One of the things that we were really looking forward to when we moved here was visiting the Renegade Craft Fair. Unfortunately, last year’s fair was held during a huge huge storm - Hurricane Ike to be specific. There was no way we were going to drag the little kids to Wicker Park in a hurricane… and then our basement flooded and so we missed it.

We did go to the Winter Holiday version at Pulaski Field House and some of us enjoyed it quite a bit (one guess as to which little kid did not enjoy it at all…)

So this year, I have been pretty anal about making sure we did not miss it. Unfortunately I forgot to mention it to TW and I sort of sprung it on her yesterday morning. Oops. After she recovered from the shock of hearing that we were going, she got her mother ready and into the car and we headed into town.

No traffic on the freeway but it took forever to find a place to park. And that place to park was blocks and blocks from the fair. TW pushed her mother’s wheelchair a very very long way but it was worth it.

Honestly, we’re a little sick of most craft fairs. They always seem to have the same things over and over again. The Renegade Craft Fair is totally different. Or maybe it’s just that the vendors sell really cool stuff. Really cool stuff that all of our kids would like.

We came home with presents for a bunch of the kids and I even found a Christmas gift for my father.

Last year we were really excited about the new fancy sciency ice cream shop in Wicker Park called iCream. (They use liquid nitrogen to freeze the ingredients in some magic way I never understood, to make ice cream.)

The reviews were mixed, mostly due to the crowds and the fact that their big machine was often broken. The reviews did not really deter us and we finally found a good weekend to head to Wicker Park… only to find the store was closed until spring while they worked on their machinery malfunction issues.

A couple of weeks ago, I started seeing reviews again and it looked like their machine problems had been solved. Yay! And what great timing, since my cousin (owner of Hamburger Calculus) was in town and we were looking for some place to meet. What better place for weirdo food people who don’t really know each other to meet up?

The machines do work. I am not sure how they work, that whole science is magic thing, ya know. But, they work with every day Kitchen-aid mixers and they work very very well.

I ordered a coffee flavored ice cream with bananas and caramel - and I ordered it pink. The taste - EXCELLENT. It’s oddly disconcerting to eat pink coffee flavored ice cream. A young man sitting on a stool behind me had peach ice cream that was… green. It had chocolate bits in it too so to look at it you’d have thought it was mint chocolate chip. Imagine that crazy disjointed experience - it should be mint chocolate chip and yet it is… peach? Fabulous!

TW and RJ ordered the pudding (Chocolate and vanilla) and they both enjoyed it quite a bit. Prince J also ordered coffee and wanted his red but it turned out more pink than red. My cousin ordered chocolate (which can’t be colored properly so it just looked chocolate) with nutella and hazelnut and reeses pieces and I don’t know what else. It was surprisingly good (yes he let me taste it!) considering I don’t much like hazelnut and really dislike nutella. J, my cousin’s g/f, ordered a pomegranate (but not pom/pear) with mangos and blackberries and may graham crackers. She didn’t get any color with hers so it was a weird off white tannish color. Fascinating!

I have always wanted to go to a Renegade Craft Fair. Moving to Chicago made that possible. Except, when the fair was scheduled in September, a hurricane hit and the entire area was flooded (including our basement) and so we did not go. The Renegade Craft Fair is cool but not cool enough to attend outside during that kind of weather.

When TW told me that there was a Renegade Craft Fair HOLIDAY Sale at Pulaski Park ie INDOORS, I was totally up for it.

Unfortunately, it’s freezing and there’s no parking around Pulaski Park. Bah. This is what I really hate about living here. I don’t mind walking 10 blocks but 10 blocks in freezing wind just plain stinks.

The field house itself is pretty interesting and I think a good location for such a craft fair. Rooms that aren’t too big or too small and are spread out enough that there aren’t a lot of bottle necks as people move from one room to another.

We stopped just inside the door and looked at the “official” tshirts and then talked to the woman at the Yelp table and got a free Yelp back, which was nice since we forgot to bring a bag.

And then we entered the first room. Oh my. So many cool things. It’s been a very long while since I’ve found so many things that I wanted to buy (or try to make) at a craft fair. TW and I collected a lot of cards so that we can explore the artist’s websites (and actually buy stuff once we have money again.) Liz also collected some cards and spent a lot of time trying to decide which vendor she liked the best. She’s quite the discriminating shopper, who knew?

Here are some links from the cards I collected at the fair.

The Renegade Craft Fair rocks.