• Taste of Randolph Street begins this evening and runs through Sunday. This is a great way to sample some of the wares of the restaurants that make the Randolph Street District one of the best in the city without having to dress up. Seeing the one-two punch of Drive-By truckers and Bobby Bare, Jr. Saturday isn't bad, either.
• Pizza Fest Chicago 2008 takes place tomorrow and Sunday at the intersection of Fullerton and Racine in Lincoln Park from noon-10 p.m. The U.S. Pizza Team will be on hand. There will also be pizza eating contests, dough-tossing contests and other entertainment
• This will be our final Tour de Fat reminder for the week. Tomorrow, head out to Palmer Square Park at Kedzie and Palmer to partake of a lot of New Belgium Brewing selections, a bike parade, Mucca Pazza, and watch Joe M500 trade in his Jeep for a bicycle and pledge to live car-free for 12 months.

In spite of the chilly weather, the first round of street fests are approaching. While Pitchfork and Lollapalooza dominate the headlines, our fair city's many street fests often boast some pretty decent bands. Many fests are just beginning to announce their lineups and there are some great bands already listed with more to be added, so this promises to be a pretty awesome summer of sun and music. You can scope out our comprehensive list of festival dates and keep tabs on developments at the city's Neighborhood Fest website. Here's a small sampling of some current lineups. As usual, most, if not all, fests require a small donation ($5ish). more ›