Hyde Park Garden Fair & 3 More Chicago Plans This Week

Your daily guide to what's popping in Chicago — Sunday plant fairs, an Andersonville wine walk, Twin Peaks at Thalia Hall, and a Pokémon-meets-fossils exhibit opening at the Field Museum.

By Raj Singh · Published May 17, 2026.

Sunday hits 88°F and overcast in Chicago today — basically permission to be outside all day, with a sneaky 13% chance of a sprinkle. Tomorrow flips to rain (65%) and Tuesday brings drizzle, so today is the one to plan around. Four picks: a neighborhood plant fair in Hyde Park, a wine crawl in Andersonville, hometown heroes at Thalia Hall, and a Field Museum exhibit opening Friday that's built for a rainy week.

SUNDAY, MAY 17

Hyde Park Garden Fair @ Kimbark Plaza

A neighborhood Sunday institution since 1959, where Garden Fair members spend the off-season scouting nurseries from Wisconsin to Indiana to bring back varieties that actually thrive in Chicago's wild climate.

Tents fill Kimbark Plaza at 53rd and Kimbark with sun-loving perennials, shade plants, herbs, and natives picked by gardeners with skin in the game.

Stop in at Plein Air Café or Valois for breakfast first; the deals get picked over fast and the regulars know it. Weather today: 88°F and overcast with a 13% chance of rain — perfect for hauling flats of dirt into your car without melting.

SUNDAY, MAY 17

Spring Wine Walk in Andersonville @ Andersonville (Clark Street)

Andersonville does this twice a year and locals build their Sunday around it.

You buy a ticket, get a tasting cup and a map, and bounce between the boutiques and bookstores along Clark Street while the shop owners pour pours — it's part wine tasting, part neighborhood crawl.

The route covers a chunk of one of the most walkable strips in the city: Hopleaf for a Belgian-beer chaser afterward, Big Jones for shrimp and grits if you want a real meal, Middle East Bakery for kibbeh and spinach pies to soak it up. Wear shoes you can stand in for three hours. Today's 88°F means the patios will be packed by 5pm — get the ticket in hand by 3pm sharp.

SUNDAY, MAY 17

Twin Peaks @ Thalia Hall

Twin Peaks playing Thalia Hall is the most Chicago thing happening tonight.

The band grew up running around Lincoln Park and the Northwest Side, made their bones at Empty Bottle and Subterranean, and Thalia Hall is the room they graduated into — a restored Pilsen opera house with the kind of balcony sightlines and tile acoustics that make even mid-tempo songs feel cinematic.

Get there at 7 to grab a spot on the floor near the stage-left rail. Walk down 18th to Carnitas Don Pedro for cash-only carnitas tacos that will recalibrate your week. Pilsen parking is a nightmare on Sunday nights — take the Pink Line to 18th and walk five minutes.

THIS WEEK

Pokémon Fossil Museum @ Field Museum

This Friday the Field Museum opens an exhibit that pairs real prehistoric fossils with their Pokémon counterparts — Tyrantrum next to a T. rex skull, Archeops next to an Archaeopteryx — and it is the rare blockbuster show that hits equally hard for kids, science nerds, and millennials who grew up trading cards at recess.

With the forecast calling for rain Monday and Tuesday and drizzle Wednesday, this is the indoor play you save for the soggy stretch. Lakefront museum campus, easy on the 146 bus or a 10-minute walk from Roosevelt CTA.

After: walk north to The Field Bistro or up to South Loop for a slice at Pat's Pizza. Tickets sell out on weekends — book a Friday or early-week slot in advance.