Once again, your RNRA with the Chicago Park District will be hosting six Movies in the Park this summer in A. Montgomery Ward Park. We are looking for some wonderful volunteers for our Park Advisory Council (PAC). If you have some time before and or after the movie, we sure could use your help. Before the movie, we need volunteers to hand out our programs and small bags for litter. After the movie, we need volunteers to do a little clean up to keep our park looking beautiful.

Our first movie is Tuesday, June 18th.

To volunteer, please email us at info@rnrachicago.org. Thank you! See you in the park!

Coming July 19th-21st, the 12th Annual TASTE of RIVER NORTH. Bigger and better with all the flavor of our River North restaurants, artisans and great music thrown in. Want to volunteer? Just a two hour fun filled shift will get you a FREE admission, FREE collectible T-shirt, FREE training party at Castle, and food/drink coupons to enjoy at the best fest in the City.

River North teens who are interested in art and museums are invited to the first Teen Event, planned and hosted by the Art Institute Teen Council, on Saturday, June 8th from 1:00-4 pm in the Ryan Education Center. This event is FREE and open to any teen.

The Art Institute Teen Council, a group of 11 teens from all over Chicago, has planned this event to feature art-marking, food, music, teen performances, and to highlight the Teen Council exhibition, on view in the Ryan Education Center. Teens can drip in any time to participate in the activities and get more infomation about how to get involved in other programs for youth.

This event will hopefully attract a wide range of teens to the museum and to allow their ideas and energy to be visible in the museum and in the Education Center. For more information, www.artic.edu/learn/teens/teen-council.

The Chicago Blues Festival, June 6 – 9, is the largest free blues festival in the world and remains the largest of Chicago’s Music Festivals. During three days on five stages, more than 500,000 blues fans prove that Chicago is the “Blues Capital of the World.”

The headliners for the 30th Annual Chicago Blues Festival include: Shemekia Copeland, Bobby Rush, Irma Thomas, Jimmy Johnson, Otis Clay, The Bar-Kays, Eddie Floyd, Sir Mack Rice and a multigenerational Chicago blues showcase finale featuring James Cotton, Lil’ Ed and Billy Branch, among others, closing the festival on Sunday. Admission is free.

New this year, the festival will open for the first time at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park on June 6, and move to Grant Park for the remainder of the weekend. The festival is “Rollin’ Up the River” to celebrate the blues with a musical journey up the Mississippi River. During the great migration from the south in the 1940s and 1950s, the “delta blues” landed in Chicago establishing the genre’s electric guitar sound known as the “Chicago blues” style. The voyage will start in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mississippi on Friday; then continue on to Memphis, Tennessee, and St. Louis, Missouri, on Saturday; ending in Chicago on Sunday, where the blues electrified the world.

Please call 312.744.3316 or visit www.chicagobluesfestival.us for more information.

Please note the following street closures will be in effect from June 5 to June 10 for the Blues Festival:
Jackson between Michigan and Lake Shore Drive Columbus between Congress and Monroe.

As Lurie Children’s one-year anniversary approaches, please join them for coffee and a tour. They would like to thank the neighbors for the warm welcome to the River North neighborhood.  Please RSVP by Friday, May 31,  to Ken Labok, klabok@luriechildrens.org.  Be sure to include how many people will be attending.

Saturday, June 8, 2013
9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
225 E. Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611

Registration will be held on the 2nd Floor
Coffee and donuts generously donated by Glazed and Infused
www.goglazed.com

We have improved our association’s website to bring our residents the most up-to-date information about our vibrant community.

After months of planning by our volunteer committee members, we are thrilled to launch a more engaging and intuitive experience that better supports our association goals and our local sponsors.  We value your support as we actively advocate for quality of life issues in River North and beyond.

A New York Times article recently affirmed something that we already know…River North is the “hottest place in the city” and we are not talking about global warming.

Please let us know what you think and email us at info@rnrachicago.org.  Bookmark the website and Like Us on Facebook.  Special thanks, also, to River North resident, Steve Dahlman , for the use of some of his professional photo images.

Just in from Alderman Brendan Reilly’s office:

The City Council’s Committee on Finance will hold the final public hearing on Monday, June 3rd at 9:15 am in City Council Chambers, 121 N. LaSalle, 2nd Floor. The City Council’s Committee on Finance is expected to vote on the Proposed Settlement Agreement and Associated Amendment to the Chicago Metered Parking Concession Agreement.

Earlier this month, Alderman Reilly voiced his opinion on this controversial parking meter proposal, which was introduced at the May 8th City Council Meeting.  The Alderman urges 42nd Ward residents and businesses who will be impacted by the new proposal to attend the next Committee on Finance Public Hearing to provide their testimony on the Amended Parking Meter Agreement.

For more information about the previous hearings, please click on the following links to download the ordinance and meeting notices for 5/28/13 and 5/31/13.

On Saturday May 18th, RNRA hosted a Planting in the Park event with over 100 residents and families stopping by Ward Park to get free flowering plants. River North neighbor and newest sponsor, Jeff Stogsdill with State Farm joined in on the festivities and brought along the State Farm Bear to the delight of many of our younger gardeners. We also want to thank volunteers, Sue, Amy and Fletcher for lending their green thumbs. Just another way RNRA is helping to “grow” our community one flower and one smile at a time!