south side weekly staff

ILLUSTRATION BY THUMY PHAN

Pilsen Food Pantry, 1850 S. Throop St., Saturday, April 9, 9:00am–12:00pm. Free.

The Spring Movement Event aims to connect the community with upcycled movement equipment, balls, jump ropes, new helmets, yoga mats, and frisbees. Over a hundred children’s bikes will be given away by Working Bikes. First come, first serve. The child must be present to receive a bike. (Jackie Serrato)

Online, Tuesday, April 12, 6:00pm. Free. bit.ly/waterdebtworkshop

Are you behind on your Chicago water bills? To help residents affected by this crisis, the environmental and social justice group Blacks in Green is partnering with WBEZ and Elevate to host a free virtual workshop. It will give you the information and resources you need and provide a step-by-step breakdown of the water billing and collections process and more. Also learn how to get relief. Register online. (Jackie Serrato)

Plaza Tenochtitlan, 18th St. & Blue Island Ave., Saturday, April 30, 11:30am. Free. facebook.com/ChicagoDiadelosNinos/ Celebrate the children in the community! The 22nd annual parade of Día de Los Niños is back at Plaza Tenochtitlan in Pilsen. The new route will go along Blue Island between 18th and 21st streets and end at Benito Juarez High School’s soccer field. (Jackie Serrato)

Pilsen Family Health Center, 1713 S. Ashland St., Saturday, April 30, 9:30am–12:00pm. Free.

Dental students at UI Health and the UIC College of Dentistry are offering free screenings every Wednesday, no appointment necessary. Call the clinic for more information at (312) 413-4179. (Jackie Serrato)

Former Wabash YMCA, 3763 S Wabash Ave, Saturday, April 9, 10:30am–11:30am. Suggested donation $20. bit.ly/ FormerWabash

Every other Saturday, the Renaissance Collaborative is leading tours of the former Wabash YMCA, an historic center of Black social life. Built in 1911, in the heart of the Black Belt, it was the only Y in the city that admitted Black people for many years. In 1915, the Association for the Study of Negro Life was founded here and went on to create a precursor to Black History Month. The tour uses archived newspaper articles and archival photos to tell the story of the building and the people who congregated there. (The link may say the event has ended, but if you click on ’View Details’ it will take you to the page where you can select a different date. (Adam Przybyl)

Adler Planetarium, 1300 S Lake Shore Dr, 4:00pm–10:00pm. Free. bit.ly/ AdlerFreeDays The Adler reopened March 4 and is once again holding free days for Illinois residents on Wednesday evenings. Whether going on a date or taking your family, your ticket will let you watch a simulation of the Chicago night sky without light pollution, learn fun facts about the solar system, and examine old telescopes and sundials. You’ll have the option to pay to upgrade your ticket to include sky shows, half-hour movies in the dome theater about the moon and a mysterious ninth planet, among other topics. (Adam Przybyl)

Virtual, Wednesday and Thursday, April 20-21, 6:00am–7:00pm. bit.ly/3NNrGW8 Polls to vote for your school’s LSC open at 6am! Parents, legal guardians, and temporary custodians of students enrolled in the school, as well as people who are at least 17 years old who live within the school’s attendance area or voting district, are eligible to vote in a school’s election for parent and community representatives. All students may vote for a student representative at their school. In order to vote, you must be present at the school and vote in person. For more information on voter eligibility and requirements, visit bit. ly/3J9XAbu. You can view candidates for each school at bit.ly/3DJgMMu. Elementary school elections take place April 20, high school elections take place April 21. (Maddie Parrish)

The Plant, 1400 W. 46th St., Sunday, April 24, 11:00am–3:00pm. Free.

This event will provide opportunities to repair clothing and household items, safely dispose of tricky-to-recycle items, and donate books, bicycles, and more, all the while bringing attention to strategies to reduce waste. Participating organizations will include Community Glue, Working Bikes, Open Books, Tinyshop Grocer, and other wastereduction and repurposing enthusiasts, as well as Microsoft’s EcoPod in partnership with the Environmental Law and Policy Center for interactive presentations and discussion. Also in the works is a free film screening in partnership with One Earth Film Fest. Questions can be directed to (773) 357-7192 or info@bubblydynamics.com (Kevin Lilly, Bubbly Dynamics)

Garfield Park Conservatory, 300 N. Central Park Ave., 10:00am–5:00pm. Free, reservations recommended. garfieldconservatory.org/visit/ Spring is here, and what better way to ring it in than to look at flower arrangements at the Garfield Park Conservatory. There are tulips, hydrangeas, daffodils, and more, along

with ’knock knock’ jokes and colorful artdoors. While you’re there, check out the cacti in the desert house and waterfalls in the fern room, which looks like a time capsule of when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. If you go on a Saturday morning, you may run into a master gardener who can answer questions and give tips about planting your spring garden! Reserve spot online to guarantee entry. (Adam Przybyl)

Experimental Station, 6100 S. Blackstone Ave. Saturdays, 9:00am–12:00pm. Free to attend. experimentalstation.org/market

As winter comes to an end, get a headstart on finding farm-fresh vegetables, seedlings, and other products from local farmers and creators. The 61st St. Farmers Market is continuing a monthly hybrid indoor-outdoor market at the Experimental Station. Vendors include Ellis Family Farms, Mick Klug Farm, Gorman Farm Fresh Produce, Faith’s Farm, Mint Creek Farm, Stamper Cheese, The Urban Canopy, and others. As ever, the market accepts LINK and Senior Farmers Market Coupons, and will match LINK purchases up to $25 per customer per market day, as long as funding holds out. Customers must wear masks while inside the building. The market will go fully outdoors starting on May 14. (Martha Bayne)

Various, Various, Thursday, April 7-10. Free-$50 (three-day expo pass). expochicago.com

Expo Chicago runs April 7-10, filling Navy Pier’s Festival Hall with international exhibitors of contemporary and modern art—but the Expo’s also highlighting a suite of South Side openings and events as well. Featured exhibits include the April 8 openings of Brandon Breaux’s "BIG WORDS" at Blanc Gallery in Bronzeville and Amin Gulgee’s "The Spider Speaketh in Tongues" at South Asia Institute in the South Loop. For more see expochicago. com. (Martha Bayne)

UIC’s Richard J. Daley Library, 801 S. Morgan St, Thursday, April 7, 7:00am–9:00pm. Free.

Chicago’s most well-known Chicano activist is the subject of a new exhibit at UIC’s Richard J. Daley Library, “A Search for Unity: Rudy Lozano and the Coalition Building in Chicago,” which runs until next fall. The exhibit is made up of papers, photographs, posters and other memories about Lozano, who was murdered in Little Village when he was 31, after losing a bid to become the city’s first Mexican-American alderman. Saturdays closed. Check the library’s COVID guidelines. (Jackie Serrato)

Overton School, 4927 S. Indiana, Saturday, April 9, 4:00pm–5:30pm. Free. creativegrounds.org

Closed by CPS in 2013, the former Anthony Overton Elementary in Bronzeville was bought by a community development organization in 2015, and is slated to be reborn as an entrepreneurship center. In the meantime, though, Borderless Studio’s Creative Grounds initiative has for the past three years activated the school property as a site for art and creative exploration, encouraging new ways of thinking about urban design, education, and reuse. They host a spring community open house this weekend. Attendees are encouraged to bring ideas for collaborative projects, workshops, or programming for the coming summer. To learn more about the project see creativegrounds.org (Martha Bayne)

Virtual, Tuesday, April 12, 5:45pm. Free. bit.ly/3J7Smx9

Join the National Museum of Mexican Art for their next Latino Writers Initiative Virtual Meet Up. These online workshops help you practice your writing skills with writing prompts and fun exercises that are sure to inspire. Plus, you’ll be able to connect with other Latino writers from across the country and get feedback on your stories. Register at bit.ly/3NJFXmy. (Maddie Parrish)

Online & The Rubenstein Forum, Friedman Hall, 1201 E. 60th St., Wednesday, April 13, 6:00pm–7:30pm. Free. bit.ly/3KgJcj9

Poet and playwright Claudia Rankine (Citizen, Don’t Let Me Be Lonely, Just Us) gives two hybrid live-streamed and in-person talks this week as part of the Berlin Family Lecture Series at the University of Chicago. For the April 13 event she’ll be joined by artist and filmmaker Titus Kaphar; the April 14 event features a dramatic reading from text for the upcoming film Meanwhile, a collaboration with scholar Homi Bhaba and filmmaker Catherine Gund. Registration is required for both online and in-person events. (Martha Bayne)

Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell Ave., Saturday, April 23, 1:00pm–4:00pm. Free. bit.ly/3NNzJSI

Join Hyde Park Art Center for their spring Center Day. The day will be packed with activities including open school studios with class demonstrations from teaching artists, art making activities inspired by our exhibitions, printed art swag takeaways, studio visits with their Creative Wing Resident Artists, Earth Day activities from the Gardeneers, a food truck, and more! (Maddie Parrish)

Chess Records, 2120 S. Michigan Ave., 12:00pm–4:00pm. $20 donation. info@ bluesheaven.com

Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven, the foundation that owns the building formerly known as Chess Records, is resuming tours of the place that saw some of the most legendary Black artists in the ’50s and ’60s: Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, and Etta James, among them. The second floor is dedicated to Dixon, and the recording studio displays period artifacts. Tours are Thursday through Saturday afternoons. (312) 8081286 (Jackie Serrato)

Instagram Live, Tuesdays, 6:00pm–7:30pm. Free. instagram.com/ youngchicagoauthor One of the longest-running youth open mics, Worldplay, is back every Tuesday on Instagram Live. The virtual open mic is hosted by DJ Ca$hera and showcases music, spoken-word performances, and a featured artist. (Chima Ikoro)

Chicago Cultural Center, Exhibit Hall, Fourth Floor, 78 E. Washington St., Free. bit.ly/3NOq12l

A comprehensive retrospective exhibits the work of Robert Colescott, a Black twentieth-century artist and satirist who took aim at race, class, and gender in America, will be on display through May 29. (Jim Daley)