WHAT’S HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND IN THE NEAR WESTERN BURBS 🍻🎨🌮🎶

Paul Froiland
Aug 20
8 min read

Who says the weekend has to start on Friday?

This week, we're starting Thursday night in Downtown Oak Park and rolling straight through Sunday with live music, food trucks, art, craft beer, garage-sale treasure hunting, classic cars, outdoor movies, street festivals and plenty happening right here in Berwyn.

Whether you're looking for a date night, something with the kids, live music, a bargain hunt or just an excuse to get out of the house, we've got you covered.

Here's what's happening in Berwyn and beyond this weekend.

🎶 THURSDAY NIGHT OUT — BLUEGRASS & ROCK NIGHT

Thursday, August 20 | 5:00–9:00 PM

📍 Marion Street between Lake Street & North Boulevard, Downtown Oak Park

Start your weekend early at one of Downtown Oak Park's best summer traditions.

Thursday Night Out takes over Marion Street with outdoor dining, live music and more than 20 participating Downtown Oak Park restaurants offering special dine-around menus.

This week's theme is Bluegrass & Rock Night.

🎻 5:00–7:00 PM — The White Saddle Band Bluegrass & Americana

🎸 7:00–9:00 PM — Thunderhead Rock

Dine-around booklets are $25 for four tickets, which can be exchanged for specially priced food and drinks at participating restaurants.

Don't want to do the dine-around? That's fine too. You don't need food tickets to come downtown and enjoy the atmosphere and live music.

And here's your warning:

There are only TWO Thursday Night Outs left this summer.

The final TNO of the season is August 27.

💡 DISCOVER BERWYN TIP

Get there early if you want a table along Marion Street. Grab a few different dishes, share everything and treat it like your own mini Taste of Oak Park.

🎶 RIGHT HERE IN BERWYN — FITZGERALD'S

📍 6615 Roosevelt Road, Berwyn

You don't have to leave town to find live music this weekend.

FitzGerald's has music going throughout Friday, Saturday and Sunday across the nightclub, patio and Sidebar.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 21

🎷 Happy Hour Jazz on the Patio with The Jarod Bufe Quartet

🎸 Friday Night on the Patio with The Handcuffs

🪗 Lost Bayou Ramblers

🎶 The Meadowlark Lemons

SATURDAY, AUGUST 22

💃 Drag Brunch hosted by Eva Styles with Nutmegan and Toby Blunt

🎸 Union Avenue

🎶 Madam Radar

🎤 Ani Mari with special guests The Keynote Sisters

SUNDAY, AUGUST 23

🎸 School of Rock Oak Park Summer Showcase

🎷 Sunday Jazz with the LLN Trio

🎺 Big Band & BBQ with British Buddy Big Band

Different performances have different ticket requirements, start times and age restrictions, so check the FitzGerald's calendar before heading over.

🏷️ FRANKLIN PARK VILLAGE-WIDE GARAGE SALE

Friday–Sunday, August 21–23 | 8:00 AM–7:00 PM Daily

📍 Throughout Franklin Park

Treasure hunters, collectors, resellers and anyone physically incapable of driving past a garage sale without stopping this one's for you.

Franklin Park's Village-Wide Garage Sale takes place all three days this weekend with participating homes throughout the community.

The sale runs:

Friday, August 21 — 8:00 AM–7:00 PM

Saturday, August 22 — 8:00 AM–7:00 PM

Sunday, August 23 — 8:00 AM–7:00 PM

Expect everything from household goods and furniture to vintage finds, clothes, toys, collectibles and those wonderfully weird garage-sale discoveries you didn't know you needed.

🍕 RIVER FOREST FOOD TRUCK RALLY

Friday, August 21 | 5:00–9:00 PM

📍 The Depot Parking Lot & Keystone Park West, River Forest

Come hungry.

The River Forest Food Truck Rally returns Friday night with food trucks, family activities, inflatables, a beer tent and live entertainment.

Food vendors include:

5411 Empanadas
Billy's Brick Pizza
Happy Lobster
Hello Boba
Madre Taco
Pinoy Grill
River Forest Chocolates
Roost is Good
Spoon Burger

There will also be microbrews and Cooper's Hawk Winery in the beer tent.

💡 DISCOVER BERWYN TIP

Don't eat before you go. With everything from empanadas and Filipino food to lobster, tacos, pizza and burgers, bring a few people and split things.

🎬 A MINECRAFT MOVIE IN SCOVILLE PARK

Friday, August 21 | Around 7:30 PM

📍 Scoville Park — 800 Lake Street, Oak Park

Looking for something easy and free with the kids?

The Park District of Oak Park is showing A Minecraft Movie outdoors in Scoville Park Friday night.

Admission is FREE, registration isn't required and the movie begins around dusk.

Bring a blanket, lawn chairs and snacks.

🛍️ LA GRANGE SIDEWALK SALE

Friday–Sunday, August 21–23

📍 Downtown La Grange

Downtown La Grange turns shopping into a weekend event with three days of sidewalk specials, seasonal markdowns and deals from local boutiques and shops.

If you've been meaning to spend an afternoon wandering La Grange, grabbing lunch and exploring the stores, this is a good weekend to do it.

🎨 FOREST PARK GARAGE GALLERIES

Saturday, August 22 | 11:00 AM–6:00 PM

📍 Throughout Forest Park

This is easily one of our top picks of the weekend.

Forest Park's 12th Annual Garage Galleries transforms garages throughout the village into pop-up art galleries for one giant community-wide art show and sale.

Approximately 100 juried local artists across 40 garage galleries will showcase original handmade artwork.

You'll find:

🎨 Paintings & prints

📸 Photography

💍 Jewelry

🏺 Pottery

🧶 Fiber arts

🪵 Woodworking

🗿 Sculpture

🎨 Mixed media…and plenty more.

Instead of wandering through one traditional art fair, you explore Forest Park's streets and alleys, moving from garage gallery to garage gallery and meeting the artists along the way.

More than 800 art lovers and neighbors attend the event each year.

There's also a free prize raffle, and a digital map is available to help plan your route.

Admission is FREE.

💡 DISCOVER BERWYN TIP

Don't just drive to one garage and leave.

Grab the digital map, choose a section of Forest Park and explore several galleries on foot. Then head over to Madison Street for lunch, dinner or a drink.

Even better?

Stick around Forest Park for the free Blooze Brothers concert Saturday evening.

🍔 MAYWOOD FOOD & BEVERAGE FEST

Saturday, August 22 | 1:00–8:00 PM

📍 Burton Park — 16th Avenue & Washington Boulevard, Maywood

Maywood is bringing together food, beverages, vendors and community for its 1st Annual Food & Beverage Fest at Burton Park.

Expect an afternoon centered around local flavor, food, drinks and community.

It's also one of the closest festival-style events to Berwyn this weekend.

🍺 19TH ANNUAL OAK PARK MICROBREW REVIEW

Saturday, August 22

📍 Downtown Oak Park

🍺 VIP: 12:00–2:00 PM

🍻 General Admission: 2:00–6:00 PM

🔞 21+

Beer lovers have a pretty easy decision Saturday.

The 19th Annual Oak Park Microbrew Review returns with 40+ breweries, cideries, distilleries and non-alcoholic beverage makers.

You'll also find live music, local food and the annual Iron Brewer competition.

General admission tickets start around $65, with VIP tickets also available.

The event is also billed as the Midwest's largest zero-waste craft beverage festival.

🍷 BROOKFIELD ZOO UNCORKED

Saturday, August 22 | 4:00–8:00 PM

📍 Brookfield Zoo Chicago

🔞 21+

The zoo without the kids?

We're listening.

Zoo Uncorked takes over Brookfield Zoo Saturday evening for an adults-only event featuring cocktails, music and after-hours access to the zoo.

This year's entertainment includes The Boy Band Night, bringing plenty of '90s and 2000s nostalgia along with the drinks.

The zoo remains open to regular guests until 6:00 PM. From 6:00–8:00 PM, the zoo is exclusively open to Zoo Uncorked ticket holders.

Tickets also include perks like free parking and unlimited carousel and Ferris wheel rides.

Tickets start around $40.

🎸 THE BLOOZE BROTHERS — FREE IN FOREST PARK

Saturday, August 22 | 6:00–8:30 PM

📍 Roos Recreation Center Pavilion, Forest Park

Grab a lawn chair or blanket and head back to Forest Park Saturday night.

The Park District of Forest Park presents The Blooze Brothers Band for a free outdoor concert at the Roos Pavilion.

Admission is FREE.

Bring your own chairs, blankets and snacks.

💡 DISCOVER BERWYN TIP

Here's a ready-made Saturday:

🎨 11 AM — Garage Galleries

🍔 Late lunch/dinner on Madison Street

🎸 6 PM — Blooze Brothers

That's a pretty great day without traveling very far.

🚗 BROOKFIELD CHAMBER CAR SHOW

Sunday, August 23 | 8:00 AM–3:00 PM

📍 9202 Broadway Avenue, Brookfield

Classic cars take over Brookfield Sunday for the Brookfield Chamber of Commerce Car Show.

Expect a laid-back neighborhood show filled with classic cars, community and awards.

If you're a car person, this is an easy Sunday-morning outing.

🎶 MEMBERS ONLY — FREE CONCERT IN OAK PARK

Sunday, August 23 | 6:00–7:30 PM

📍 Scoville Park, Oak Park

Not ready to call the weekend yet?

Oak Park's summer Concerts in the Park series continues Sunday evening with Members Only bringing the hits of the 1980s to Scoville Park.

Bring a lawn chair or blanket.

Admission is FREE.

🚙 WORTH THE DRIVE

Want to venture a little farther out?

Chicago has several big events happening this weekend too.

🌮 LAKEVIEW TACO FEST

Friday–Sunday, August 21–23

📍 Southport Avenue between Addison & Roscoe, Chicago

Friday: 4:00–10:00 PM

Saturday: 11:00 AM–10:00 PM

Sunday: 11:00 AM–9:00 PM

Three days of tacos, drinks, live music, lucha libre wrestling and summer street-festival energy take over the Southport Corridor.

If your weekend philosophy is basically give me tacos and put a band on stage, here's your destination.

🎨 WEST LOOP ART FEST

Saturday & Sunday, August 22–23 | 10:00 AM–7:00 PM

📍 Fulton Street / Fulton Market, Chicago

Fulton Street becomes an open-air gallery for the annual West Loop Art Fest.

Expect artists, makers, original artwork and live music surrounded by one of Chicago's best restaurant neighborhoods.

🎸 GALEWOODSTOCK

Saturday, August 22 | Noon–9:00 PM

📍 Galewood, Chicago

You don't have to travel very far into Chicago for this one.

The 6th Annual Galewoodstock Music Festival returns Saturday with a full day of live music and neighborhood festival fun.

Live Music Lineup: Performers include DJ Lecks, Studebaker John, With Jet Packs, The Fuze Band, and Trabuco Salsa Band.

Activities: Features a variety of arts and crafts vendors, local retail business booths, diverse food trucks, and dedicated kids' activities.

Because Galewood sits just northeast of Oak Park, this is one of the easiest Chicago festivals to reach in The Near Western Burbs.

☘️ CHICAGO GAELIC PARK IRISH FEST

Friday–Sunday, August 21–23

📍 Chicago Gaelic Park — Oak Forest

Friday: 4:00–11:00 PM

Saturday: 3:00–11:00 PM

Sunday: 1:00–8:00 PM

🎶 Entertainment Highlights

Music spreads across three stages alongside specialized tents: [1, 2, 3, 4]

Headlining Bands: Featuring touring acts straight out of Ireland and North America, including JigJam, Socks in the Frying Pan, Derek Warfield & The Young Wolfe Tones, BillowWood, Cailíní Lua, and SuperCéilí.
Local Favorites: Performances by the Larkin & Moran Brothers, Gaelic Brew, and Gerry Haughey.
Performing Arts: Hosted by the Gaelic Park Players inside the Tara Room North, featuring one-act plays, poetry, and storytelling.
Cultúr agus Céilí Tent: Hosting Irish language workshops, Celtic knotwork drawing, set dancing, and social dance lessons.