What happened to spring in Chicago?

BEST DATE NEWS

April 13, 2023: Best Date News Volume #20

April 13: National Holidays

• National Peach Cobbler Day

• National Thomas Jefferson Day

• National Scrabble Day

Chicago News of the Week

• Patio Season Came Early: Can you remember a spring weather week like this?! It feels like we straight up skipped spring and went to summer. 70's and sunny every day seems too good to be true, especially when it could be just as easily snowing in early April. Take advantage by visiting a patio in the next couple days! Here are five we love!

• Restaurant Closings: While the spring brings nicer weather, it also brings restaurant closings that weren't able to survive the difficult winter. A few decently well known spots including Paprika, Stand-Up Burgers, Fairgrounds Coffee & Tea and La Borra Cafe closed locations.

• Summer Soccer: Soldier Field has been selected as one of 15 venues to host this summer's Concacaf Gold Cup tournament that goes from June 16-July 16. The United States will attempt to defend its title as North America's best soccer country! Match information will be announced tomorrow.

• Goodbye Walmart: Walmart has decided to close half of its Chicago locations (four out of the eight) including the stores in Lakeview, Chatham, Kenwood and Little Village.

• Barstool Sports HQ: The media company has decided to make Chicago its new headquarters. They are opening a massive new office space in West Town (400 N Noble St) that will be decked out with a basketball court, music studios and kitchens.

• ICYMI: Kristin Cavallari will be making an appearance in West Loop at 5pm tonight at her store Uncommon James. A ticket to the event comes out to $37 for admission and a signed copy of her healthy recipe book.

NASCAR Chicago: At this point, you've likely heard about the NASCAR race festivities coming to Chicago this summer taking place July 1 and 2. The race is officially being titled the Grant Park 220 NASCAR Cup Series Race and it will go from 4:30-8pm on July 2. In addition to the race, there will be concerts by the Chainsmokers, Charley Crokket and Miranda Lambert.

While the race is expected to bring tourism dollars to the city, it has also been met with concern. Some of which includes park, street (including Lake Shore Drive) and business closures in the days before and after, moving of the Taste of Chicago, excessive noise, additional traffic and more. Take a look at the proposed racecourse layout below:

At a community evening that took place this week, Chicago residents were able to express their concerns about the NASCAR event. Some initial solutions that were shared included festivities wrapping up by 10pm each night, special mufflers to reduce noise and limitations of track time for the race cars. Dive into all the details of the event here.

Photo of the Week

Poll of the Week

Last Week's Poll Results

73% of you said that you would want Chicago to implement this system.

Today's Sunset in Chicago

The sun will set in Chicago this evening at 7:29pm. Which means the sun sets today 8 minutes later than it did compared to last week.