A Summer of Festivals

Two weekends ago was a huge weekend for festivals in Chicago. Apparently, during Chicago summers, there are festivals to be found somewhere in the city every single weekend. There just happened to be five this weekend: Ribfest, Andersonville Midsommarfest, Old Town Arts Festival, Waveland Park Chill and Grill and Bluesfest at Grant Park. Luckily I had Saturday off and I wanted to make it to as many of them as I could. And while I didn't end up making it to all five, I got to go to both Ribfest and Midsommarfest.

My friend Marcus met me at my apartment around noon and we collectively decided (largely based on our empty stomachs) that Ribfest was the best place to start our day. It was really nice and sunny out, plus the festival was only about seven blocks from my apartment, so we decided to walk instead of taking the CTA. After stopping at a convenience store for a small snack (our stomachs were extremely empty), we made it to the Festival of Ribs.

The sheer amount of rib selection was overwhelming. When 30 different restaurants are vying for your money (or in this case, tickets) it's hard to decide which place will be the best. We chose to try five different sample platters at different booths instead of getting a half or whole rib at just one or two. Any place that mentioned the words "Texas-style" definitely had my vote, but we needed to base such important decisions on more than just familiarity. There were so many good ribs there, with so many different sauce choices. We rated them based on taste and ease of eating (whether they were falling off of the bone or not). My ultimate selection was the first one we tried, but I'm pretty sure my opinion was biased due to the fact that I was starving upon arrival. So after our five samples, a little bit of wine tasting and lots of water and hand wiping, we decided to head back to my place to rest for a minute before hitting up the next festival.

After an hour of just hanging out in the air conditioning, we decided that Andersonville's Midsommarfest was going to be our next target. Andersonville is a neighborhood north of Wrigleyville, almost on the outskirts of Chicago. Even though it was about two miles north of my apartment, we weren't having very good luck with the buses that day and we ended up walking all the way there. I did need to stop for some sunscreen though, as I was already getting red from the couple of hours we had spent at Ribfest.

I had absolutely no idea what to expect or what a "midsommar" might entail, but it didn't matter because I literally could not have possibly guessed how the day would turn out. After spending about an hour walking around the streets of the festival (which was just like any other street festival: bands playing, dance crews performing, food vendors, etc.) we met up with a mutual friend at a bar we had never been to. We met some of his friends and just chatted for about thirty minutes before the friend we had met ducked out to go take a nap. So here we were, at a bar with people we had just met, and so of course they invite us to a garden party at someone's apartment. I feel like that's Chicago summers in a nutshell: you never know who you're going to meet or where you're going to go next. So we met even more people and drank free beer and just had a good time conversing. The day was getting late though, and we decided to take off soon after.

The festivals were awesome, but the experiences around them were even better. If this is what Chicago summers are like, then I'm a huge fan. Of course there are even more festivals to come: Pizzafest, Burgerfest, Market Days, and even more that I haven't heard of yet. Let's hope every weekend this summer can be as awesome as this one was.

Part 2: The Wedding

Preston and I got ready to head to the wedding at his place, and luckily Preston knew how to tie my tie or I would have been out of luck. We were also getting pretty hungry, and as I didn't want to pass out in the heat, we stopped by Walmart to grab some snacks. After that, we swung by Jake's place to pick up him and DW.

Of course we arrived late to the wedding, but we didn't miss anything, so it was okay. After quickly saying "hello" to everyone, I went with the other ushers to stand at the front of the aisle and escort people to their seats.

The site of the ceremony, minus the seats.

Being an usher was extremely easy considering that the aisle was so short. I was definitely more nervous about it than I should have been. Most people opted to just walk to their seats alone anyway, but the people I did take were more than happy to have some assistance. I actually got to be a part of the ceremony, which I wasn't expecting, when I walked Grandma from the house on the property to her seat at the very beginning. After that I sat back and watched what turned out to be a very nice wedding.

Courtney and Aunt Anne.

Courtney and Uncle Bubba.

Courtney and Grant.

Jake recorded the whole ceremony and made a short little video that you can see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCNQrQp3nL8.

After the ceremony, of course, comes the reception and the dance and all the good stuff. The reception was held at the same place, feet away from where the ceremony was held. The dinner was Mexican cuisine which I was extremely happy about. I got to visit with everyone in my family and overall we had a really good time. I don't know that I could have asked for a better birthday celebration, being with both my family and my Texas friends.

After the reception ended, we went to Jake's for a little bit and just hung out. The next day I needed to be in San Antonio around 12 to pick my mom up from the airport, so we got to bed kind of early. All in all, though, the day was awesome, and I'm so happy I was able to make it down from Chicago to attend such an awesome wedding. Now I'm wondering which on of the Bondesen cousins will be next!