1 Renegade Craft Fair (Halsted Street between West 18th Street and South Canalport, Pilsen) Founded in Chicago in 2003 and growing into the biggest craft fair showcase in the world, Renegade returns home for a weekend, bringing a wide assortment of artists, designers, makers and entrepreneurs. (May 12-13, 11am-6pm)
2 Wright Plus Housewalk 2018 (Oak Park) Up your dose of architecture and design by touring private homes and public buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and his contemporaries, while exploring his hometown—a perfect excuse to escape the city for a day. (May 19, 9am-5pm: members, $85, non-members: $95)
3 Anime Central 2018 (Hyatt Regency O’Hare Hotel, Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont) Part cosplay experience, part nerdy fun—comics, sci-fi, video games, exhibitions, performances and educational panels—Anime Central is the largest anime, manga and Japanese popular culture convention in the Midwest. (May 18-20, 10am-4pm)
4 Covet Market (Revel Fulton Market) Supporting local small businesses, the one-day, quarterly event brings together over seventy vendors and their handcrafted goods—from clothing, jewelry and accessories, to gifts and homewares, to body products. (May 6, 10am-4pm, $8)
5 Chicago Zine Fest (Plumbers Union Hall) Zines—their themes and formats—come in all shapes and sizes and they meet at the annual festival that celebrates small presses, zine-makers, self-publishers and artists. (May 18-19, 11am-6pm)
Greek-born Vasia Rigou is a journalist, editor and multimedia content producer largely on the subjects of visual art, culture, architecture and design. She currently serves as an Editor at Newcity, Chicago’s leading culture publication, as Writer and Copy Editor at the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) HQ, and regularly contributes to international architecture and design magazines OnOffice and ICON. She has experience creating content for brands and building conference speeches and influential TEDx talks. Simply put: she’s fascinated by finding out the great stories behind the people, places and objects that surround us, and by sharing those stories with the world. When she’s not writing about art or looking at art—wine in hand—she makes lists for pretty much everything, drinks immense amounts of coffee and takes cross-country road trips every chance she gets.
