My guy and I decided to check this out. It's definitely more of something to do with the family…read morewith kids. Half of the area was seating areas, 2 stages with music (one bigger than the other), tent with seating and "bar" area and a sad selection for food and drinks. The other side was the carnival side. They did have booths, but basically nothing good. We walked around the whole thing pretty quickly, but we went back around again and got something to drink and sat for a bit. Then my guy got some tacos and the place was busy....so I thought they must be good....it's because it was only maybe 1-2 of the only stands that actually served food. It was clean and the staff were all very nice and friendly. Glad I checked it out, but once is enough. It is a 4 day thing.

Early Morning, April 4 (or actually July) Gay guys sing out…read morein the Chicagoland Sky Equal at last, it took all our lives But they could not take our Pride! In the name of love Parade in the name of love Being in Chicago for the Pride Parade was a real experience. It messes with traffic and messes with homophobic people of which there are plenty - especially in the rich suburbs of Chicagoland but I'll tell you what. This is one of the best Pride festivals and parades that you'll ever see. Some of the cops were making questionable statements about some of the people marching, which wasn't much fun to listen to. The whole area of town where they March is a very LGBTQ-friendly area to begin with and one of the coolest parts of town. It's a place where I hang out a lot anyway when I'm in Chicago. The third great city of the US makes a real effort and the buildings downtown are adorned with the rainbow flags and even though the already awful traffic of the weekend is made more awful, it's well worth coming in and checking it out for yourself. We loved every second. I didn't like that all the gay clubs around here closed really early or were not even open on the night of the parade and as I said, some of the cops that were hanging around after the parade was over were making unfortunate remarks and being a little bit stereotypical. BOSE is pretty stereo typical too. But in a good way.

June is nothing without Pride! I love celebrating and enjoying the marvelous performers. I have…read moreheard always wanted to explore Chicago's Pride festivities. I am glad I had the opportunity to check out the festival the week before the parade and concert. I enjoyed seeing all the people celebrating with joy and supporting local LGBTQA+ artists. There were great performers in 3 different stages at each side of the street. The festival was free with a $15 donation option. One can enter and exit as pleased as long as they kepy the sticker we receive upon entering. This was a family friendly event, so it was great to see families and little ones enjoying the festivities. The only draw backs were that the festival was a bit overcrowded and wished there were room to walk around and chances to sit and relax. We couldn't find many places and at times saw individuals with physical disabilities struggle getting around the crowd. Overall, It was a fun event to explore. I look forward to next year's festivities and catching the parade!

My favorite beer fest. I have gone 3 years in a row. It is awesome for many reasons…read more 1. Union station is accessible by public transit. 2. Sample beers from not only chicago, but from all over the state. 3. Pretty spread out. Could use more food options, but we just grabbed something inside union station.

Beer Under Glass is the annual kickoff to craft beer week. It's usually held at the Garfield Park…read moreConservatory, but this year it was in the great hall at Union Station. This was a really crowded, busy event but it seemed well organized and everyone was having a good time. The layout flowed pretty well. My friend and I sampled many, many beers (and cider) all of which I enjoyed. We were getting pretty buzzed and hungry, so we wound up leaving after a while and heading to Publican for an excessive amount of meat.

Ravenswood Light-Up Nights is a tradition that started in 2019, and has continued to remain strong…read morethroughout the pandemic and beyond. This was the fifth year and they reimagined it a little bit. There was a HUGE crowd this year--I even bumped into our Chicago CM, Kate! Last year there were people, but not nearly the hundreds that were around this year. There was a holiday market in the All Saints' parish hall where a few independent vendors were selling some things. Before the tree lighting there was a local dance troupe that performed. It was nice that they had some special guests (not just the alderman and the president of Ravenswood Neighbors, but also our congressional representative Mike Quigley). There were at least a couple of musical performances in the church and at ACM across the street. And the hot chocolate was a huge hit!! They also had a scavenger hunt for the kids, which was a nice touch. And they raised approximately $1,700 Ravenswood Community Services, which is great. The only feedback I'd have is that they may need to do something different for the holiday market since it was just too packed, and either reduce the number of speakers or not have them speak so long (the RNA chair was particularly verbose).

The Winter Fest is an excellent annual evening of fun for the whole family! The main event is in…read moreUptown Park Ridge right outside the library on Black Friday at 6pm. Santa comes in via fire truck and you can get his photo taken in the library. You will need to go in beforehand and get a ticket for one of the groups (every half hour). There are several activities in the library and also some cookies / cider. The event is on both sides of town and connected by a trolley. You can also easily drive across and avoid the long wait. In South Park there are live Reindeer at PNC Bank to get your photos with. The fire station has an open house with refreshments and equipment tours. Many local businesses open their doors during the event. They offer some discounts for Black Friday along with refreshments. You can stop by Perry's for a sample of pizza or any of the local businesses for more cookies than you should eat the day after Thanksgiving.

We've been coming to Winterfest every year for maybe the last 5 years and I realized that I never…read morewrote about it before. Park Ridge Winterfest always takes place on the Friday evening following Thanksgiving. It consists of many shops along Prospect, Northwest Highway, and the shops around Hodges Park, plus the strip south of the Metra station. The shops around town are open late. Many offer cookies, cocoa, candy or other treats for people who stop in. There are special sales and promos at many shops as well. On the street, there are carolers. Even Santa makes a stop at the library where the line goes out the door for people and kids waiting to see him. Trolleys shuttle people around the fest area, or between the South Park portion of the fest and Uptown Park Ridge. For the first time, I have to say it was poorly executed, mostly centered around how the trolleys worked. We got there at 6:30 and started exploring the shops. We were going to hop on the shuttle to head to Whole Foods from the Five Guys area maybe half a mile away. It was supposed to be coming at 10-15 minute intervals. A police officer at the crossing told us it should be any minute since the trolley was there maybe 10 minutes ago. So we waited... 15 minutes and the trolley finally came. We could have stopped at Iannelli Studio on the west end of the trolley route but decided against it since we figured the trolley would leave us stranded there away from the other sights, just far enough outside the boundaries of the main part of Winterfest. Looking at the folks gazing at the trolley from inside Iannelli Studios, I presume they were hoping someone would come out to visit but nobody on the trolley did. Even if we visited, what would be there to see? We were not sure. When stopped at a location near the Northwest Highway boutiques, a woman from one of the stores came on the trolley and told us they have special offers in each shop if people stop in. Nobody got off the trolley. What offers? I had no idea but I won't wait for the next trolley to get back to the main strip of Uptown. We didn't bother going to South Park's shops at all since the trolley line for that was very long and would have required more than one trolley to get everyone there. We finally stopped at Whole Foods and got to sample some of their chili, bought a few things and then waited for the trolley - about 25-30 minutes from the dropoff time. By then it was nearly 8:30 and no new people came to see Whole Foods, as the trolley was on its last run. Now if this fest goes from about 6 till 8:30 PM, you can see how much time is wasted with these trolleys being so inefficient at circulating people around town during the fest. So to any Park Ridge Chamber of Commerce folks reading this, perk up your ears. To make this fest better next time, I got a few suggestions: 1. If you use trolleys to get people around, make it quicker or more frequent. Too much time is wasted waiting or wondering if a trolley will come to take you back. If the 25 minute intervals were reduced to 10-15 minutes as promised, more people would be able to see more things and not worry about taking a long walk back or waiting for the next one. Better circulation of people = better $ales at more shops. Don't leave festgoers stranded or having to sacrifice seeing some places in favor of others. 2. How about an itinerary of all the things to see and do during Winterfest? If every participating shop gave a short summary of their specials, more people would be curious or know where to go and what to expect. Why not post these in some spots or hand them out to people on the trolley? I am sure we will be back next year, but how much we will be able to see will depend on the planning that goes into the event.

This was me and The Heiress Apparent (La J) first time at this event. We are both lovers of Mac…read moreand Cheese, so of course when we heard about this event, we were in. Tickets were $65 for General Admission and and $105 for VIP. Both tickets got you all you can eat samples and five drink tickets. We got the VIP tickets because there was priority check in, free tee shirts and a VIP section we could sit in so we could be comfortable eating our mac and cheese. The VIP section was good, plenty of seats. This was our first time at the fest, so we have no comparison in terms of organization. But I would say that the event was very well organized. There were a good number of vendors representing different types of mac and cheese, very creative. The samples were a good size for getting a flavor of eat one. It was a brilliant idea to have the samples already out on the table ready to pick up. The only vendor that had a line was Public House (Chef Jeremy Tannehill) for the Chicken, Mac, & Waffles. It eventually settled down and we go to sample it...waffle cone, mac/cheese and a chicken meatball in hot sauce. It was good. Millie's Supper Club had a a great Smoked Gouda Mac & Cheese. Texican (Chef Kim Dalton) Texas Chili Mac, Warren's Ale House (Chef Kevin Hay) Ghost Pepper Mac with Smoked BBQ Brisket (wasn't that hot and that was good), and ConeCepts (Chef Turn Cummings) Beer Braised Brisket Mac & Cheese were all good. Another favorite for me was Carmine's. They came up with a Mac and Cheese slider and it was so good. Other favorites were Carnivale's (Chef Rodolfo Cuadios) Mac & Cheese Cake Pops. I could not wrap my mind around a mac and cheese dessert, but it was like eating cheese cake. That was my personal favorite of all the vendors. La J enjoyed Mahoney's Pub & Grille's (Chef Alex Gomez) Strawberry Mac & Cheesecake and Kitty O'Sheas at the Hilton Chicago's (Chef Mario Garcia & Chef Erica McGhee) something like an apple crumble. Again, not thinking of mac and cheese as a dessert, but both worked. The five drink tickets were good and I ended up getting more from some nice people. Not sure what all was there for adult beverages as I hit the table serving wine. Pretty decent whites and they have a sparkling, so I was in heaven. The pours were very generous. We didn't get to hit all of the restaurants as we got so full! We had a plan of attack for hitting all of the vendors, but made the mistake of repeating samples that we liked. All and all, it was a good time and I look forward to doing this next year.

Tubular elbow pasta has been one of America's favorite comfort foods ever since Yankee Doodle stuck…read morea feather in his cap. This annual one-day indoor festival provides a venue for talented local chefs to flex their creative muscles and compete for the Golden Noodle Award, and for foodies to sample something potentially more awesome than the familiar Kraft product. Tickets are pricey but the event donates a portion of the proceeds to a worthy charity. This was the first time the Missus and I attended the Fest (we were invited as VIP lunch guests). Many of the offerings we tasted were truly a quantum leap above the comparatively bland grocery aisle version. Some had unusual twists. For example, mac & cheese cake pops (Carnivale), whose flavor is best described as cheddar cheesecake. My personal fave was the sweet-and-savory concoction of Kitty O'Shea's (a past award recipient); it was redolent of caramelized onions. Several of the booths were elaborately decorated. To wash down the high-carb repast, participants could choose from an array of 5 oz. pours of beers, wines, and hard ciders. A deejay spun contemporary songs. The feeding frenzy concluded with the announcement of the winner and runners-up (by popular vote) for the Golden Noodle Award, a trophy that looks like a drainpipe on a pedestal. What a hoot! We're longtime fans of food festivals, and this exceptionally well-run event was among the best we've attended.

I went to this event yesterday and ended up spending more time there then I originally anticipated…read moreI would! It was such a well put together event and such a fun, relaxing time. This event celebrates street food & artistry in Chicago, just as the event title suggests. It brings together art, music and delicious food! This was the first year the event went out and it was held at the Galleria Marchetti. This was a great location with an indoor section, fancy tented area that was wedding reception-esque, and two outdoor areas. I loved the outdoor areas! The weather was perfect so it was so pleasant to grab some bites, listen to some music and soak up the sun in a decent temperature! They had a silent auction going on and I wish I knew it was because they had some great items for sale! A signed Justin Bieber album!??!? Ummmm amazing!!! And other artists on the same level as him like Michael Jackson! hehe I'm only kidding! Half kidding. Really some amazing items with low starting bids. Seriously wish I had known! Tickets were $31 and I think well worth the price! They had a kid's cooking demo, some amazing musical acts plus an awesome hip hop tap dance group M.A.D.D. Rhythms! I loved all of the music and bands that played!!! On to the yummies! There were some food trucks & carts representing and the best part for me was trying new ones I haven't tried before! I had never had any of these before! The coolest part was talking to the people who ran the trucks & carts. It's not often you get that privilege and for a foodie like myself it was a good thing. Homage Street Food - New food truck to Chicago! The owner was super nice and enthusiastic about what he is bringing to the city and how different it is. Both dishes we tried had some kick to them. I had the buckwheat noodles and really enjoyed them! Arrf Scarf Cart - Treats for dogs! Friendly group and have yet to say how the dog likes these treats. I got treats to give to one of my BFF's dogs Minion...I'll keep you posted on how Minion likes them! Bergstein's NY Deli Truck - I tried their slider and potato pancake. Both were yummy! Puffs of Doom Cart - Super friendly people here! I'm not a huge fan of cream puffs but these little guys were cool. Interesting choices in flavors and I opted for the oreo, yum! Uptown Pie Company Truck - I think they were a no show! Sad. Herby Pop - Gourmet popcorn and it was tasty! I just had my onion & dill popcorn sample after dinner tonight and really enjoyed the savory taste of it. Dawali Mediterranean Kitchen - Now that was some good naan! The hummus was some of the best I've ever had! Everything on this HUGE sampling plate was delicious! Adding this to my list of restaurants I must visit. English & Porkchop both had pulled pork sandwiches. Both were good but it was kind of funny they had the same dish and were right next to each other. I have been to English a bit for the bar aspect of it so was interesting to see them at a food event Old School Root Beer Float Carts - Awesome! Root beer floats are the bomb diggity! A root beer float sitting outside on the grass was the perfect treat! Dark Matter Coffee Company had hangover coffee! It doesn't get cooler then that! Wow Bao is always good! They had pulled pork buns and some other flavors which I didn't get to try! e.leaven had some yummy food plus amazing brownie bites! They were so thick and delicious! Macy's Chefs A-Go-Go Tour - Takashi!!! My friend and I are big Takashi fans and it was so cool to see him there and walking around the event. I wish I would have had more courage to ask for a picture! Either way, I ate his cold noodle dish for lunch today and loved it! Yum.Yum.Yum. The Macy's truck was also handing out Bananas Fosters Pops from Emeril! They were beyond delicious and I don't like bananas! Forever Yogurt Truck - Ended the night with some strawberry lemonade frozen yogurt with no toppings. Delicious and I loved the cute, colorful truck! All in all, a fantastic event and I hope they throw it again next year!

I really enjoyed the Day hanging on the lake with my family and friends. The environment was joyful…read moreand peaceful. I felt safe and was able to relax and just enjoy the music, the entertainment, the food and all the beautiful people that were out there just having a wonderful time. It was nice to see friends that I haven't seen in many years..... it was a really good choice hosting the event on the lake. I look forward to going again next year.