I had the pleasure of hanging out with my family at the Oaktoberfest. We walked around and enjoyed…read morebeautiful weather, food and live music. Located in the downtown of Oak Park on Marion Street. There were activities for the kids and giveaways. There was a live music lineup where different bands came out and performed. Lots of people dancing and enjoying the music. A seating area with tables and chairs. Local restaurants and liquor stores to purchase beer and wine. A nice end of the summer festival to enjoy with your family and friends. Or just come out to mingle and have a good time.

Good food, good people, good times…read more This event was HUGE. Literally 100 times more lively than I would have expected, which is great for the township of Oak Park. Lots of neighborhood businesses selling their wares, several beer vendors, and a massive crowd of people enjoying a beautiful weekend in late September. $20 got you three booze tickets and a 22oz refillable Oaktoberfest mug, which came out to about $7 / beer. Not bad, especially considering that a few choices were IPAs and darker, hoppier lagers that could fudge up your vision in a hurry. Hundreds of tables and chairs were set out for fest-goers, most of which were facing the stage just east of Marion Street. The two bands that played during the time we were there had decent sounding stuff. The first one had more of a rock/alternative edge to them which I loved to hear, but the following act was more folksy rock and did absolutely nothing for me. It would've been nice to have heard some more recognizable tunes (covers of Bon Jovi, Mumford & Sons, anything really) instead of the indie nonsense that was played. After a few high ABV% beers, I decided that eating something sustainable would be a good idea. I got a rice and beef shish kabob plate from Jerusalem Cafe for something like $6.50, which absolutely hit the spot. Tasty and a great portion size for the money. Other places sold pizza, bratwurst, meatball subs, pad thai and popcorn, a reasonably good selection overall. Bread = 4.5 Circuses = 4 I didn't check-in or even take photos, as I didn't think this event page even existed on Yelp, but I guarantee next time around I definitely will. However I did leave the festival with my commemorative beer cup and.....well, something else. Can't say what exactly, but it's roughly 10' x 2' and hanging in my apartment. #stickyfingers #kleptomania A fun town event that attracted a giant crowd of locals. Would highly recommend and will return in 2017!

The real highlight here is the carnival Giant Drop ride. Go…read moreon it with someone who is scared of heights, you'll doubt yourself.

This past weekend Glen Ellyn sponsored their annual Taste. This was my first time to Glen Ellyn's…read moreversion of a family fun weekend that most times is overrun by annoying teenage punks. Lombard Taste, you know what I'm talking about. I would say this is your average, run-of-the-mill, get what you pay for (it was free) local festival. For being a "Taste" there wasn't all that much being offered from local vendors. There were maybe 4 vendors with local treats like Tap House Grill, Chicks 'n Salsa, Chicago Prime Meat Market and a pizza joint. The rest of the food was your "eat with caution, likely to induce some serious commode time" typical carni-culprits like gyros and meat on a stick. Who doesn't love deep fried snickers that are advertised as "tastes like warm fudge"? ughhhhh. The arts and crafts were a sight for sore eyes. Actually, eyes that hurt really, really bad. They did have a climbing wall that seemed to be quite a hit with the youngsters. And I totally would have scaled that thing if not for the fear of ripping my pants open in front of the school-aged innocent. The free concerts on Saturday night made up for what could have been a bust of a weekend. Tin Horse, a country chick's band, and The New Invaders, a 60's cover band, kept us highly entertained throughout the cold night. Part of that might have had to do with the beer tent and those little $5 red tickets. My advice to next years Taste Committee - pick it up a notch, think about what people actually want to see/do at a festival, not just what's always been done. Promote local biz but do it in a modern way that will make people want to come back next year.

So the fest was this past weekend, and it far exceeded my expectations…read more Unfortunately for everyone in attendance, it was a sweltering 95+ degree summer day, but the delicious food, music and huge amount of beer options made the sweat dripping down my neck and back bearable (Brew Fest Organizers, pleaseeeee consider making it an Oktoberfest!)   The sample punchcard was printed on the back of the paper map of the fest that you get when you arrive.  Another fest I went to had a lanyard punch card, which I thought was a nice touch...but not as green as this was.  So, yay for recyclables!    It really didn't matter if you had a punchcard once you were inside...because no one marked off your samples unless you literally put it in their face and asked them to.  Not that anyone needs more than 20 beer samples, but they almost seemed offended when I asked them to mark my card!   The music was good, the food was fabulous and I especially loved the Bravazzi Italian hard sodas. I saw them at Caputo's the next day.  Now I know where to buy them next time I'm craving one. My MOST favorite-ist beer of the entire night was Roaring Table's 5:00 tap special - a fruity/berry sour with whipped cream on top.  What a way to finish off the night!!!

I had the fortunate pleasure of attending the 8th Annual Barrington Brew Fest this year (2011)…read morelocated strategically directly in the North lot of the Metra train station (perfect for stumbling back to the train for an easy ride home). We decided to make a day of it, starting out with a wonderful lunch in the French Market adjacent to the station. What a delightful way to start off a cool saturday morning before an afternoon of heavy beer drinking. Sandwiches from Pastoral, modelo tallboys from the CVS located within the well air-conditioned building, and hot crispy frites from the belgian shop, SCORE, great start. After the luxuriously delicious meal, we bought our $7 weekend passes (super-cheapo bonus) and hopped aboard with previously mentioned tall-boys and played a game a Yahtzee while the hour quickly passed. Arriving at the station around 3:30, the festivities were well underway with several hundred beer-fanatics vigorously imbibing. The free t-shirts were long gone, but they offered past years T's for just $5 if you pleased. I paid my $40 ($35 before), grabbed my tasting glass and had at it. Some notable attendees included Floosmoor Station with two specialty kegs tapped early and dry soon (everyone love FS), as well as Lucky Monk's Oatmeal Stout and Wheat WIne (WOWZA WAS THIS TASTY). I also thoroughly enjoyed selections from Limestone Brewing, Half Acre, and Wild Onion's Hop Slayer was down-right awesome. I love me some IBU's and this packed in the hops. The brews and patrons were all top-notch and made for a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon (3-7PM). Best part (besides the beer of course: proceeds from the Barrington Brew Fest go to the Barrington Area Council on Aging serving seniors and caregivers. After a great day of craft-brews, we headed back one minute to the Metra and rode home, arriving before 8PM, just in time for late dinner and ready for round-2. The cold-hard facts: * Three Dozen Brewers & over 80 samplings * Bean Bag (Baggo) Contest * 50/50 Raffle * Live music by Second Time Around Food available for purchase from McGonigal's Pub, Cooper's of Barrington, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

My husband and son were like two kids in a candy store! 2025 Opening Ceremony was energetic! So…read morehappy to see starter players and Hall of Famers. Lines were very long but if you were willing to wait then you could get autographs that you wanted. Cub Bingo was a blast and prizes were good. Will be going back 2026!

I have to start this review off that the majority of the info in regards to the Cub convention is…read moreon www.cubs.com. If you choose to make a hotel reservation for the convention itself, call the Hilton and Towers, specify that you want a room for the CC, and you will get 10 dollar passes with your room for the whole weekend. I think the reason why I'm giving this review 5 stars is for the pure fact that I've had so many great memories with my family here. The majority of the days are spent waiting in line for autographs, and fighting the crowds, but I always manage to have a great time. I've met Cub greats such as Dawson, Sandberg, Williams, Banks, Sutcliff, and so on. I've also gotten their autographs as well. This is the biggest thrill for me...actually meeting them! On the Friday night of the convention, they have Cub "bingo." While the room is overcrowded, and the chances of you are winning are slim to none, it's still fun. Saturday night they have a "dance" that features all the golden oldies that your parents grew up with. It's a lot of fun, because sometimes the retired players come to this party and dance it up with ya! I had a fun time dancing with Jodi Davis one time. It was so much fun! It's worth it to check out at least once if you're a die hard Cub fan!

This really isn't a place...it's an event that's held at Willowbrook High School in Villa Park to…read moreremember Lauren Kiefer. She graduated from Willowbrook in 2000 and her mother still works there. This event is held in her honor because she was brutally taken from friends and family on Dec. 25, 2006. So this is a 5K walk/run that is going to take place every year around the third weekend in June. I believe it is $25 to enter and then donations are also accepted which benefit a number of charities including two scholarships that are given out to Willowbrook students. This a fun event for a great cause and in honor of one very special woman! Go to rememberlaur.com to check out the details under events! Hope to see you there!

I'm not a fan of Valentine's Day; I dislike the idea of mandated romanticism. So, when given the…read morechoice of spending V-day weekend at CLLAW or doing something traditionally Valentine's-y, I didn't hesitate to answer with an enthusiastic "CLLAW, hell yeah!" Ok, maybe it didn't play out exactly like that, but close. If you're thinking that this might be like a lady version of Stallone's movie Over the Top, you'll be disappointed. If you're thinking it sounds a lot like an arm wrestling version of GLOW (http://tinyurl.com/atghg3w), you're in the ballpark. CLLAW is a Sideshow Theatre production and fundraising event. In other words, it's a theatrical production; it doesn't pretend to be a real sporting event. The ladies don't have huge guns, 'roid rage or anything else you might expect. The ladies - approximately 12 of them - have crazy names, costumes and entourages (Killer Bee, Strawberry Shivcake, June Meat Cleaver, etc.). There's also a hilarious supporting cast of announcers and referees. Each wrestler works the crowd for CLLAW bucks. CLLAW bucks, which are $1, serve three purposes - they raise money for charity, they show support for your favorite wrestlers, and they enter you into a raffle at the end of each match-up. The ladies are paired up and wrestle in elimination brackets; each round is a best of three with a fun wheel of challenges in the event of a tie. It all culminates in a championship arm-wrestle off. CLLAW is a great, budget-friendly way to spend a Saturday evening while raising money for charity. I'm not sure if Logan Square Auditorium is CLLAW's permanent home; my date and our friends had been to other venues to see CLLAW. At this event, there were two entry options, a $10 cash bar option and a $25 3-hour all-you-can-drink option. The bar was stocked with hard liquor and a few macrobrew options. It was great fun, we had a blast watching the debauchery and wagering on who would become champion. I can't wait for the next one! @ChicagoCLLAW

CLLAW was a ton of fun. The tournament of 16 costumed competitors took ~3 awesome hours. Entry fee…read morewas a suggested $5.00 (cash bar) or the $25.00 wristband deal. You can also bet CLLAW bucks on whichever wrestler you want which can get you free prizes. $1.00 gets you 2 CLLAW bucks so bet throughout the evening. Everyone got more and more rowdy and excited as the tournament progressed. No bad spots to stand because the venue was small enough to see all the action. An overhead camera was set up above the official arm wrestling platform for additional viewing pleasure. The Mystic Celt is a pretty nice place. Place was definitely pumping late night with lots of people and music. There was a bit of contrast with the standard Mystic Celt crowd and the CLLAW competitors and fans :) Anyway, there's no reason not to come check this out because $5.00 can get you a night of fun that you can't get in most other places.

It was supposed to be a three-hour ordeal, but it slowed down to a crawl after only 20 minutes!…read more It made for some nice photo ops, though. Hopefully next year it will be a longer event with a bigger turn out.

We attended this expo a couple of weeks ago after hearing about it from a local businessman I was…read moreinterviewing for an article I was writing. Both my husband and I had an absolutely great time and found it to be a highly educational experience. Held at the UIC Forum, the expo features local farmers, business owners, non-profits, restauranteurs, and more - all who are committed to the education and promotion of local, organic, sustainable food and practices. As a huge proponent of this type of movement, I was excited to meet tons of like-minded people who were all pursuing their dream. Hint: Bring a bag with you for all the samples and literature you'll receive. Unfortunately, I had to work in the morning, so we did not arrive till mid afternoon. They do hand out reusable bags as freebies, but they had run out by the time we got there. I received so many samples and goodies that I felt like the kid in my high school who used to walk around with 10 textbooks in his arms all day - those were the days before backpacks were in vogue. I tasted wonderful things like organic, homemade granola; rose petal ice cream, kombucha, organic homemade bloody mary mix; black turtle beans, raw food entrees, and even chocolate covered bacon. I've gotta admit, I'm not a fan of the choco-bacon - probably a good thing. And I signed up to volunteer for several organizations, including the Chicago Fair Trade and many more. Lots of wonderful, highly innovative people there promoting urban gardening and education. And they also had several fabulous chefs doing demos, such as the Hearty Boys, Stephanie Izard, and Paul Virant (vie). Unfortunately I missed many since I had to earn the benjamins that day. This will definitely be on my to-do list every year!

I attended the Family Farmed Expo today with my family, how appropriate! My husband and I are both…read morein the hospitality business and we are both committed to eating local, sustainable and organic~whenever possible. We went not knowing what to expect and had a great time. Almost everything in the show was food related, mainly organic. There was the exception of a local book store and some soap/lotion makers, however the books that were being sold all related to the farm to table idea and the soap and lotion all were hand made, natural and made from locally farmed ingredients. There were chef demos and lots of vendors had tasty samples and info on their products. There were many tables to sit and get a bite or sit and chat over some freshly squeezed wheat grass shots. There were many enthusiastic trades people there with loads of information! The City of Chicago was even there giving info on composters! YEAH! The Family Farmer's Expo had a kid's corner where children could make crafts, study and handle live bugs and there were dozens of nature, food and farming books to thumb through too. I was impressed. The $20 admission fee was steep, as I would like to see more people able to educate themselves and learn about farming, eating locally and more naturally. If this was made more afforable it may have a bigger impact. Overall, a great experience, not a huge show~but it was a rainy day spent happily at the Family Farmer's Expo!