Your 2024 Chicago Holiday Guide

BEST DATE NEWS

Nov. 21, 2024: Best Date News Volume #101

Welcome to Best Date News, your favorite Chicago weekly newsletter! Thank you for being a weekly reader. With this weekend being the official kickoff to the holiday season in Chicago, we decided to put together a special holiday edition of our newsletter for you today! We hope you are able to use this as your holiday guide for what to do in Chicago this holiday season!

Nov. 21: National Holidays

• National Gingerbread Cookie Day

• National Stuffing Day

• National Red Mitten Day

• National Rural Health Day

• World Television Day

Sponsored by our friends at FoBAB

FoBAB This Weekend

• Beer Festival: The 22nd annual Festival of Wood & Barrel-Aged Beer (FoBAB) is the largest and most prestigious barrel-aged beer festival and competition in North America. It’s one of the top craft beer destinations in the nation!

• And guess what? It takes place in Downtown Chicago this weekend on Friday, Nov. 22 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. & Saturday, Nov 23 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Credit Union 1 Arena.

• There will be 350+ barrel-aged beer, cider, mead and perry from 175 top breweries around the United States!

• See the full list of brewers in attendance and get tickets for this weekend’s festival before they sell out!

Chicago Holiday Festivities

• Mag Mile Lights Festival: The Wintrust Magnificent Mile Lights Festival has been arguably Chicago’s most iconic holiday celebration for 33 years, and it’s back on Saturday, Nov. 23! The center of it all is the largest nighttime parade in the United States led by Micky and Minnie Mouse down North Michigan Avenue. They help kick off the holiday season in Chicago by illuminating one million lights on 200+ trees along the Mag Mile. The event ends with a fireworks spectacular around 7 p.m. Get all the details.

• Tree Lighting Ceremony: Tomorrow (Nov. 22) is the 111th Annual City of Chicago Christmas Tree Lighting in Millennium Park! The Tree Lighting Ceremony will take place near the intersection of Michigan Ave. and Washington St. There will be a pre-show that begins at 5 p.m., while the official ceremony will kickoff at 6 p.m. and conclude with fireworks at 6:30 p.m. Here is what it looked like last year.

• Christkindlmarket: Celebrate the holidays in Chicago the German way with roasted nuts, fresh pretzels, bratwurst and hot-spiced wine at The Christkindlmarket! This year, there will be two locations: Chicago at Daley Plaza and Aurora at RiverEdge Park. Both locations open for the season tomorrow, Friday, Nov. 22 and are free admission. Check out this year’s mugs!

• Thanksgiving Parade: The Chicago Thanksgiving Parade will take place on Thursday, Nov. 28 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. on State Street from Ida B. Wells Drive to Randolph. Did you know that Chicago is rated as the #2 Thanksgiving Parade in the country and that the Chicago Thanksgiving Parade is celebrating 90 years this year?! See who will be in it!

• CTA Holiday Fleet: One of Chicago’s most unique holiday traditions is the CTA Holiday Fleet, where they deck out the train and bus with dazzling holiday lights! Did you know it’s now their 33rd year of operation? The schedules for the 2024 CTA Holiday Train and the CTA Holiday Bus just went live this week.

Just For (Holiday) Fun

• Holiday Pop-Up Bars: It’s not the holiday season in Chicago without all the festive holiday bars! Between special holiday pop-ups and Chicago bars that just go all out for Christmas, we counted 30+ holiday bars that you can visit.

• Light Shows: Looking to see some holiday lights this year? There are great options including ZooLights at Lincoln Park Zoo, Santa’s Rock N Lights in Geneva, Light of Christmas at Guaranteed Rate Field, Illumination: Tree Lights at Morton Arboretum, Lightscape at Chicago Botanic Garden, Holiday Magic at Brookfield Zoo and more.

• Holiday Theater: How about a holiday show? Chicago has plenty of those as well! Here are some of the big ones taking place around Chicago during the holidays: A Christmas Carol at the Goodman Theatre, The Nutcracker by Joffrey Ballet at the Lyric Opera House, The Hip Hop Nutcracker at the CIBC Theatre and It’s a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago! at the American Blues Theater.

• Museums: A fun indoor option for the whole family is the Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light showcase at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. A massive four-story, floor-to-dome Grand Tree takes center stage and is surrounded by over 50 tree and displays that represent different holiday traditions from cultures around the world.

• Ice Skating: If you are looking to get out on the ice this holiday season, Chicago has a couple of iconic options for that as well! The McCormick Tribune Ice Rink is nestled right below The Bean at Millennium Park and has great views of the city. Close by is the Skating Ribbon of Maggie Daley Park that allows you to skate through a fun course. See them both in our video and make sure to grab reservations before going!

Poll Question of the Week

Last Newsletter's Poll Results

Poll Results: Last newsletter we asked you if you thought the Bears would beat the Packers and 83% of you said no. Unfortunately, most of you were correct.

Sunrise & Sunset in Chicago

Here is today’s outlook in Chicago:

• Sunrise: 6:48 a.m. (9 minutes later than last week)

• Sunset: 4:24 p.m. (6 minutes earlier than last week)

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