Michel: A festive yet bookish atmosphere where one can find good deals on books and posters and can get hooked up with any number of bizarre small presses. Also, for some reason, a number of chiropractors.
Elizabeth: That's right! The chiropractors were out again in full force this year! That continues to be the main factor in determining a quality festival in Chicago.
The chiropractors
Rib Fest June 12-14
Elizabeth: We figured out how to do Rib Fest correctly this year! What you do is you get a table for your group at one of the bars on Lincoln. Then you send "Rib Runners" out to collect the tasting samples from 1-3 rib vendors at a time. Everyone else orders the beverages, which are way cheaper in the bars than out in the festival, and then everyone gets to try ribs seated at a table in relatively air conditioned comfort. Because with all of the grills and smokers going outside, it's hot in the festival.
Michel: As always, with its meat-based raison d'etre, Rib Fest is the height of festive occasions. While not all ribs are great, most are at least pretty good. And in the rare case of bad ribs, one can be assured that better ribs are mere steps away.
Our group this year: Jamie, Michel, Elizabeth, Lee, David, and Stephen
Thank you, Tavern at Little Fort, for being totally on board with our lazy rib tasting plan.
Elizabeth: Our conclusion this year is that there are really only 2 vendors whose ribs consistently meet the expectations of these rib connoisseurs: Texas Thunder out of Amarillo, Texas (no surprise there: best sauce in the festival) (Michel: Hands down.) and Mrs. Murphy's Irish Bistro, a delightful little restaurant within walking distance of our apartment that has the best meat on their ribs. As such, we have decided that next year, we will be able to emotionally detach enough from Rib Fest to be able to attend the Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois.
Michel: In 1978, DC Comics declared the small town of Metropolis, IL, near the border of Kentucky, to be the official home of Superman. And every June they host a 4 day long Superman Celebration that features Superman related guests, vendors, and is, as the name suggests, a celebration of all things Superman, which, for me, will be something of a pilgrimage when we attend.
Elizabeth: The only thing that can pull Michel away from ribs is Superman.
Our Rating: 8 Texas BBQ sauces out of 10 smokers. Bonus points for the delicious fried Milky Way and Oreos. Sorry that we will be missing you next year.
The Weekend of Festivals
The weekend of July 10-12, we attempted 5 festivals in 3 days. We didn't quite make it. Here is the run down:
Grant Park Music Festival
Elizabeth: The Grant Park Music Festival is a series of outdoor classical concerts that is oddly named because it takes place in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park rather than the titular Grant Park. However, this summer they had a killer slate of concerts ranging from Beethoven symphonies and Brahms choral works to short operas by Barber and piano concertos by Saint-Saens. We started our weekend attending A Sondheim Celebration, having a dinner picnic on the lawn with my co-worker, Lee, and her boyfriend, David.
Michel: The orchestra was great, and the singers were pretty good. The setting is especially nice. It's a beautiful green space surrounded by distinct Chicago architecture.
Our Rating: 10 Sondheims out of 10 Hammersteins. Going to a concert or movie or anything in a park is one of the coolest things to do in the city each summer. We now have lawn chairs and a picnic basket, so we are super ready for next year!
Roscoe Village Burger Fest
Elizabeth: We didn't make it, but we drove past it on the bus on the way to West Fest. It looked like the burger version of Rib Fest.
Our Rating: 17 pretzel buns out of 9 cheeseburgers. We don't really know, but how can a burger version of rib fest be bad? We're definitely going next year.
West Fest
Michel: Although we passed Roscoe Village Burger Fest on the way to West Fest, we did not actually attend West Fest. Frankly, I don't know what West Fest is. Maybe a cowboy thing?
Elizabeth: I think it's a street music festival, but I don't know who any of the bands were. We met a bunch of my co-workers at a bar where we were going to all hang out and eat pizza before heading to West Fest. I just nodded and made vaguely affirmative noises when anyone started talking about the bands. We ended up having to leave before the group actually left for the festival. West Fest remains a mystery to us.
Our Rating: 6 spurs out of 14 Stetsons. Because why not?
Taste of Chicago
Elizabeth: We had to forgo discovering the mysteries of West Fest because we had a date with Taste of Chicago, a giant food and drink festival in Grant Park. (And actually in Grant Park, not in Millennium Park.) When we arrived, the sky was threatening to open up with a deluge of epic proportions (for Chicago, anyway), but the crowds were undaunted.
Michel: If you've ever wanted to see the entire population of Chicago in one place, come to the Taste of Chicago.
Elizabeth: Lines were long, crowds were slow moving, the festival was free but the tastes were expensive, and that helotes-topped pizza from earlier was starting to sit very badly in our stomaches.
Michel: In your stomach, not mine.
Elizabeth: But you weren't feeling good either.
Michel: Yeah, but I didn't eat the helotes pizza because gross.
Elizabeth: Anyway, we wandered the length of the festival, didn't find anything that was worth the price to try, and decided to head home and get ice cream because ice cream is good for headaches and stomach aches.
Our Rating: 2 million people out of 0 tastings. We came, we saw, we decided we had better things to do.
Square Roots
Elizabeth: Square Roots is the blues festival that takes place in Lincoln Square. Unfortunately, we were pretty wiped out by Sunday, and Michel had to work on his thesis. So I went on a walk around the neighborhood and walked by it a few times. It looked pretty great. Definitely adding this to the list next year.
Our Rating: 5 Buddy Guys out of 6 B.B. Kings.
Ravinia August 2, 2015
Elizabeth: Our last festival of the summer season was our annual trip to Ravinia, another outdoor concert opportunity. Last year we heard a concert version of The Marriage of Figaro, and this year we went with some friends to see Gladiator with the score provided by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. It was as awesome as it sounds.
Michel: We didn't have a straight on view of the screen, but that didn't really matter. It was still a pretty great experience. Unfortunately we were not able to stay for the duration of the film as the weather became unruly.
Elizabeth: Lightning finally forced us back to the car and home, but it was still worth the trip.
Our Rating: 100 centurions out of 50 legions.
And that's it for the Summer Is a Time for Festivals 2015 Edition!
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