Thoughts of summer make spring livable

By Trent Modglin

People, friends and family mostly, ask me all the time how the magazine business is doing, how the feedback is, what we’re working on next, whether I’m getting enough sleep with the second job, all that good stuff. And the fun part is, I love where The Real Chicago is headed. We’re delivering to well over 300 locations now in this our fourth full month of operation. My stable of talented and enthusiastic writers continues to grow. And I have to admit, it is exciting to walk by a coffee house or a bar and see someone’s face buried in the pages of The Real Chicago, especially when other options are readily available to them.

But I knew we had officially arrived a few weeks ago, when my friend, Rich Zell, pulled me aside to tell me a homeless man had tried to sell him a copy of the latest issue. That, my friends, was the defining moment of this whole project from me. When a homeless guy thinks your magazine is good enough to try to get a dollar out of someone, well, that says a lot. But please remember, The Real Chicago is free. To quote The Heckler, “Do Not Buy From Street Folk,” but please do give them a buck for Streetwise when you leave your local Osco. They need it worse than you need your pack of gum.

Anyway, on to the wondrous visions of summer being just around the corner. It’s funny how there are always those select few days in March that tease us into thinking it’s time to break out the shorts and rummage through your glove compartment for your sunglasses. The temperature vaults into the 50s, the jogging paths on the lake are suddenly crowded and everyone heads outside to take in the kind of fresh air that doesn’t take your breath away or make your hands red.

Then, as if Mother Nature is carrying a taser gun, she rudely decides to remind us that, yes, we live in Chicago, and no, summer does not begin in April. We have only two seasons in the Midwest, she insists. And several more weeks of sketchy gray skies and bitter wind follow.

But now is the perfect time to begin looking forward, to the three months of bliss that make Chicago the greatest city on earth. I’m talking of June, July and August, when the street festivals take over, restaurants and bars open their patios and beer gardens, the lake warms to hospitable temperatures and everyone is anxiously eyeing the clock on Friday afternoons.

Keep an eye out for the next two issues of The Real Chicago, available in the middle of each month, to give you all the information you need to know about summer in the big city. We’ll have previews of where to go, what to do and how best to enjoy getting out of hibernation so you can make the most of the best time of year. Until then, stay warm and get your calendars ready.

Trent Modglin
Publisher
The Real Chicago
Trent@TheRealChicago.org

Click here for more Up Front