Friday, August 17th
Taste of C-U, West Side Park, 4 to 11 p.m. and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., free entry, $1/food ticket
Taste of C-U, the Champaign Park District’s annual summer event celebrating the community, is this weekend in West Side Park. It should be a good time; there are a bunch of different food vendors this year. It’s family friendly, so bring the kids, too. You can read more about past events here. (JH) Top photo by Jessica Hammie
Zecca Bom, 25 O’Clock Brewing Company, 8 p.m., free
Another new and exciting local act is Zecca Bom — and their mix of Brazilian jam/jazz fusion going down in Urbana on Friday evening for this free show outside one of the newest breweries in C-U, 25 O’Clock Brewing Company. They’ve been performing here and there around town, mostly in Urbana, so if you haven’t caught them yet, here’s a good opportunity — especially for a nice evening in Downtown Urbana seeing some live music outdoors. (PS) Photo by Nick Mann
Saturday, August 18th
Help clean up Middle Fork, Middle Fork Forest Preserve, 9 a.m., free
Spend a Saturday morning in nature and do environmental good deeds while you’re at it. Champaign County Forest Preserve District is looking for some volunteers to help clean up the Middle Fork River. Interested? Contact Kristin at ktetzlaff@ccfpd.org. (JM)
Odd Market, 122 N Central Ave W, Tuscola, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., free unless you want to buy stuff
The Tuscola Odd Fellows Lodge hosts this annual event, where you can check out the wares of a ton of unique local makers and artists. There will be music and food as well. It’ll be a great place to check out some funky and unique items that you didn’t know you needed in your life. The market will also be raising money for First Gig Rock n’ Roll Camp. You can read more about it in our article from this week. (JM) Photo from Facebook
Walk and learn about Prohibition in Champaign County, Westside Park, 11 to 12:30 p.m., price varies
T.J. Blakeman, President of the Champaign County History Museum, leads historical tours during the Taste of Champaign every year. You can learn about the place you live, and support the museum in the meantime. This one sounds particularly intriguing, as tour will explore “infamous speakeasy’s and ‘Houses of Ill-repute.'” It’s $15, or $10 if you are a museum member. You can purchase tickets here, as well as find other tours happening this weekend. (JM) Photo from event website
Terminus Victor, Bartlow, Our Landmark, Cowboy Monkey, 9 p.m., $5
Here’s a very solid rock show in Downtown Champaign at Monkey on Saturday. Terminus Victor is still slugging it out as one of the longest running local bands still doin’ it. Their catalog still holds up against pretty much anyone performing these days. Our Landmark released a record at the very end of last year you should check out. (PS)
Sunday, August 19th
Complete a Green Street ice cream crawl, Green Street, Champaign/Campustown, all weekend, prices vary
U of I students move in next weekend, which makes this weekend a great time to visit Campustown to eat the things. I suggest completing an ice cream crawl — forego a well balanced lunch or dinner for sugar and sweets. Grab some friends (or kids) and hit all the spots: Cocomero, Cold Stone Creamery, Paris Super Crepes, Caffe Bene, and BrewLab (for an affogato). (JH) Photo by Zoe Valentine
Play trivia, Blind Pig Brewery or Guido’s, 7 p.m., free to play but you should buy beer and stuff too
Although I have yet to be on a winning team for trivia night, it’s still an enjoyable thing to do. I don’t have experience with Guido’s trivia, but I’ve participated in the game at the Piglet a handful of times. There’s easy stuff and hard stuff, you can bring in food from any number of downtown eating establishments — Esquire Pizza and Seven Saints appetizers tend to be our usual choices — and winning rounds equal gift certificates for beer. I imagine Guido’s isn’t too different in terms of trivia play, and you can get a burger and some eggplant fries. (JM)
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All event information is accurate to the best of our abilities, but sometimes we make mistakes and sometimes event information, times, prices, etc., change after we look them up. Whenever possible, we’ve provided a link to the original event page; you should always double-check the source before you make any firm plans. Thanks for your understanding.