This weekend, check out art gallery openings in Chicago’s popular Westside neighborhoods, find or sew your threads at fashion events from TWENTYFOREIGHT and Runway Addicts, or drink your favorite ale’s or seltzers in downtown Chicago.
Have tips or suggestions for the Weekend Seekers Guide? Send them our way. And head here for a full list of the best events to check out this month in Chicago,
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Fashion Events:
Winter Pop-up Hosted by TWENTYFORTYEIGHT
Saturday | January 11th – 12th | Time Varies
2048 W Chicago Ave. | Free
Fabric Narcotics, graffiti inspired street wear brand, hosts a beginning of the year pop-up shop with the West Town based retailer, TWENTYFORTYEIGHT. The event will feature one of a kind pieces from Fabric Narcotics and drinks by Monaco cocktails. For more information, visit the eventpager here.
Sewing Lab with Runway Addicts
Saturday and Sunday | January 11th | 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
SAIC at Homan Square | 906 S Homan Ave.| Free
You know that new skill that you were looking to learn as a part of your 2020 resolutions? Find it this weekend with a sewing lab from Runway Addicts. This weekend Runway Addicts with at SAIC at Homan Square for the AMFM Tower offers a free sewing workshop that focuses on the Mending technique. Learn to revive your old pieces with this unique technique and learn what to do with you old garments the next time you think about throwing them out. For more information about this event, visit the Facebook page. Cant make this Saturdays session? Stop by next weekend for another sewing class with Runway Addicts.
Food + Drink Events:
Chicago Ale Fest
Saturday | January 11th | 2:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Navy Pier Aon Grand Ballroom | 600 E Grand Ave. | $50 – $60
The Winter edition of the Chicago Ale Fest takes place this weekend at Navy Pier in Chicago. This craft beer festival welcomes novice and experts alike and features more than 100 American Craft Beers, Chicago’s favorite food trucks, and a DJ spinning an all-vinyl playlist. For details and tickets to this event, visit the website here.
Hard Seltzer Fest
Old Crow Smokehouse River North | 149 W Kinzie St. | $35 – $40
Fans of the hard seltzer trend rejoice—this food and drink event is made for you! This weekend in River North, enjoy four hour of your favorite hard seltzers. Countless brands and flavor options will be available for you to sample and try. For more details and ticket information, visit the event page.
Community Events:
No Pants Subway Ride
Sunday | January 12th | 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Chicago Redline | TBD
Make it a pants-less weekend during this fun and quirky event in Chicago. The No Pants Subway Ride is an annual global event started by Improv Everywhere in New York in 2002. The Chicago edition of this no-pants event celebrates fun, silliness, and community. Hold your pants for this highly anticipated event in Chicago. For more details about this annual event, visit the Facebook Page here.
Arts + Culture Events:
Exhibition Opening: Gordon Parks at Rhona Hoffman Gallery
Friday | January 10th | 5:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Rhona Hoffman Gallery | 1711 W Chicago Ave. | Free
Witness the photographic works from one of the most celebrated documentarians of the 20th-century this weekend in Chicago. This Friday, January 10th is the opening exhibition of photographs by Gordon Park at Rhona Hoffman Gallery. This exhibition focuses mainly on Parks’ images of African American youth and includes works from the 1940s to the 1960s, many of which are being shown for the first time. Some of Park’s most iconic images will be on display. This Land is Your Land will be on display from January 10th – February 15, 2020. For more details about this exhibition, visit Rhona Hoffman Gallery
The Petty Biennial.2 Exhibition Opening
Friday | January 10th | 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
NYCH Gallery | 2025 S Laflin Ave. | Free
Stop by NYCH gallery this Friday for the opening of the third and final site of the Petty Biennial.2. The collaborative art show seeks to challenge and reimagine dominant biennial culture by centering multiple cultural diasporas as a nexus of local exchange and dialogue for marginalized and queer communities. The Petty Biennial.2 is a multi-site project on view at three locations in Chicago from November 7th, 2019 – February 14th, 2020. Glass Curtain Gallery at Columbia College serves as the project’s anchor site, with two satellite locations at Heaven Gallery in Wicker Park and NYCH Gallery in Pilsen. For more gallery opening details, visit the Facebook page.
Find the best things to do this January by checking out this month’s events guide. Event hopping not your thing? Grab a beverage and snack or two at some of the ‘hautest’ happy hours in Chicago.