Lincoln Park Mayfest & 4 More Chicago Plans This Week

Your Friday guide to what's worth doing in Chicago — Mayfest kicks off, Twin Peaks comes home to Thalia Hall, Cubs-Sox actually matters again, plus Renegade and Les Mis.

By Raj Singh · Published May 15, 2026.

Friday in Chicago: overcast 72F, light wind, 14% chance of rain — the kind of moody late-spring evening where you want to be outside but you're glad you brought a layer. The weekend turns warmer and wetter (80s, scattered storms Saturday), so the move is to front-load outdoor plans tonight and Sunday. Here's what's worth your time.

FRIDAY, MAY 15

Lincoln Park Mayfest @ Armitage between Sheffield & Halsted

Lincoln Park Mayfest is the unofficial start of summer block-party season — three days of beer tents, live bands, and food vendors stretched along Armitage between Sheffield and Halsted. It's a fundraiser for the neighborhood schools and parks, but it functions as the first real excuse to drink an outdoor beer in May without feeling like you're rushing the season.

The vibe is loud, friendly, and almost aggressively Lincoln Park — you will be near a stroller, you will be near a guy in a backwards Cubs hat, and at some point a coverband will play 'Don't Stop Believin'.' That is the deal. The corner of Sheffield and Armitage anchors the main stage, with food booths radiating out. Pre-game at Twisted Spoke for the best pulled pork sandwich on the block, or hit Charlie Beinlich's-style move and grab beers at Galway Arms on Clark before walking over.

Friday's overcast 72F evening is ideal festival weather — light layers, no umbrella needed (14% precip). Suggested donation is $10 at the gate. Brown Line to Armitage drops you a block away; do not drive, parking is feral. Saturday is the big day if you only pick one — but Friday afternoon has the smallest crowds and the freshest taco truck lines.

FRIDAY, MAY 15

Twin Peaks with Lifeguard @ Thalia Hall

This one is a Chicago indie summit. Twin Peaks — the Lake View garage-rock four-piece that's been a hometown favorite for over a decade — headlining Thalia Hall with Lifeguard, the post-punk teenage trio that's been the most-buzzed-about young Chicago band of the last two years. If you've been waiting for a 'state of the Chicago scene' show, this is it.

Thalia Hall is the room you want this in. Built in 1892 as a Bohemian community hall, it sounds incredible, has a balcony for when your back starts complaining, and the bar pours fast. Get there for Lifeguard at 8 — they are not a skippable opener. Pre-show food in Pilsen is the actual point of going to Pilsen: walk up 18th to HaiSous for Vietnamese (4.7 on Google), or grab tacos al pastor at Carnitas Uruapan a few blocks south. Cash gets you in faster at both.

Doors at 7, show at 8. Tickets in the mid-$30s, walking up is usually fine for Twin Peaks shows here unless it's a Saturday. Pink Line to 18th is your move — five-minute walk to the venue. It's an indoor show, so the 14% precip forecast is irrelevant. Bring earplugs if you care about your hearing past 35 — the low end at Thalia hits.

THIS WEEKEND

Cubs vs. White Sox — Crosstown Classic @ Wrigley Field

For the first time in what feels like a decade, the Crosstown Classic is actually a crosstown classic. The first-place Cubs are hosting a White Sox team that — improbably, after years of historic loss — is playing competitive baseball. Block Club's framing is right: both fanbases have reasons to believe again, and that hasn't been true at the same time in a long while. The three-game series at Wrigley Friday through Sunday is going to feel different than the recent ones, where Sox fans showed up mostly to heckle in peace.

Wrigley in mid-May is the platonic ideal of the place — ivy turning green, bleacher crowd warmed up but not yet sunburnt, the neighborhood thrumming. Pre-game move: skip the overpriced Clark Street sports bars and go to The Long Room on Irving Park or Murphy's Bleachers for the rooftop. For food, Crisp on Sheffield does the best Korean fried chicken in Lakeview (4.6 stars), or do Smoke Daddy on Division if you're coming from the west side.

Friday's 7:05 PM start is the marquee — temps drop to the high 50s by first pitch, so wear layers. Saturday day game (1:20 PM, 80F, rain risk — bring the poncho they sell at the Cubs Store and you'll be fine) and Sunday afternoon (1:20 PM, drier) close the series. Resale tickets in the $35-50 range for upper deck; bleachers and field-level have spiked but not stupidly. Red Line to Addison, always. Driving to Wrigley is a personal failure.

SATURDAY, MAY 16

Renegade Craft Fair — Andersonville @ Andersonville (Clark Street)

Renegade is the Chicago craft fair — over 100 vendor booths of handmade ceramics, screenprints, jewelry, candles, leather goods, and the rest. The Andersonville edition is the spring kickoff (the larger Wicker Park fall edition gets all the press, but Andersonville is the better experience: smaller, browsable, and you're not packed shoulder-to-shoulder). Real makers, mostly Midwest-based, with prices that range from $20 ceramic mugs to $400 ceramics-by-the-same-person-but-larger.

Andersonville is one of the best walking neighborhoods in the city for a Saturday like this — Clark Street between Foster and Bryn Mawr is a slow stroll of vintage shops, Swedish bakeries (hit Lost Larson for the cardamom bun, no exceptions), and excellent coffee. Build the day around it: croissants at Lost Larson, browse the fair, late lunch at Hopleaf for mussels and Belgian beer or Big Jones for shrimp and grits, and finish at Women & Children First bookstore. The Sox-Cubs game finishes around 4 — perfect timing.

Saturday is the problem child weather-wise: 80F but 42% chance of rain. The fair runs rain-or-shine, vendors have tents, but if it's a downpour you'll be miserable. The forecast looks like scattered showers, not a washout — bring a packable jacket and go early (11 AM open) before the worst of it. Sunday (82F, 32% precip) is the safer bet if you can flex. Free entry. Red Line to Berwyn, walk three blocks west, you're there.

THIS WEEK

Les Misérables @ Cadillac Palace Theatre

Cameron Mackintosh's touring production of Les Misérables — the original Boublil-Schönberg version, not the staged-concert variant — is at the Cadillac Palace Theatre through the end of May. This is the one you've heard about: the new staging that ditches the iconic turntable for projected backdrops inspired by Victor Hugo's own paintings. Purists fought it; everyone who's seen it agrees it actually works. The score is still the score. You will still cry at 'Bring Him Home.'

The Cadillac Palace is the move for Loop theater. It's the most ornate of the three Broadway-in-Chicago houses — a 1926 French Baroque palace with the kind of gold-leaf ceiling that makes the pre-show wait feel like part of the ticket. Eat first in the Loop: Cherry Circle Room at the Chicago Athletic Association is the cinematic option (their cocktails are excellent and they're 4.5 on Google), or grab Italian beef at Portillo's on Ontario for the unfussy version. The theater is on Randolph between LaSalle and Wells — every Loop train stops within three blocks.

Tickets start around $45 in the upper balcony and climb steeply. Evening shows are 7:30 PM Tuesday through Saturday; matinees at 2 PM on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. Runtime is 2 hours 50 minutes with intermission — eat first, the theater concessions are exactly what you'd expect. Show runs through Sunday May 24, so there's flexibility. Weather doesn't matter once you're inside.