Thirsty Ears Festival has been on my list to visit for a while because it's just a few blocks away…read more This year I finally made it, toddler in tow. A friend and her kiddo came along too. The festival is the brain child of Access Contemporary Music (ACM), the music school on the block, and it's the only classical music party in the city. It's a very small festival, spanning just the block on Wilson between Ravenswood and Hermitage. There's a packed schedule for the two days of the festival, with various musical ensembles and composers performing throughout the day. Of course the music was the main attraction, but there were a couple booths selling some food as well. Alcoholic beverages were available and pizza, and I think possibly another snack but I can't recall. Of course there's also a couple restaurants nearby as well, and the two that are right on this block have a bit of outdoor seating. Most of the booths were local artists selling their work; I saw a booth that made crochet wall hangings, a pottery booth, a local author selling his novels, and more. I was really glad that we happened to be here there when a small choral ensemble was performing. The other musician we hard was a pianist performing when we arrived. The main stage was on the eastern edge of the festival along the Hermitage end, and there were folding chairs set up for people to enjoy the concert. A kid's area and stage was on the Ravenswood end. They had some kids activities like face painting and balloon animals in addition to the musician playing children's music. It was great that they had a children's space since otherwise they might get bored quickly. On the weekend, the parking along Ravenswood is super easy. There's also the Metra, of course, with the Ravenswood stop a block away.

This festival has been going on a few years now, founded by ACM (which is on this street) and…read morefeaturing street-fair like performances of classical music outdoors, the first of its kind in Chicago. I love it, I have stopped by all 3 years for a little bit: the weather has been nice, the crowd is select and small, the peripheral noises of the city are there but are minimal, and the musicians are high-level. There is a particular focus on new and recent music which is amazing, there are some classics but they are just part of the spectrum. There are food cars and a few good restaurants in the area and you can make most of an afternoon/evening out of it. Great job, continue the good work!

I like the facility and the teachers; really dislike the end of the year extravaganza: your kid…read morewill be on stage for 3 minutes and it will cost the family 200-300 in Ticketmaster tickets, costume, flowers, stuffy bears, etc. I guess some parents live for that so it won't change. Hoping to change studios soon.

My second daughter goes here every Saturday for Fairy Ballet Dance. She love love loves it. We have…read moreMiss Molly as a teacher and she is just a dream. She is very patient with the kids, she's always on time, and super fun! Especially when she puts on Baby Shark my little one goes crazy! She is a keeper. Sign your little on to these dance classes. It's very good for their cognitive thinking. They learn to follow instructions and gain a sense of discipline and learn ways to move and control their bodies! In addition, there is always a positive vibe when you walk into Kaleidoscope Dance! Great Job Kaleidoscope!

This was the first-ever Pizza Fest, organized by the Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce. It sneaked up…read moreon the events calendar unexpectedly, but we found time to attend it, since it's so close to home. The fest took place in pretty much the same space as Taste of Park Ridge, closing off Summit Ave. between Touhy and Prospect, between the library and Metra station. As a festival, it didn't really have a huge setup and not much in terms of variety. All the food vendors, except for a carnival food stand, were pizza places from the area. Caponie's, Carmine's, and Georgio's Chicago Pizzeria were a few of the vendors participating. There was a concert stage setup on the street and for a small festival they did pretty good at lining up shows: Foghat (big-time 70s band) on Friday and Daryl Stuermer (Genesis & Phil Collins guitarist) as the headliner for Saturday night. Weather did not cooperate Friday night, as a cold wind blew through at peak dinner time and dropped the temps about 15 degrees, blowing away paper plates, napkins and a light drizzle followed. Still, it did not deter us from trying pizzas, sheltered by the walls of the Metra station to shield us from the wind. Weather notwithstanding, I was disappointed with the fest. For an event focused completely on a food, pizza in this case, I really expected a more adventurous menu from each of the participants. But instead it was the same thing pretty much across the board: cheese, sausage, or pepperoni, thin crust or deep dish. Why bother doing a fest dedicated to pizza if you don't have something more exotic to offer as a topping: BBQ chicken, pineapple, shrimp, goat cheese, heck, even mushrooms! But it gave me a level playing field to try. I had a Caponies brick oven sausage pizza, which was very good. One of my kids had Carmine's cheese pizza, which had an odd-tasting sauce and the layer cheese peeled off the top in one bite. Pizza fail! Carmine's probably had the worst. My other son and my wife both got Giorgio's of South Barrington's deep dish personal-sized cheese pizzas and those by far stood out as the best pizza at the fest. For a kid who never tried deep dish before, my son was very impressed with it and ate the whole thing. Cost-wise, the pizza prices were reasonable. There was a $5 admission fee to the fest, just to get in the gate, but if you are going to see a show, it's a good deal. I saw the Daryl Stuermer concert and he put on almost 2 hours of Genesis material and a few of his own instrumental works mixed in. Daryl's band sounds really good and he did a very authentic job covering Genesis, even some of it dating back to the 70s. And there was even a contingent of diehard Genesis fans, the ones who wear the Foxtrot album cover T-shirts, in attendance. If Pizza Fest II happens next year, I hope the participating vendors open up their cookbooks and bring out more pizza variety, putting forth some adventurous pizzas rather than just playing it safe with essentially the same selection at every booth.

Our Girl Scout troop had planned a team-building outing to Lock Chicago. We did the Matsuri room…read morewith a group of 8 kids ranging from age 10-12. The puzzles were clever and engaging, and there was a perfect mix of challenges that kept all the girls involved and excited. We met with Ty when we arrived, and he was great at setting the scene for everyone. He was encouraging when they needed help, without giving too much away. It was a fantastic team-building experience, and the girls loved working together to solve everything before time ran out. They solved the case in 50 minutes! It was a few sneaky tricks, cool puzzles, things that stumped us and over all a whole lot of fun!! Highly recommend for groups of kids or scout troops, familes or adults looking for a fun and memorable activity! I'd love to go back and try the other rooms sometime soon!

We brought our family of 5 as a fun experience in celebration for twins' birthday. Our Game Master,…read moreTy, was the perfect balance between providing context and being "hands off" to let us figure things out for ourselves. We have very different types of thinkers in our family, so this had something that allowed each of us to shine in our own way. I really appreciated the experience given all but 1 of us had never done anything like this before. Highly recommend.

I hired Jason for my kids 8th birthday party after seeing him perform at a school in Joliet IL…read more They loved him and were excited to see him again. He was extremely interactive with them and has such a great sense of humor. He brought my kids up and let them be part of the act. He also got some of the parents involved. Jason is very professional and talented. The kids and their friends had a blast and especially loved having the balloons made for them. It gave them a piece of the show to take home with them. I would hire him to come back any time.

We saw Jason at several local shows: a library and a children's fest. Jason's show is a wonderful…read moretreat for elementary age kids. He's not only an amazing juggler but a really fun entertainer with a ton of tricks to keep everyone roaring with laughter - adult and child alike. My kids constantly had their hand up in the air to volunteer to be his on-stage assistants going me, me, me!!! Jason shows up at various library events around the suburbs - it's not hard to catch his show. Some day I hope to put some moneys together and maybe have him do a private birthday party for us.

You know how the Field Museum has Christmas trees from around the world during the holidays, you…read moresee ornaments from around the world and it stirs some curiosity and passion in you (as a child) to visit and see other countries. In a way, this festival of cultures can create the same type of thoughts for little ones as they visit the booths which represent different cultures and countries. I think that's pretty cool, to walk around and get some fresh air, learn about other people and let that inspire/prepare a kid for a trip abroad. Yes, have them put the iPad down and get out here and interact with someone outside of their bubble. There are some live performances/dancing on stage and good food like funnel cake and cheese fries in a bucket to feed your family members too. The parking lot was full when I came by but you can easily park in the neighborhood and walk in.

This is a truly great event, held over two days every year in May at Oakton Park, celebrating the…read morevast cultural diversity of Skokie. For the last several years my daughter's dance troupe has performed here. There's a variety of enjoyable entertainment, a good selection of food vendors, and some really nice tents manned by representatives of the many ethnic communities within the Village. We have practically everything; Slavic, German, Filipino, Jamaican, Bulgarian, Polish, Belizean, Pakistani, you name it!! (Our new slogan isn't "Skokie Welcomes Everyone" for no reason!) Some are providing information about their cultures while others have items for sale, in addition to a retail booth for various goods for sale. Village offices have booths providing useful information and resources to residents, and they also have a train ride and a variety of games and activities for children. Plus it's right beside the playground. General admission is free and weather permitting, it's really a fun day for the entire family -- worth a visit, whether or not you're from Skokie.

One of the best street festivals in Chicago and a must-visit if you like world music and/or ethnic…read morefood! Food vendors were mostly Mexican but there was a great Senegalese food stand too, and everything was reasonably priced. I liked being able to sip a Michelada and listen to cumbia without having to trek down to Pilsen. It never got too crowded, although maybe more people will come next year after reading my glowing review :-) The music was fantastic. They got Gaby Moreno!! and Palenke Soultribe. I also enjoyed the set by Chicago Afrobeat Project. Get on the 22 bus and come up to Rogers Park for this festival!

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.