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Bring the family to the Chicago Garden and Flower Show at Navy Pier March 20-24 and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside!

In the sequel to “FLOWERTALES: Every Garden Has a Story to Tell”, the Chicago Flower & Garden Show returns in 2019 with “Flowertales: The Story Grows On!” and includes an expanded show with more than seven hundred plant varieties including roses, hydrangea, tulips, hyacinth, azaleas, veggies and more, a new plant variety display will be presented by the National Garden Bureau—plus an all-new floor plan designed by the IL Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects!

At the Chicago Flower & Garden Show, local landscape designers, builders and suppliers will create realistic solutions within feature landscapes and garden vignette displays that inspire and demonstrate to attendees the possibilities for their own gardens, yards or balconies. Creators will interpret the unique role flowers, plants and gardens play in the stories of our lives and literature.

Also enjoy: The Get Growing Education Series – A continued focus on educational, interactive workshops and seminars by leading industry professionals – Including the very popular Potting Party, the container garden make & take workshop — sign up when you arrive 4-workshops daily; Culinary demonstrations by top Chefs; Kids Activity Garden – Free Hands-on fun and learning for future gardeners – plus a live butterfly exhibit and animals from the Racine Zoo; Horticulture Photography Competition – A judged exhibit by more than 150 amateur photographers; Tablescapes Exhibit – Cutting-edge ideas for the dining table presented by leading interior and floral designers. And there is much more!

Navy Pier is located at 600 East Grand Avenue in Chicago. For tickets to attend the Chicago Flower and Garden Show, go online to https://navypier.org/event/chicago-flower-garden-show-2019/ and follow the prompts. Child tickets are just $5.

Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside, just minutes away from the Chicago Flower and Garden Show at navy Pier, offers free shuttle service to and from O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The hotel offers affordable, comfortable rooms, a breakfast bar and restaurant and much more. The hotel is pet friendly and offers AAA rates.

Come to the Winter Wine and Whiskey Fest at Brookfield Zoo February 23 and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside!

Nothing says “Zoo” like wine and whiskey! Come out of your winter hibernation and warm up at Brookfield Zoo’s Winter Wine and Whiskey Fest! And don’t forget to visit the animals!

This fun-filled event features wine and whiskey samples, live music, small bites, and meet and greets with Animal Ambassadors, all in the zoo’s relaxed setting! Your Winter Wine and Whiskey Tickets Include: Parking; Admission to the zoo (10:00 am to 5:00 pm); Admission to Winter Wine and Whiskey Fest (4:00 pm to 8:00 pm); Samples of over 30 wines and whiskeys; and a commemorative glass (5 oz.)

Designated Driver Tickets Include: Parking; Admission to the zoo (10:00 am to 5:00 pm)
Admission to Winter Wine and Whiskey Fest (4:00 pm to 8:00 pm); Unlimited soft drinks.
Please note: Designated Drivers will NOT be allowed to sample wines and whiskeys.

The Brookfield Zoo is located at 8400 31^st Street (1^st Avenue and 31^st Street) in Brookfield. For tickets to the Winter Wine and Whiskey Fest, go online to https://www.czs.org/winterfestorder and follow the prompts. To show appreciation for the hard work and dedication of the men and women in the United States Armed Forces, the Chicago Zoological Society is offering free admission to Brookfield Zoo to all active, reservist, and retired members of the military. Qualified personnel who present a valid ID at one of the zoo’s admission booths will be admitted free of charge. 840

Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside, just minutes away from Brookfield Zoo’s Winer Wine and Whiskey Fest, offers free shuttle service to and from O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The hotel offers affordable, comfortable rooms, a breakfast bar and restaurant and much more. The hotel is pet friendly and offers AAA rates.

Bring the family to the Drury Lane Oak Brook Theatre to see the Broadway show “Momma Mia” February 7 through April 14 and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside!

Remember “Honey, Honey,” “Money, Money, Money,” “Thank You for the Music,” “Mamma Mia,” “Dancing Queen,” “the Name of the Game,” “Waterloo,” and “Super Trouper?” Did you say, “Wow, I love that music?” Did you sing it in the shower? “Mamma Mia” is for you!

It you’re from the planet Mars and you don’t know pop culture, “Mamma Mia” is the hit Broadway show based on the song of Swedish pop group ABBA. Dubbed a juke box musical by critics, “Mamma Mia” opened on Broadway in 2001 and ran until 2013! On any day on Earth, seven productions of “Mamma Mia” are happening.

Sophie is getting married to a guy named Sky, on a Greek island—just like the rest of us. She doesn’t know her father’s identity, but three men who might fill the bill are coming to the wedding. Sky says he’s the only man she’ll ever need. You’ll never know who the father is, much less know much else beyond the music.

The Drury lane Oak Brook Theatre is located at 100 Drury Lane in Oak Brook. For tickets, go online to https://www.ticketmaster.com/search?q=mamma+mia!+Drury+Lane and follow the prompts.

Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside, just down the street from Drury Lane Theatre’s production of “Mamma Mia,” offers free shuttle service to and from O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The hotel offers affordable, comfortable rooms, a breakfast bar and restaurant and much more. The hotel is pet friendly and offers AAA rates.

Come to see the wildly funny and informative live podcast Lovett or Leave It, at the Chicago Theatre February 27 and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside!

Join speech writer and screen writer Jon Lovett for his loose-lipped and highly irreverent podcast Lovett or Leave it performed in front of a sure to be lively audience at the Chicago Theatre. Lovett was a speech writer for President Barack Obama.

The premise of the live show is that a group of comedians, actors and journalists sit around and shoot the beans on the news of the day. Segments include What a week, a rundown of current events; Okay, stop, a film segment; The rant wheel, which is riffing on suggestions from the audience; There’s just like, so much going on, which takes on more obscure topics; Too stupid to be true, a sort of quiz in which fake and real quotes are offered and the audience gets to pick which is which; and the two minute Russia stuff, a summary of Trump and Putin’s relationship.

The Chicago Theatre is located at 175 North State Street in the heart of the Loop. For tickets to see Lovett or Leave It, go online to https://www1.ticketmaster.com/lovett-or-leave-it-chicago-illinois-02-27-2019/event/07005587E2D59A9D?dma_id=376&camefrom=CFC_MSG and follow the prompts.

Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside, just minutes away from the Lovett or Leave It podcast at the Chicago Theatre, offers free shuttle service to and from O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The hotel offers affordable, comfortable rooms, a breakfast bar and restaurant and much more. The hotel is pet friendly and offers AAA rates.

Come to Fitzgerald’s Night Club to see Patrick Sweany in concert with The Greyhounds February 16 and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside!

Nashville vocalist/guitarist Patrick Sweany doesn’t hold back on his latest studio album, Ancient Noise. Sweany recorded the new tunes with GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer/ producer Matt Ross-Spang after Ross-Spang invited Sweany to check out his new home base at legendary Sam Phillips Recording in Memphis. The studio that Phillips had custom built in the 70s has been meticulously refurbished by the Phillips family.

For the sessions, Sweany recruited longtime collaborator Ted Pecchio on bass (Doyle Bramhall II, Col. Bruce Hampton) and ex-Wilco drummer Ken Coomer both from Nashville. When Sweany needed some organ on a song, Ross-Spang got in touch with Charles Hodges, a veteran Memphis session player best known for playing with Al Green on all of his seminal records.

Rising out of the Austin, Texas music scene, the Greyhounds, a duo comprising guitarist Andrew Trube and keyboardist Anthony Farrell, feature a unique sound that mixes R&B, soul, funk, and the Bakersfield country of Buck Owens into a style that has been described as “Hall & Oates meets ZZ Top,” and the duo’s exciting live shows have earned them a large and loyal fan following. The Greyhounds signed a three-album deal with a reconstituted Ardent Records (by this point officially called Ardent Music) and released Accumulator early in 2014. Two years later, the group released Change of Pace, a record that emphasized their soulful side.

Fitzgerald’s Night Club is located at 6615 Roosevelt Road in Berwyn. For tickets, go online to https://www.ticketweb.com/venue/fitzgerald-s-berwyn-il/32814?pl= and follow the prompts.

Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside, just minutes away from Patrick Sweany and The Greyhounds, offers free shuttle service to and from O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The hotel offers affordable, comfortable rooms, a breakfast bar and restaurant and much more. The hotel is pet friendly and offers AAA rates.

Come for some March madness to the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament at the United Center March 13-17 and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside!

The Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament will be held in Chicago for the 10th time and returns to the United Center for the first time since 2015. All 14 teams will advance to the tournament, with two first-round games slated for Wednesday, March 13. The top four teams will receive first- and second-round byes and advance to the quarterfinals on Friday, March 15. CBS Sports will provide coverage of the semifinals on Saturday, March 16 and championship game, on Sunday, March 17, for the 22nd season, dating back to the tournament’s inception in 1998.

The Big Ten is really the Big Fifteen, with outsiders Maryland, Rutgers and Nebraska accounting for the expansion. Indiana, Michigan and Michigan State are undefeated early in the season. Ohio State, Minnesota, Purdue, and Maryland have just one loss each. Local favorites Northwester and Illinois are, uh, no-wins.

Both ESPN.com’s Joe Lunardi and CBSSports.com’s Jerry Palm have 10 Big Ten teams projected for the NCAA Tournament. Those two agree that Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Indiana, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, Maryland and Minnesota. Lunardi lists Purdue. Palm, whose projections were last updated in mid-December, lists Penn State instead.

The United Center, “the house that Jordon built,” is located at 1901 West Madison Street in Chicago. For tickets to the Men’s Big 10 Basketball Tournament, go online to https://www.vividseats.com/ncaab/big-ten-tournament-tickets.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=NCAA+Conference+Tournaments&utm_term=big+10+basketball+tournament+2019+tickets&vkid=23711283&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIr_erj7zZ3wIViT9pCh0HSwGBEAAYASAAEgJxi_D_BwE and follow the prompts.

Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside, just minutes away from the Men’s Big Ten Basketball Tournament at the united Center, offers free shuttle service to and from O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The hotel offers affordable, comfortable rooms, a breakfast bar and restaurant and much more. The hotel is pet friendly and offers AAA rates.

Come to the fifth annual Washington Island Fish Boil Festival at Fitzgerald’s Night Club in Berwyn February 2 and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside!

The Islanders are invading FitzGerald’s again for an authentic Door County fresh Fish Boil party that guarantees to make the winter blues go away! A feast for the eyes as well as the taste buds. A bubbling, flaming cauldron serves up fresh-caught Lake Michigan Whitefish, hearty home-grown Wisconsin red potatoes paired with baked beans, buttered corn, Cole slaw, bread and Ken’s family style, homemade dessert.

Doors open at 3:30 pm with the first boil over taking place in the FitzGerald’s parking lot at around 4:30 pm with another to follow. A variety of musicians will perform, all with Island connections! It will be an entertaining, toe-tapping, rollicking mix of rock, country, blues, gospel, and more. Additional guest performers will also join in.

A musical variety show backed by the acclaimed, Island-connected The Seat of the Pants Band will offer up an entertaining evening of rollicking rock, country, blues, gospel, folk and more. Julian Hagen will be playing tunes and trying to keep the run-away train on the tracks. The one and only Kathy Sperenberger will be reprising songs from her acclaimed show “Viva La Diva.” Paris Schutz of “Chicago Tonight” fame will be singing his heart out and playing keys; Rick Gourley, former bass player for The Jump in the Saddle Band will be keeping us solid; Peter Quin, also from The Jump in the Saddle Band on harmonica and vocals; and additional surprise guest performers will be announced in the coming days.

Fitzgerald’s Night Club is located at 6615 Roosevelt Road in Berwyn. If you’re buying the fish boil dinner you must purchase a ticket in advance at  www.ticketweb.com and follow the prompts.

Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside, just up the road from Fitzgerald’s Night Club, offers free shuttle service to and from O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The hotel offers affordable, comfortable rooms, a breakfast bar and restaurant and much more. The hotel is pet friendly and offers AAA rates.

Bring the family to see the amazing Sesame Street Live: Make Your Magic at the Chicago Theatre February 9 and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside!

Lovable little Elmo discovers that magic can be found anywhere when you believe in yourself! When magician extraordinaire Justin visits Sesame Street to put on a magic show for the whole neighborhood, Elmo wants to be part of the big event. But there’s one problem … Elmo doesn’t know how to do magic.

That’s when Elmo teams up with Abby and Justin, embarking on an amazing journey where cute little Elmo will discover the “power of yet” —the lesson that with perseverance and practice, nothing can stand between you and your dream. Along the way, Elmo and Abby, joined by their friends Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Grover, Rosita, Count von Count, and Gonger, discover the many magical moments in everyday life.

In the end, Elmo learns that you can do anything you set your mind to if you just keep trying! Join your favorite Sesame Street friends on this magical adventure when Sesame Street Live! Make Your Magic comes to your neighborhood.

The Chicago Theatre is located at 175 North State Street in the heart of the Loop. For tickets to see Sesame Street Live: Make Your Magic, go online to https://www1.ticketmaster.com/sesame-street-live-make-your-magic-chicago-illinois-02-09-2019/event/0700554ABC8169C9 and follow the prompts.

Make your Sesame Street Live: Make Your Magic concert experience more enjoyable by staying at the Chicago Lake Shore Hotel, in historic Hyde Park, just a short walk away from the Museum of Science and Industry. Chicago Lake Shore offers free shuttle bus service to and from the Loop area and is close to bus and train services. The Lake Shore Café offers breakfast, lunch and dinner. AND Jazz and seafood buffet, Friday nights.

Come to the family friendly Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival at the Studebaker Theatre and other venues January 17-27 and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside!

Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival features magical puppet performers from around the world displaying artistry and vision. And Fun! For the first time, the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival will present a First Nations puppet tale, “Ajijaak on Turtle Island,” an all-ages spectacle production and a fabulous full family friendly First Nations spectacle celebrating an eco-focused story featuring elements of the Ojibwe, Lakota, and Cherokee Nations about the many connections between the sand hill cranes, earth and people.

Other highlights: Dreams of Sand. Borja González tells us, with only a little bit of sand and his hands, a story of JoJo (“YoYo” in Spanish) an orangutan inspired by real events, which invites audiences to reflect on the fragility of the ecosystem and the delicate balance it demands. In the deepest forest of Borneo, fires are threatening jungle sustainability. A small orangutan is away from his mother, unprotected, and sees how humans destroy their entire habitat, causing deforestation of the jungle, endangering the survival of animals and plants.

Yael Rasooly. A lonely secretary remains in the office after everyone else has gone home. From her little corner, using photos from old film magazines, she escapes into a world of daydreams. There she is a glamorous movie star from the 1940s and finds her ideal love at last. But as the story unravels, as imagination and reality collide, her romantic tale becomes a Hitchcock nightmare. This one-woman show reveals the obsessions and dangers of romantic fantasies.

The Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival is located at several venues. For tickets, times and locations, go online to https://www.chicagopuppetfest.org/performances/ and follow the prompts.

Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside, just up the road from the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival, offers free shuttle service to and from O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The hotel offers affordable, comfortable rooms, a breakfast bar and restaurant and much more. The hotel is pet friendly and offers AAA rates.

Bring the family to the spectacular show Disney on Ice: Micky’s Search Party at Chicago’s United Center January 30-February 3 and stay at the nearby and affordable Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside!

Disney on Ice: Micky’s Search Party is a post-holiday event you won’t want to miss. What a Christmas present tickets to the show would make!

Joined by Mickey and Minnie Mouse, live hosts will welcome everyone into the world of Disney On Ice, and set the stage for the adventure. Guests will set off on a search for clues to find Tinker Bell after Captain Hook tries to capture her magic. As each scene unfolds on the ice, the story will be told through multi-level production numbers performed by skaters, acrobats and other talent. When Miguel from Disney/Pixar’s “Coco” crosses the Marigold Bridge, he suddenly finds himself in the spirit world filled with color, skeletons on top of sway poles going back and forth over the audience in this celebration of heritage.

Through video projection, Arendelle is built from the ground up, and ice harvesters from Disney’s “Frozen” use extreme skating to launch themselves from the wintry slopes as they chop their way through blocks of ice. The iconic chandelier from “Be Our Guest” comes to life as Belle and the enchanted objects from “Beauty and the Beast” turn into a rotating carousel with aerial silks as they lift upward into the air.

The United Center is located at 1901 West Madison Street in Chicago. For tickets to see Disney on Ice: Mickey’s Search Party, go online to https://www.ticketmaster.com/disney-on-ice-presents-mickeys-search-party-tickets/artist/2480287 and follow the prompts.

Best Western Plus Chicago Hotel at Hillside, just up the road from the United Center’s Disney on Ice: Micky’s Search Party offers free shuttle service to and from O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The hotel offers affordable, comfortable rooms, a breakfast bar and restaurant and much more. The hotel is pet friendly and offers AAA rates.