If you can brave the thunderstorms, there’s plenty of happenings to fill the three-day holiday weekend. Here’s what we recommend:
Fri 5/27-Sun 5/29: The Gelato World Tour comes to Chicago with 16 flavors crafted by some of the best gelato artisans, and guests can vote for their favorite in Millennium Park (Michigan and Monroe). Finalists from the competition will go on to compete against other artisans from around the world, so this is sort of a big deal. Noon
The Gelato World Tour serves Chicago all weekend.
5/27-5/29: Local chefs and restaurants compete for the title of city’s best mole in the seventh annual Mole de Mayo festival at 18th and Ashland. Fri 5 PM, Sat-Sun noon
Fri 5/27-Sat 5/28: As part of her critically-acclaimed Formation World Tour, Beyonce performs two shows at Soldier Field (1410 S. Museum Campus Drive) this weekend. Meagan Fredette writes, “Her formula for success is uncomplicated: produce tracks that are texturally rich, strengthened by a queen-size dose of bravado and lyrics that center on strikingly personal themes.” 7:30 PM
Sat 5/28: Commemorating the one-year anniversary of the launch of their monthly stand-up showcase, South Asian comedy collective Simmer Brown presents Simmer Brown Turns One at the Bughouse Theater (1910 W. Irving Park). 8 PM
Rishika Murthy and the rest of Simmer Brown celebrate a year of their stand-up showcase on Sat 5/28.
Sat 5/28-Sun 5/29: The Belmont-Sheffield Music Festival (which predictably takes place at the corner of Sheffield and Belmont), kicks off the summer street festival season with a music lineup that includes School of Rock Chicago, Catfight, and more. Noon
Sun 5/29: Rise pre-dawn to participate in the Active Transportation Alliance’s annual Bike the Drive event, where hundreds of Chicagoans bike down Lake Shore Drive beginning at Grant Park’s Butler Field. 5 AM
Cars get the boot for Bike the Drive on Lake Shore Drive.
Sun 5/29: Wear your best Tommy Bahama shirt, pour a drink into a pineapple, and get to Logan Square (2595 N. Milwaukee) for Aloha (A Vigil), the celebration-turned-wake for the recently removed Alohabillboard that, for nearly a year, advertised the Cameron Crowe stinker at the corner of Milwaukee and Logan. 2 PM
We’ll miss Emma Stone, Bradley Cooper, and Rachel McAdams looming over Logan Square.
Sun 5/29: If you like beer and hate spending money, head over to Thalia Hall (1227 W. 18th) for Crap Beer Day, where you can buy all the cheap suds you hate to love. 5 PM
Mon 5/30: Celebrating Civil War General John A. Logan’s pledge of remembrance on the first Memorial Day in 1868, and commemorating the 1996 rededication of the monument to him in Grant Park (Columbus and Jackson), the Chicago Cultural Mile Association hosts the annual ceremony and dedication of the Logan Monument. 11 AM
Mon 5/30: Death metal band Grave Miasma hit up Reggie’s (2105 S. State) for their Chicago debut. Philip Montoro writes, “The riffs are clear and memorable, at least by the standards of their subgenre—though the twin guitars constantly knot and unravel, they don’t congeal into a shapeless Lovecraftian morass, instead moving stepwise as crisply as the arc from a Tesla coil.” 8 PM
