Lights, Lace and Liquor

The Christkindlmarket is an annual event in Daley Plaza. German and American artisans sell their wares at little booths. They start after Thanksgiving and go until Christmas Eve. I'm pretty sure they have little heaters in their booths to help them through the cold days. These are just three of the many booths at the market. Now, I was there early in the afternoon so it wasn't as crowded as it gets in the evening and the weekends. The Gluhwein vendor is usually MUCH busier.

Lights

Lace

Liquor

A Present for Daily Chicago Photo's Anniversary

One year ago today I started Daily Chicago Photo. While I haven't done 365 posts yet, it certainly isn't due to lack of interesting subject matter (I like a day or two off now and then.)

It's funny --when I first started this blog, I thought: "How will I find enough things to photograph for this blog?" Now, I think: "How am I going to be able to post all the things I want to photograph?"

These presents, kept from floating away with sandbags, were waiting to head down Michigan Avenue for the Holiday Lights Parade recently.

Thunderbirds

The jets are always one of the highlights of the Chicago Air and Water Show. This year we had the Air Force Thunderbirds. Here, they are flying over Lake Michigan during Friday's rehearsal. When will those silly power boaters learn that they can't race an F-16 and expect to win ;)

Here they are (on Sunday) in the Delta formation flying over the John Hancock Building. The show ended just before those dark clouds got darker and it started to rain.

Heritage Flight

The 51st Chicago Air and Water Show is this weekend but we get previews all week as the performers do practice runs.

This is the Air Force Heritage Flight Team, which presents planes from various eras of the Air Force. The planes in this photo are a P-51 Mustang (with the propeller), an F-16 Fighting Falcon, an A-10 Thunderbolt II, and an F-15 Eagle ... all being chased by a sailboat. ;)

No Room for Error

My favorite Chicago Air & Water Show performers are the Lima Lima Flight Team. Yes, there's a little favoritism going on there because they are from the Chicago area. But their bright yellow T34 Mentors are just great to see against a bright blue summer sky.

The 51st Chicago Air & Water Show is this weekend. That means that all this week the downtown area has been treated to mini previews and teasers as the show performers do practice runs.

Construct-a-palooza

Lollapalooza - a huge music event - is this weekend in Chicago. Yesterday they were working on constructing one of the stages. I'd better mention that the people in the picture were in Grant Park for the outdoor movie last night (Born Yesterday). I wouldn't want people to think they were already staking out their spots for the concerts ;)

Bughouse Square

Every year, the Newberry Library hosts a big donated book sale the last weekend of July. In conjunction, there are the Bughouse Square Debates in Washington Square Park.

A little history first. In the early 1900s, Washington Square Park was known as Bughouse Square and it was a popular free-speech space. Speechmakers stood on soap boxes to speak their mind and respond to vocal crowds. The Bughouse debates declined after World War II (spurred by crackdowns on socialists and communists) and had stopped by the 60s.

The Newberry Library started holding the debates again on their Book Fair weekend in 1986. They also re-enact an excerpt of the Lincoln Douglas Debates. This year's topics included Immigration Rights, Religion, the 2016 Chicago Olympics bid, Artificial Turf, Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable's Legacy, and the Chicago Parking Meter Debacle. The best orator receives the Dil Pickle award, in honor of the Dil Pickle Club which was, in effect, an indoor Bughouse Square).

I thought the most interesting speech was given by Haroon Rashid from the Friends of DuSable organization. His summary of DuSable's life and contribution to Chicago was rather educational and, perhaps because of that, I don't think anyone from the audience yelled out any comments. The most entertaining was the audience responses to the Chicago Parking Meter presentation by "The Parking Ticket Geek". Audience comments included "Wait - could you stop for a minute while I go feed the meter", numerous "Get a bicycle", "cars don't kill meters, people kill meters", "Yeah, we have high parking rates ... but we get a fireworks show twice a week".

(Click to enlarge the picture)

Photos (Clockwise from top left)
The Parking Ticket Geek, Black Bear Combo,
Michael Krebs as Lincoln for the Lincoln-Douglas
Debates re-enactment, The Dil Pickle Award,
Haroon Rashid of Friends of DuSable.

Movies in the Park

Movies in the Park again last night. In addition to the movie, which was Groucho Marx's "Duck Soup", they were attempting to break a world's record for the most people wearing Grouch Marx glasses. Apparently, the current record is held by Springfield Missouri. Whether or not Chicago has the record, everyone put up a valiant effort.

I'm not a Marx Brothers fan. But, when there are Marx Brothers fans around you laughing at the silliest stuff ... well .. laughing is contagious. Plus, it was a rather pretty night. Can't beat that.

Rufus T. Firefly: Chicolini, give me a number from one to ten.
Chicolini: Eleven.
Rufus T. Firefly: Right

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Scenes from the Start of the Chicago to Mackinac Race

The 101st Chicago to Mackinac race started on Saturday July 18. At 333 miles, it is the "longest annual freshwater distance race". According to the website, 337 boats are participating this year and 260 of those are getting tracked by GPS. I think they start getting to Mackinac Island Michigan on Monday, but it seems they haven't had a lot of wind.

(Click on the photo collage to enlarge it)

All the Wonderful People in the Dark (in the Park)

Yesterday was the first Movies in the Park downtown. There's just something really great about sitting in the park watching a movie - especially a classic like Sunset Boulevard.

Always the First Weekend in June

It may be chilly but it's June and that means Art Fair Season has officially begun in Chicago. This is Hyde Park's 57th Street Art Fair, the oldest juried art fair in Chicago. From now to Labor Day, there will be at least one street closed somewhere in the city for an art fair, music fair, or neighborhood celebration.

The kids from the neighborhood around the Art Fair set out their stands to sell lemonade and cookies and - acknowledging the day's below-normal temperatures - hand-made knit hats. (Hey - it's right by the University of Chicago, they start training those little entrepreneurs to know their markets early around there.)

Making Maple Syrup

North Park Village Nature Center, a hidden jewel in the North Park neighborhood of Chicago, held their annual Maple Syrup Festival this past weekend. Along with music and food, there are demonstrations on how to tap trees and make maple syrup.

Here, one of the Nature Center representatives is cooking the sap, reducing and concentrating it to become the sweet syrup that we put on pancakes and use in baking. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup.

Winter = (Snow * Ice) Squared

Two more pictures from Snow Days Chicago. This is Albert Einstein by a snow sculpting trio from Sycamore, Illinois.