BRIDGEPORT — Suffice it to say the crew behind Maria’s Community Bar never passes up an occasion to party smartly.
There are nighty music sets procured by one of Chicago's best DJs, occasional pop-up record stores, parking lot street fairs and talk of a Monday night taco cart to replace the bar’s popular Korean Polish barbecue series.
Now, with the release of the latest issue of Proximity Magazine, the arts and culture magazine from bar owner and publisher Ed Marszewski and his wife Rachael, the publication’s contributors, artists, chefs and bartenders are throwing a three-day celebration at Co-Prosperity Sphere, 3219 S. Morgan St.
It begins Friday night with “Let’s Drink,” a party featuring demonstrations of creating craft beer with unusual ingredients, servings of naturally leavened bread from Tony Bezsylko’s Bread and Beer weekly gatherings in Humboldt Park and PREP, an immersive art pavilion that organizers say “will explore the dialectics of work and collaboration within the context of the studio and with undertones of early futurist Marxist utopian ideas of work.”
And there will be beer.
Specifically, there will be complementary pours of craft beers from Stone Brewing Company and Founders Brewing Company. The Hornswagglers, a pair of artists who mix craft cocktails and collect donations for art materials, will also be serving drinks.
Admission is $10. More on the featured artists here.
On Saturday, the focus turns to dining with a special prix fixe dinner with chef Chris Reed from The Rice Table, a Chicago-based catering company specializing in the tradition of the "Rijsttafel," where cooks will prepare and present a 12-dish dinner prepared from exotic ingredients.
Tickets are $45 and include two free drinks. Tickets are available by visiting this website.
On Sunday, it’s all about family time.
The Kite Collective will set up its “Shadow Forest” projection for exploring shapes and shadows. They'll also help kids create wind chimes to bring home. Eric May's E-Dogz — which he dubs a "mobile culinary community center" — will be serving up food, and kids and adults alike can chat with the Cultural ReProducers, a group of working artists who are also parents.
And a set of music from Future Hits, a four-piece Chicago band billed as “fun (yet secretly educational) music for kids, families and teachers.”
Established in 2008, Proximity is published by Marszewski's Public Media Institute, a nonprofit. The magazine is distributed both locally and across the globe. Here's where you can buy it.
