Chicago's Holiday Season is Heating Up

BEST DATE NEWS

Nov. 14, 2024: Best Date News Volume #100

Welcome to Best Date News, your favorite Chicago weekly newsletter! Today is our 100th newsletter! Thank you for being a weekly reader. Topics for today include Pitchfork says goodbye to Chicago, holiday fireworks at Navy Pier, ice skating rinks reopen, a Jeremy Allen White lookalike competition and more!

Nov. 14: National Holidays

• National Pickle Day

• National Spicy Guacamole Day

• National Seat Belt Day

• National American Teddy Bear Day

• National Loosen Up, Lighten Up Day

Sponsored by our friends at Chicago Artisan Market

Chicago Artisan Market

• Market This Weekend: The Chicago Artisan Market is back for a one-day Pre-Thanksgiving Market event this weekend! This market brings together 115+ of the best local artisans from Chicago, and the Midwest, all under one roof. Watch our video for a sneak peek!

• The market will take place at Morgan MFG (401 N. Morgan St.) in West Loop’s Fulton Market this Sunday, Nov. 17 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• You can eat and drink while you shop local vendors in categories like food, fashion, home, art and more. You can also bring your dog!

• Tickets are either 1 for $8 or 4 for $20 if you buy them online in advance! As a heads up, they are more expensive at the door, so get yours now.

Chicago News

• Alternative Music: Pitchfork Music Festival has announced that they will not be returning to Chicago next year after nearly two decades in Union Park. In other alternative rock news, two popular bands have announced major tours for 2025, and they both are stopping in Chicago next August. Linkin Park will be at the United Center on Aug. 11 and My Chemical Romance will be at Soldier Field on Aug. 29.

• Chicago Bears: It has been a bit of an up and down season thus far for the Chicago Bears, who are getting ready to host the rival Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field this weekend. In an effort to jumpstart their struggling offense, the team fired Shane Waldron, their offensive coordinator, this week less than 10 months after giving him the job.

• Holiday Fireworks: Navy Pier is bringing back their winter fireworks this holiday season. They will feature a 9 p.m. fireworks show every Saturday night from Nov. 30 - Dec. 21 as part of their Light Up The Lake winter programming. They will also have New Year’s Eve fireworks on Dec. 31 at midnight.

• Balena Pop-Up: A popular Lincoln Park restaurant, that was forced to close down in 2017 due to a fire, is making a comeback.. sort of. The Boka Restaurant Group has announced that they are bringing back Italian restaurant Balena for a one-week pop-up, featuring their most beloved menu items, in January at The Wellsley in River North. Limited reservations are now available.

• Ice Skating: Tomorrow (Nov. 15) is a big day for Chicago ice skaters as both the Maggie Daley Park Ice Skating Ribbon and the McCormick Tribune Ice Rink open for the season! The Skating Ribbon releases reservations on a staggered basis, with reservations through Dec. 1 already live. Reservations are also needed at the Tribune Ice Rink.

Just For Fun

• Jeremy Allen White: Do you remember how New York City had a Timothee Chalamet lookalike competition last month? Now it’s Chicago’s turn this weekend. If you know any Jeremy Allen White doppelgangers, send them to Humboldt Park for this lookalike competition.

• Red Cup Day: Today is Red Cup Day! For those unfamiliar, it’s Starbucks holiday tradition where they give out their red holiday cups for free to customers with the order of a qualifying drink.

• Califa De Leon: The world’s first ever Michelin-starred taqueria, El Califa De Leon from Mexico, is hosting a pop-up at Tacombi in Chicago. It runs from today through Nov. 28 at both the Wicker Park and West Loop Tacombi locations. Each location will have two of the four tacos.

• Sweet Reunion: Now this is an incredible story! The owner of a bakery in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood reunited with her biological son, who she put up for adoption in 1954, because he was a loyal customer of the bakery! You have to watch the video.

Poll Question of the Week

Last Newsletter's Poll Results

Poll Results: Last newsletter we asked you if you thought Napoleon Dynamite was a good movie, and 77% of you said that it was.

Today's Sunrise & Sunset in Chicago

Here is today’s outlook for sunrise and sunset in Chicago:

• Sunrise: 6:39 a.m. (8 minutes later than last week)

• Sunset: 4:30 p.m. (6 minutes earlier than last week)

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