Looking to celebrate your Irish pride?

Chicago’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be held this Saturday, March 13 and you won’t want to miss it! There will be dancers, musicians, big balloons and, of course, the traditional dyeing the river green. The parade starts at noon and the river is dyed at 10:45am so be sure to get there early!

USE YOUR UPASS: The parade travels north up Columbus Dr from Balbo Dr to Monroe Dr. Take the blue or red line to any of the loop stops and walk east towards Columbus for a good spot to watch the parade. To see the dyed river, you can take the 157 bus from Taylor and Halsted in the Chestnut/Lake Shore direction. The bus will take you to right to the river at the Michigan and E. Wacker stop.

For more information, check out the St. Patrick’s Day Parade website.

http://www.chicagostpatsparade.com/

Looking for a good meal along with friendly entertainment?

Chicago’s Luxbar offers a delicious dinner held in a relaxed setting.  The exquisite restaurant offers a menu full of your favorite bar and grill foods. Then, after dinner you can attend the Luxbar’s “Chicago Dueling Pianos,” located upstairs, where two pianists will battle it out for your enjoyment. The Luxbar is open daily, Monday – Friday from 11am-12am and Saturday & Sunday from 8am-12am. The dueling pianists perform every thursday night from 9pm-12am.

USE YOUR UPASS: From UIC’s Student Center East, arrive at the UIC Halsted blue line stop, take the blue line towards O’Hare departing at Monroe, switch over to the red line towards Howard and depart on Chicago, and walk north on State St. arriving to Bellevue. Directions found on  Google Maps.

This weekend is the annual Venetian Night on the lakefront.  While the idea of boats with lights on them may not be spectacularly exciting to someone who isn’t 5 years old, the show is still a very pretty showcase of Chicago’s lakefront.  Beyond the lights of the boats, a fireworks show starts at 9:00 PM.

The theme of the event this year is “Hollywood on the Lake.”

USE YOUR U-PASS: You can view the show anywhere from the Shedd Aquarium to Monroe Harbor.  Pick your spot and use Google’s directions to get there.

Venetian Night