yelp for the tickets!…read more My boyfriend and I caught the 9:00pm show last night (the Most Dangerous Game/Dr. Limptooth) and we were both pretty impressed. Of course, we weren't really sure what to expect, but the films were really fun! The Most Dangerous Game was a really well-crafted short film which was my type of humor (absurd/twisted). Dr. Limptooth was really good. So much laugh out loud material, and a pretty cohesive story revolving around college and Vampires and just all out awkwardness of love unrequited, love lost, and a very interesting take on the modern Vampire's problematic existence. I do love a good horror comedy, and this was well played. The theatre itself was unbelievably comfortable. Usually I'm incredibly fidgety in theatres because the seats are not at all comfortable, but man it was nice. Having just come from dinner, we didn't partake in any concessions, but they looked pretty amazing. Not just you typical sodas and popcorn fare. Probably on the more expensive side, I'm guessing, but they looked pretty awesome. Pizzas? In a movie? clearly I've been going to wrong theatres. All in all, it was a really great event! I'm glad we got to go, and I hope the buzz gets out so that next year will be een more successful!

2022 was the inaugural year for the Evanston Plein Air Festival. I heard about this months ago and…read moreput it on my calendar because I think plein air painting is especially cool. Throughout the week, starting on Wednesday or Thursday, almost 50 artists have been painting around Evanston. I didn't get a chance to pop up to Evanston and watch folks painting, unfortunately. I know that the artists were able to select from anywhere in the town to paint, and I didn't want to drive around aimlessly, but next year I would do it because there are some places where people would almost certainly stop to paint. Evanston Made, the non-profit organization that launched the festival, did put together a Google map that showed possible areas people might paint so that people could go see them. Day four, which was today (Sunday), was a art sale and judging, held in Fountain Square in downtown Evanston. There was a Festival Favorite award, where the artists submitted one of their works and visitors would wander through and vote for their favorite. There were works of varying price points in the tent, and as I was leaving I found one that I liked quite a lot. I decided to buy it before someone else did--and because I figured if it DID win, it would be snapped up. I did see others admiring it after I purchased, so I was probably right to do that--and my painting won an honorable mention, so I'm glad I had the foresight to purchase it before the awards were announced! Interestingly, I learned that the artist lives only about five blocks away from me. All this provenance makes it even more cool to me. I also bought another paint that was very different in character, and quite beautiful in that it is a nocturnal scene over the lake. Both are quite peaceful, and both are of a shape that they may work in some spaces where artwork would generally not fit. I got photos with both of the artists and their painting, in part because I like to do that, and also for the provenance. One of the organizers--the one whom I tracked down to sell me the Sloss painting--took the photo for me and she was really friendly even though she had a ton of things happening! The winners of the Festival Favorite and the Best of Show awards were announced around 3:20, and the festival concluded at 5 so that folks could continue wandering around to admire, meet, and purchase art. The paintings entered in the Festival Favorite category that had not been purchased will hang in the Evanston Public Library through the end of July. The festival was clearly a hit. Fountain Square was packed with people and painters. The plein air festival will be back next year, and they said it will return the same weekend. I'm already looking forward to finding some of the artists as they are painting! It would be cool if they could find a way to have to map it out each day as the artists pick their places, but that is probably a tall order. I wish Chicago and/or some of the neighborhoods would have their own plein air festival, because I'd really love to have a nice painting of somewhere in the city in which I live. We're lucky to have so many fantastic artists here in the area! Oh, and today I learned that "plein" is pronounced to rhyme with "pen". Themoreyouknow.gif.