Here are some free and cheap things to do this weekend in Chicago from September 23rd to Sept 25th, 2016.
Come out with friends and family and enjoy the FREE 2016 Hyde Park Jazz Festival, which runs Sept. 24-25, 2016 and features artist Randy Weston performing a 90th birthday solo at Rockefeller Chapel in Chicago. The 2016 Hyde Park Jazz Festival offers two days of live jazz near the Museum of Science and Industry. Entry is a $5 suggested donation.
Check out the Randolph Street Market this Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m and meet the city’s top interior designers and press . The Randolph Street Market is the country’s largest urban antiques market featuring over 250 unique sellers. You never know what you’ll find at the market from around the clock entertainment, a dance party, carnival games, design stars, cooking demos, celebs, cooling stations, cabanas, fashion shows, artisan food vendors, and more. The outdoor market is filled with antiques, fashion and furniture; there’s also live music, a Bloody Mary bar, a Pet Portrait Studio, treasure hunting for the kids and lots more. Tickets are $8 in advance ($10 at the gate)
Save the date for this Sunday, Sept 25, 2016 for Dusek’s 2nd Annual FREE Blocktoberfest! We are once again celebrating our anniversary and our community with a day filled with food, beer, punch, music, bocce ball, games, face painting and more. Bring the whole fam to this free, family friendly jam. Dusek’s 2nd Annual Blocktoberfest takes place in Chicago this Sunday Sept 25, 2016 outside Thalia Hall in PIlsen from 12-10p.
Head over to Wellington and Southport in Lakeview for Oktoberfest Chicago and enjoy the 16th annual St Alphonsus Oktoberfest at West Lakeview’s St. Alphonsus church this weekend. Three days of beer, brats and pretzels plus two stages of music are sure to put you in the spirit at Oktoberfest Chicago. Please go to www.oktoberfestchicago.org to see band lineups, volunteering opportunities, VIP programs (no waiting for bathroom, 2-1 drink and food coupons, and a liter stein), and kid’s activities all weekend long.Admission is $5 benefitting the Roman Catholic parish.
World Music Festival Chicago – Enjoy the final weekend of this free music fest, featuring music from China, Bulgaria and Canada.
Free Admission to Chicago Museums on 2016 Museum Day – Sept 24 – Check out the 2016 Museum Day Live!, a Chicago and nationwide annual free museum event hosted by Smithsonian magazine in which participating museums across the country open their doors to anyone presenting a Museum Day Ticket…for free. This year the 2016 event will be held on Saturday, September 24th
For you literary lovers and those specifically who are fans of Roald Dahl, make your way to the Roald Dahl Celebration on Sunday, Sept 25 at 2pm at 57th Street Books (1301 E. 57th) honors the author’s 100th birthday with games and treats inspired by his books and a rhyming contest.
Get your Oktoberfest on in Chicago this weekend at the Revolution Brewery Tap Room. The Oktoberfest Party will be in the back lot held at their state-of-the-art production brewery located at 3340 N. Kedzie Ave.There will be live bands, German cuisine and special tappings. Tickets are $10.
Check out the art of hip-hop star Lupe Fiasco, whose series of geometric abstract paintings are eerily calm, and replete with hidden skulls. “Beta”a visual art exhibition by Grammy Award winning hip-hop artist Wasalu Jaco also known as Lupe Fiasco. The exhibition is a new body of acrylic on canvas paintings featuring Jaco’s brilliantly colored hard-edged geometric abstractions stamped with his signature momento mori skull symbol in sculptural relief. The works display his distinctive style and unique perspective on his own artistic journey and society in general. “Beta” will open September 23, 2016 and run through November 30, 2016 only at EPAC.9/23–11/30. Free. Ed Paschke Art Center, 5415 W. Higgins.edpaschkeartcenter.org
We like the the Goose Island 312 Urban Block Party this weekend from 5 p.m.-10 p.m. Friday, and 4 p.m.-10 p.m. Saturday, that includes music and beers. Music headliners include Chicago’s own Whitney, Dawes, Beach Slang and Against Me! Goose Island Brewery, 1800 W. Fulton St.; must be 21+; $10 suggested donation;
Lyric Opera’s Chicago Voices presents this unique performance at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance on Sept. 24 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are free but reservations are required. Lyric Opera’s new initiative Chicago Voices presents a collection of musical theater works that showcase little-known stories from communities around the city. “Stories and Songs of Chicago” features fully produced performances by three different community groups: Tellin’ Tales Theatre, about people with disabilities’ daily lives in Chicago; Harmony, Hope & Healing, about the hardship found in city streets and how music can help heal; and the Kirin-Gornick Band, about reconciling their life in Chicago with their Croatian and Serbian roots. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Harris Theater, 205 E. Randolph St.; free tickets available at the door starting at 6:30 p.m.;
Check out the traveling Punk Rock Karaoke who are putting on a concert event event at The Orphanage Community Center at 9 p.m. Bring your best rendition of punk rock classics and a $5 donation for entry. All the proceeds will go to Wild’s legal defense fund.
Over 3,000 artists represented by 145 international galleries, 22 countries and 53 cities are in town this week for the fifth annual EXPO CHICAGO’s International Exposition of Modern & Contemporary Art. The show takes place in Navy Pier’s Festival Hall (600 E. Grand Ave.). A one-day pass is $20 or $30 for three days. (September 23-25). Info and tickets here.
Tickets start at $10 for Saturday and $65 for Saturday for Chicago rapper Common’s AAHH Fest concert extravaganza located in Union Park this weekend. After taking a year off, Aahh fest is back, offering a strong lineup that includes Vic Mensa, J. Cole, Chicago artist Sir The Baptist, The Roots and other performers.
Join thousands of art lovers and buyers to experience the cultural vitality of Edgewater through a unique mix of visual arts, performing arts, good food, children’s activities & talent shows, and welcoming hosts, at the 4th Annual Edgewater Arts Festival (formerly the Fall Art Fair) on Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is a $5 suggested donation. Come enjoy more than 100 Chicago-based artists plus you gotta have some live music, beer, and eats, right?
Midnight Circus – This family-friendly circus sets up in Oriole Park on Sept. 24 & 25. Ticket required. All proceeds benefit the Chicago Park District.
The Magic Parlour – Magic show at the Palmer House Hilton Sept. 23 & 24. Ticket required.
Come on out for the Gapers Block 4th Annual Hot Dog Cookoff. Chefs will cook up their Vienna Beef dogs any creative way they like with judging to take place at 4:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 ($10 for kids under 12) and include tasting portions. Proceeds from the event will benefit Reach Out and Read Illinois.
Make your way out to the Long Grove Apple Fest this weekend from 11 a.m. – 11 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. – 11 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Sunday, and enjoy apple-flavored popcorn, apple licorice and a burger topped with caramelized apples, to name a few of the adventurous options. Other apple-related activities, such as a pie-eating contest, dot the family-oriented festival’s three-day schedule. Downtown Long Grove, 308 Old McHenry Rd., Long Grove; $5;
Free hayrides! The Rogers Park’s Harvest Celebration will be a great family event in Willye B. White Park from 1 to 4 p.m. Free. Hayrides | Pumpkin Patch | Entertainment | Refreshments | Magicians | Face Painting | Music | Stilt Walkers | Inflatables | Jugglers and much more!!
Paper Moon Pastry and Bake and Destroy host the Vegan Vortex Autumn Market which will be a vegan-extravaganza this Sunday in Logan Square. There’s more than just pastries at this pop-up market with music, a Bloody Mary bar, artisan goods and more, and they’re all 100% cruelty-free. 11 a.m.to 3 p.m. Free.
