Entries Tagged as 'festival'

Tour de Fat Bike Parade

July 13th, 2009 · No Comments

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This weekend Killian and Brian biked over to our house and we went to Tour de Fat. While we were waiting for Killian and Brian to arrive, the bike parade went down our street, past our house. I was downstairs and Dallas started yelling so I ran up, grabbed my camera, and ran outside to take photos.

Tour de Fat is (from Wikipedia):

… is an annual bicycle parade and festival sponsored by New Belgium. The events, which take place in various large cities around the West, include music, New Belgium beer, circus-type performances, bicycle dance troupes, and the main event: a giant group bike ride/parade where everyone dresses up in costumes and rides through town. One major part of the event is a bike trade, in which a local participant transfers the keys and title to their vehicle to New Belgium, in exchange for a new commuter bike and trailer in order to promote bike riding and sustainability.

Everyone in the parade was yelling “Happy Saturday!” to me. Some were like “Go get your bike and join us!” Everyone from costumed hipsters to families were enjoying the parade. It was great to see everyone having so much fun and to see how inclusive it was.

I’ll have more photos to post here, but also check out my immense Flickr set for ones that may not make it to the site.

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Retro on Roscoe 2008

August 4th, 2008 · 2 Comments


Retro on Roscoe, Roscoe Village, Chicago

Retro on Roscoe was this past weekend and we all attended, of course. It’s hard not to when it’s so close. There’s a stage about 3 houses from ours, so even if we didn’t attend the festival, we’d be listening to the bands anyway.


Stephanie with empty chili samplers, Roscoe Village, Chicago

Steph and I walked around Retro on Roscoe starting at about noon or so. We sampled all of the chilis in the Windy City Chili Cookoff. There were a few unique ones like the pork chili verde, but most of them were red, slightly spicy and very meaty. We tried 9 or 10 different chilis and both agreed that we liked one called “Nikki’s Revenge” the best. We probably could have stopped right there and just had chili samples for lunch, but we decided to go to the polish stand where we ordered one of each flavor of pierogi and a blintze. Steph had never tried either. Funny thing is that neither of us really like sauerkraut, but we both really liked the sauerkraut pierogi. On a side note, Dallas loves the polish stand so much that he had it for dinner two nights in a row and I think he did the same thing last year too.


IRS, Retro on Roscoe, Chicago


IRS + Random Groupie, Retro on Roscoe, Chicago

After lunch Steph and I sat on the grass by the Hamilton stage and watched a cover band called IRS (Independent Rock Society). They played a lot of popular songs and the crowd relaxed and sang along. Jen and Chad hosted their annual Retro on Roscoe party since they also live so close to the festival. After IRS was done playing, Stephanie and I headed over to their house. Dallas and a bunch of friends were already there. Chad and Limey tried to introduce the Pimm’s Cup as the new Summer of Rachelle drink, but it didn’t work because I didn’t like it. We all played ping pong (beer pong for some) in the garage and urban horseshoes (sometimes called washers) in the alley. Trent and I were on fire as an urban horseshoes team. Steph had fun watching the ping pong action, playing with Drake, Cortez, and Quinn and even got in on some urban horseshoes action on a team with Cousin. Inside the house TJ taught Jill and Steph how to make homemade Mexican/Puerto Rican rice like his mom used to make. Oh, and Limey tried many times to convince Steph to be a Cubs fan. He said he would give her tickets for the game the following day and all she had to do was swear off the Brewers, but she refused. When he gave up on baseball and said “well, at least say you’ll like the Bears,” we walked away. Not a chance!


Pimm’s, Rosceo Village, Chicago

For dinner Stephanie was all for trying more new food so we headed back out to the festival and split a gyro, which she was in love with. I wasn’t sure if she’d like the lamb, but she thought it was delicious. It’s fun to have her willing to try anything and even more fun when she likes it! We watched a bit of a band called Dot Dot Dot because Kristin and Cousin’s cousin plays keyboards in the band. At about 10 pm we called it a night and went home. It was about a 3 second walk home. Awesome.

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Retro on Roscoe

August 6th, 2007 · 5 Comments

Jen, Chad, Quinn
Jen, Chad & Quinn :: Retro on Roscoe, Roscoe Village, Chicago (NOTE: Chad is back in on the mustache bet!)

Balloon Artist
Balloon Artist :: Retro on Roscoe, Roscoe Village, Chicago

Kids Fake Surfing
Neighborhood kids pretending to surf :: Retro on Roscoe, Roscoe Village, Chicago

Food Choices
Free fries with almost everything :: Retro on Roscoe, Roscoe Village, Chicago

Chili
There was a chili cookoff :: Retro on Roscoe, Roscoe Village, Chicago

Polish Food Stand
The Polish food from this stand was fantastic and this woman was working at the stand from beginning to end :: Retro on Roscoe, Roscoe Village, Chicago

The last time I went to Retro on Roscoe was in 2004. Last year when we were moving to Roscoe Village it was this weekend so we couldn’t move because we live so close to Roscoe Street, it would have been impossible. Since Jen and Chad live so close too, they always have a party every year. People come and go from the festival and hang out at their house all night. This year was the first time I could go to their party. It was fun, and Quinn is home now, so it was great to finally meet him. The cool thing is that on the Saturday of Retro on Roscoe (it lasts 2 days), there are parties everywhere. People in the allies, out on the sidewalks, in yards, and of course at the festival. It’s like the whole neighborhood is having one big party.

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Carnies!

August 23rd, 2006 · 1 Comment

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Roscoe Village, Chicago

Sunday night Margaret and Erin and I went to Jewel on Roscoe/Western to get some vegetables to grill at Erin’s. There was a traveling carnival in the parking lot and Margaret really wanted to go. We walked through, but didn’t do anything.

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Eat This!

July 2nd, 2006 · 1 Comment

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I was at Millennium Park so I decided to swing by Taste of Chicago. I’ve been kind of lacking inspiration lately and I thought I could get some good photos. It was really hot and the festival was super crowded. I was just sweaty and cranky. Plus, people don’t really like to get their photos taken that much when they’re completely pigging out. I’m not really happy with any of the photos I took.

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