On the road: Local brews featured at Logan Square Beer Fest
Chicago
Logan's run
Twenty craft breweries and more than 50 beers will be featured in the Logan Square Beer Fest. Brewers on hand include 3 Floyds, Ale Syndicate, Bells, Berghoff, Lagunitas, Lake Front and Metropolitan. Snag swag at the raffle, and take in live tunes courtesy of Alice Drinks the Kool-Aid (headed by Lagunitas founder Tony Magee) and Baily Dee's Late Night Bait Band. Everyone gets a commemorative Logan Square Beer Fest glass mug to take home, to help them fondly recall the day or night in one of the city's hippest 'hoods.
1 to 4 p.m. and 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20, at the Logan Square Auditorium, 2539 N. Kedzie Ave., Chicago. Tickets are $45 per session. (847) 217-1626 or logansquarebeer festival.com.
Smart art
EXPO CHICAGO 2014 hosts more than 140 of the world's premier galleries, many of which will bring new art and works never before seen in Chicago. The International Exposition of Contemporary and Modern Art and Design also offers panel discussions and artistic discourse with leading artists, curators and arts professionals on current issues. See large-scale installations, site-specific and theatrical works by leading international artists and EXPO VIDEO highlighting some of the most exciting video and animation being made by artists today - a real feast for the eyes and brain.
11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Sept. 19-20, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 21, at Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Ave., Chicago. One-day ticket is $20, and a three-day pass is $30. (312) 595-7437 or expochicago.com.
Made in the Windy City
A celebration of all things made in Chicago, the second annual Andersonville City Made Fest features an array of Chicago-based musicians, brewers and artisans. Hear folk, blues, indie rock, electro hip-hop, world and Latino music, sample a diverse roster of hyper-local beer and take time to explore the neighborhood, made up almost entirely of locally owned, independent businesses.
Noon to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 20-21, on Clark Street between Argyle and Carmen. Suggested donation is $5. (773) 728-2995 or andersonville.org.
Midwest
Start spreading the moos
The oldest and largest food fest in the Midwest (dating back to 1914) takes place in Green County, Wisconsin, home to the largest concentration of cheese makers in the country and the most certified Wisconsin Master Cheesemakers in the state. After a short drive to Monroe's Cheese Days, you'll enjoy cheese-making demonstrations, live music, dairy farm tours, two cheesy parades, an udderly entertaining cow-milking contest, barn quilt tours, cheesecake on a stick and absurdly good deep-fried cheese curds; and more local beer than you can shake a stein at. Don't miss 100 accordion players joining the Monroe City Band to play the Cheese Days Song, yodeling, alphorns, polka bands and a street dance starring a band called Midlife Crisis.
9 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, Sept. 19-20, and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 21, at the historic Courthouse Square in Monroe, Wisconsin. (800) 307-7208 or cheesedays.com.
High and dry
The 1920s weren't all that roaring considering that on Jan. 17, 1920, Americans could no longer manufacture, sell or transport alcohol. The 18th Amendment, otherwise know as Prohibition, created a complicated and storied time in America's history, and you can learn all about it at the new exhibit "American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition" on view at the Indiana State Museum. It spans the dawn of the temperance movement in the early 1800s, to the repeal of the constitutional amendment during the Great Depression. Hear stories from flappers, suffragists and bootleggers from Al Capone to Carrie Nation, and see more than 100 rare artifacts, re-created environments and a speak-easy where you can learn the slang of the time and dance the Charleston.
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, from Sept. 20 through Feb. 15, 2015, at the Indiana State Museum, 650 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, Indiana. Tickets are $13 for adults, $12 for seniors and college students, and $8.50 for kids 12 and younger. (317) 232-1637 or indianamuseum.org.
Roll out the barrel
Frankenmuth, aka "Michigan's Little Bavaria," is the first Oktoberfest outside of Munich to be sanctioned by the Parliament and the City of Munich, so you know this is one wunderbar Teutonic party. The 25th annual festival offers oodles of German culture and heritage with food, from colossal pretzels to authentic sauerbraten, barrels of beer in a scaled-down version of an authentic German beer hall, a store jammed with cuckoo clocks, "wiener" dog races, oompah bands and entertainers flown in from Germany.
3 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 18; noon to midnight Friday and Saturday, Sept. 19-20; and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 21, at Heritage Park, 601 Weiss St., Frankenmuth, Michigan. Admission is $10 adults, free for kids 12 and younger; free for all on Sunday. (800) 386-3378 or frankenmuthfestivals.com.