It’s Not Too Late To Create Your “Why Chicago” Video

You really, really want to win that trip to the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, and you at least want a shot at $5,000 worth of video equipment. Unfortunately, you haven’t even started making a video and there are only three days left in the contest.

Fortunately, the weekend’s just getting started.

Every day Chicago is overflowing with things to do and this weekend is no exception. In fact, waiting until now could be a blessing in disguise. Just imagine if you capture Michigan Avenue dressed in all its holiday finery, complete with parade and fireworks, during the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival. Then take a stroll down State Street to showcase the department store windows. Film Chicago’s Midwestern roots with a visit to the FamilyFarmed Expo. Since it’s located in Chicago’s most popular tourist attraction, Navy Pier, you can showcase both the cosmopolitan skyline and the city’s farming origins. How about showing the world two of America’s great music genres by checking out the Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival? While there, you can also record a Second City comedy group, a marching band, a jam session and picking circle, and an art show. It’s an Olympic-sized music fest!

Hopefully these ideas will get you started. Now, get out there and shoot your “Why Chicago” video!

You can find more fideas and fun things to do in Chicago on The Local Tourist.

What’s Your Chicago Story?

As the third most populous city in the United States, Chicago is home to millions of transplants. People from all over the midwest, the country, and the world flock to the Windy City to take advantage of everything it has to offer. Every one of them has a story.

I moved to Chicago from Indianapolis seven years ago to be closer to my son. I had no job, an unused degree in journalism, and a lease in a downtown highrise. Somehow, though, I wasn’t scared. This city was exciting and energetic and got under my skin so quickly I felt like I was home the minute I unlocked my new apartment door.

Over the years I’ve heard many many other transplants express the same passion for their adopted city. This passion is why I leapt at the chance to help bring the Olympic and Paralympic Games to Chicago in 2016 by writing for this channel. With the Why Chicago video contest, everyone has the opportunity to share their story and tell the world why this city engenders so much loyalty.

Create a video of your first apartment, your first job, how you felt when you first discovered the lakefront path or watched a band at the Elbo Room or saw a show at the Royal George. What was it like the first time you bought flowers at a farmers market or wandered through a street fest? How did you feel when you realized you could navigate the city without a car? Do you still feel a sense of wonder when you look at the Chicago skyline and think “I live there”?

Please, tell us: What’s your story?

Photographers Can Still Show “Why Chicago”

Photographers, you don’t have to have a video camera to show Why Chicago. If you believe in Chicago and want to win that trip to Vancouver, take your still pictures and put them together in a video montage.

Chicago’s an incredibly photogenic city. A search on Flickr for “Chicago” produced 3,123,777 results. Many of those are of the iconic architecture and powerful skyline, but there are also images of storefronts and churches and parks and fountains. Some were taken by professional photographers and more were shot by people who just wanted to capture a moment and place in time.

If you’ve got your own collection of photos, you could create a a montage of your favorite Chicago spots, or a scrapbook of friends and the fun times you’ve had enjoying all this city has to offer. There’s a multitude of themes in all of those pictures you’ve got stored in your hard drive. Include some music and say a few words and wahlah, you’ve created a video.

But hurry! You’ve only got 13 days!

Chicago Hosts The President Elect

Last night’s rally for President-Elect Barack Obama in Grant Park was exhilarating, emotional, and breathtaking, and considering the size of the crowd, very very calm.

Paul and I headed to downtown Chicago around 8pm. We didn’t have tickets but just wanted to feel the energy as the election results came in. At first the streets were quieter than we expected, but as we neared Millennium Park the crowds grew. A police officer on Michigan Avenue quipped to another “they just keep coming, and coming, and coming.”

And they did. Thousands and thousands poured into Grant Park to watch the Jumbotron screens. It was like Taste of Chicago on steroids. If someone had told me ahead of time that every person in that throng would be smiling and happy and would spontaneously hug total strangers, I probably would have been a little skeptical. People broke out in song and impromptu dance circles sprang up and high-fives were frequent.

There were three things that were particularly amazing: one was that this seemingly amorphous mass would part ways for a t-shirt vendor parked in the middle of the street. Another was that everyone was so well behaved and orderly that even the police were smiling. The third was that the crowd dispersed so quickly that by 12:30 the streets were empty again.

As we headed to the train station, my friends and I remarked that this was proof that Chicago can handle the Olympic & Paralympic Games. We can more than “handle” them; that event will be met with even more excitement and organization than a Presidential rally.

If you were there and had the good fortune to record the experience, please submit a video for the contest! Last night the eyes of the world were on Chicago, and we shone with grace. Show the world our spirit and our passion and our diversity and that THIS is Why Chicago should host the Olympic & Paralympic Games!

Sweden’s Athletes Will Get A Taste Of Home

by Theresa Carter

My last post was about Chicago’s Swedish community. One of their most popular restaurants is Tre Kronor. Check out these items and you can understand why: salmon, cream cheese and fresh dill omelet served with new potatoes; eggs benedict placed on crab cakes instead of muffins; orange vanilla french toast with cinnamon and orange zest.

Now that’s a breakfast that’ll have you packing your bags and hopping on the next plane to Sweden. Fortunately, all you have to do is head to the north side of Chicago.

Larry and Patty Anderson (Swedish & Norwegian, respectively) opened Tre Kronor a couple of miles west of Andersonville back in 1992. Since then it’s become a favorite not just in the North Park neighborhood, but also as a dining destination. It’s easy to understand why. Besides the delectable items mentioned above, you get to order food like lingonberries and limpa toast while looking at trolls.

This family owned restaurant has a quaint feel, with wooden floors and happy dancing trolls painted on the wall. The servers wear t-shirts with Swedish sayings like “kotbulle” (meatball) and “fint sons snus” (I have no idea). Tre Kronor means Three Crowns and there’s a castle in Stockholm that dates from the 13th century with the same name.

If you go on the weekends there will be a wait. There’s no room in the restaurant itself, so they send you across the street to the Swedish Shop where they call the shopkeeper when your table’s ready. It’s kind of like a disconnected Cracker Barrel arrangement.

Dining at Tre Kronor is a treat. The food is wonderful, and the atmosphere makes you feel like you’ve been transported to another place. When the 2016 Swedish Olympic and Paralympic Athletes get a little homesick during the games, they can just head on up to Foster and Kedzie. It’s a bit of a hike, but much closer (and cheaper!) than flying to Sweden.

Swedes Built The Second City

by Theresa Carter

In 1912, when Sweden hosted the 5th modern Olympic Games, 20% of Swedes lived in the United States, many of them in Chicago. Now almost 100 years later there’s still a community of over 120,000.

The first Swedish settlement was in 1846. Some immigrants were on their way to Bishop Hill, Illinois, where there was already a large Swedish religious colony, but this group decided to stop and set up camp here. Over the next few decades more and more joined them until this area was home to more Swedes than any other in the U.S.

At first they lived in enclaves surrounding downtown. Swede Town was in the area now known as River North, but there were also pockets on the south and west sides. Fortunately these immigrants were skilled in construction. After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 so many of them helped to rebuild the city it was said “the Swedes built Chicago”.

That fire also prompted their move to the north side and Andersonville. An ordinance prohibiting the construction of wooden structures made housing so expensive they had to move outside the city limits. Today Andersonville is a thriving community that, while welcoming other ethnic and cultural groups, also honors its Swedish residents by celebrating traditional holidays. The annual Midsommarfest is one of the most popular street festivals of the year. The Swedish American Museum educates visitors about the immigrant experience, and local businesses reflect their heritage.

Famous Swedes that called Chicago home include Pulitzer prize winning author Carl Sandburg and drugstore magnate Charles Walgreen. Next time you sit under a shady tree, consider that it might have been planted by Pehr Samuel Peterson. He began the Rose Hill Nursery, which supplied trees to the city at the turn of the last century.

By keeping their heritage alive while being influential in the community as a whole, our Swedish population exemplifies the immigrant experience in Chicago. One way they make their presence felt is through their cuisine. Next I’ll profile a Swedish restaurant favorite, and no, it’s not Ann Sather’s!

A “Global” English Pub

As I mentioned in a previous post, the Brits love their food, and they also love their beer and their football. Fortunately for everyone The Globe Pub serves them all up quite nicely.

Located on the north side, with dark wood paneling and high backed wooden bar stools, the Globe is a beer drinker’s delight. There are twenty beers on tap, and 168 - yes, 168 - by the bottle. The list is alphabetized and even declares the nationality of the brew. The menu is similarly diverse, yet pays homage to its English patrons with an extensive “Traditional Fare” section, including Steak & Ale Pie; Cornish Pastry, Chips & Beans; Chips & Curry; and of course, Fish & Chips.

What really draws them to The Globe Pub, however, is the football - both British and American. The bar televises English Premiership League EPL, Scottish Premiership League SPL , MLS Direct Kick games, NFL Sunday Ticket, college football’s ESPN Game Plan, 6 Nations rugby and Australian Rules Football. They’ve been known to open at 5am to broadcast a live game, and they did so during the Beijing Olympics games. It’s also the home bar of the Chicago Fire and they provide a $10 school bus ride to and from every home game, including refreshments.

For fun and games, there’s a separate room in the back that provides real cork boards for steel-tip dart games, a pool table, and a stage with DJs spinning 80s tunes on one night, comedians on another, and live quiz yet a different night. There are even open mic and variety nights.

While The Globe Pub may be billed as an English pub and cater to that clientele, with their food, sport, beer, and theme nights it’s truly global. When the Olympic and Paralympic Games come to Chicago in 2016, athletes and spectators from all over the world can pull up a bar stool and feel right at home.

The Polish Endorse Chicago 2016 at Chicago Going Olympic

The Polish American Awareness Foundation wants Chicago to be the host city for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This group, which is dedicated to promoting a positive image of Poles, declared it in style at Chicago Going Olympic on Lightology’s green rooftop. The multi-tiered oasis in the heart of River North hosted approximately 300 people who support the bid.

Many are both currently and historically involved in the Olympics. Janusz Tatera, Poland’s Olympic Attache Counselor, attended the event after flying straight from Beijing. Also present was Edward Korfanty, Head Coach for U.S. Women Fencing. Under his instruction Mariel Zagunis won the gold medal in 2004 at Athens and again this year in Beijing. Janusz Peciak is not only an Olympic Gold Medalist in Pentathlon and an 8-time Pentathlon World Champion, he’s also the Head Coach of the U.S. Modern Pentathlon. Piotr Nowak is the Assistant Head Coach for the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team, and he also led the Chicago Fire to a victory in the MLS Cup in their first year.

The open bar offered Stawski vodka and the cuisine included traditional pierogies, but what was really impressive was the table laden with pastries. Towers and trays of goodies looked so good it was almost a shame to eat them. The Olympic-logo cake was left largely untouched most of the night - it seemed a travesty to cut into the rings!

Also featured was a silent auction to raise money for youth athletic scholarships. Prizes included Bally and Lakeshore Athletic Club memberships, a stay at Trump International Hotel and Tower, and dinner for two at NoMI.

It was a great evening that showcased the best and brightest, and was just another example of why Chicago should host the  Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2016.

Exploring Chicago’s British Community

by: Theresa Carter

A few years ago my parents went to London. When they returned, they went on and on, raving about the museums and the cab drivers and the culture and the people. It seemed they loved everything about London, except for the food. Bland, they called it. Tasteless.

They must have gone to the wrong places.

After Athens and Paris, London was the next host city for the modern-day Olympic games, so I decided to explore Chicago’s British community a bit. After my parents’ experience what I found was surprising: the English love their food.

I don’t mean “their food” as in they love to eat. I mean they love the mother country’s cuisine. Despite the number of fish & chips options in Chicago, none of them are quite what they remember and none of them are served in paper the way they ought to be. They despair at the lack of a chippy, a counter store-homage to fried fish, fried potatoes, fried sausage, and fried pizza. However, they can find tastes of home in the Chicagoland area. They’ll drive as far north as Long Grove and as far south as Tinley Park to find Tate & Lyle Golden Syrup. Expats chat online about where to find “proper bangers”, Walkers crisps, pork pies and black pudding. One tiny little shop in Lakeview, Clarkport Pantry, can satisfy all of those yearnings. One chap said that “Treasure Island has Danish Bacon that makes me yearn for the damp and rain of home.”

There is, of course, more to the English community in Chicago than a desire for their native cuisine. Britain and the U.S. are the largest economic partnership in the world. The Chicago chapter of the British-American Business Council focuses on forging connections between the countries, and on specifically offering opportunities to British people in Chicago.

They also give back to the surrounding community. The British School of Chicago, which teaches a British curriculum, is open to all nationalities. This style of education advances students by level of learning, and not by age.

In preparation for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, maybe some enterprising graduate from the British School will open up a chippy with the assistance of the BABCC. He’ll do a bang-up business and make the visiting athletes, and our Chicago Brits, feel like they’re back home.

In the meantime, they’re happy to tip back a pint or two and enjoy the almost-like-home fish and chips at this community’s Hidden Gem (stay tuned!).

29 Neighborhoods, 1 World Class Race

by: Theresa Carter

This year’s theme, which was distinctly appropriate for our Olympic hopes, was “29 Neighborhoods, 1 World Class Race.” Over 30,000 runners toured the city on foot, and each neighborhood cheered them on in its own way.

The race began in Grant Park. Known as Chicago’s “front yard”, it’s where the city comes to play during the warmer months. On this day, thousands of early risers lined Columbus Drive to cheer on friends, relatives and total strangers.

The course crossed the Chicago River, then wound through Streeterville and headed back down into the Loop, providing a glimpse of some of Chicago’s most iconic architecture, including the Tribune Tower, the Wrigley Building, and the Chicago Theatre.

Old Town’s charming boutiques and restaurants led into the verdant Lincoln Park. The proximity to the zoo and other family-focused activities meant there were lots of kids cheering along the route.

Wrigleyville is the home of the Cubs and their fans, who love to cheer and have a good time. Their energy continued to encourage as the runners headed into one of the most entertaining stretches of the race: Boystown. Chicago’s gay and lesbian residents donned costumes and choreographed dances and cheers, and the runners headed back south on Clark Street with smiles on their faces.

Marathoners start to hit the wall at Mile 10, but the crowd at North and Sedgwick pulled them through so they could head back through the gallery district towards the Loop.

Almost halfway through the race they crossed the Chicago River – for the fifth time – and passed Daniel Burnham’s Union Station. He’s the architect who not only helped design the World’s Columbian Exposition, but also created the Plan of Chicago and was responsible for much of the city’s layout.

Just after the halfway point was Greektown, a neighborhood of particular significance. Greece was the birthplace of the marathon and of the Olympics. Chicago’s passionate and exuberant Greek Community provides cultural perspective and history.

Next was Little Italy, where they supported the runners not so much with their history, but with their popular icons. A DJ spun Sinatra and Italian disco. The “Rocky” theme inspired the athletes to run hard and fast to Pilsen, where they were tempted to stop and dance. This Hispanic enclave featured mariachi bands, and was one of the favorite legs of the race.

In the next stretch they crossed the river for the sixth and final time, and then wended their way to Wentworth, right through the heart of Chinatown. Chicago’s tightly knit Chinese community of 8,000 boasts 58 restaurants in just a few city blocks. During the race, the Chinese entertained and inspired with traditional music and dragon costumes.

They continued to head south until they passed through Bridgeport, home of the White Sox and birthplace of two of Chicago’s most prominent Mayors, Richard J. and Richard M. Daley. Bridgeport has a completely different feel from the city’s other baseball neighborhood. This community is family-oriented and generations lined the streets to cheer on the runners as they neared the final stretch.

At this point, pretty much every runner was ready to sing the blues. Fortunately, the course entered Bronzeville, which is considered the “Birthplace of the Blues”. That most American of music forms connected with them as they pounded the last few miles into the South Loop, and then finally back into Grant Park. Chicago’s front park was their finish line.

For just a few hours, these athletes experienced a broad taste of Chicago’s variety and its ethnicity, but most of all they experienced its community. A million and a half people came together to support friends, relatives, and complete strangers. That is truly world class.

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