Market Days Is Upon Us!

This weekend in Boystown marks the summer's most glorious street festival, North Halsted Market Days! Market Days marks the last of the gay holidays, as I call them, here in Chicago for the year. Really, when you think about it, Summer is the gayest time of the year, what with men wandering around everywhere shitless.

Market Days is pretty much Pride 2.0. Without a parade. Although a parade would be nice, and I don't think anyone would oppose another parade per se, but who wants to over do a theme? On that line, this year's Market Days is the first year that they are attempting to incorporate a theme to the event (aside from gay, Gay, GAY): Mardi Gras! We probably shouldn't tell the organizers they are a few months late for a Mardi Gras theme, as it may cause a bit of a panic. It'd probably be more appropriate go with Southern Decadence, which is the August gay sister event of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. But whatevs, I'm down for some King Cakes!

This year also promises to be a bit bigger, in terms of entertainment at least. Music generally tends to be the focus of Market Days, and each year brings some cool acts. This year though, we have Jody Watley, The Village People, CeCe Penniston, Kathy Sledge, Berlin, and En Vogue. OK… so they're all washed up artists that work on the cheap, but damn it, they were big at one point! Also, two gay singer songwriters that I really enjoy, Eric Himan and Levi Kreis, will both be performing this year.

So this weekend is the mini gay music fest, and next week is Lollapalooza. Whatever, who cares about Jane's Addiction… and Tool… and Kings of Leon… and Silversun Pickups... oh dang it, never mind! Market Days is $7. Lolla is $9,672.53. Per day. Plus food and water. And lots and lots of drunken, post-frat boy types. Which, while kinda sorta hot, is not too exciting.

In any case, if you're in Chicago and at the parade, hit me up on Twitter or use that nifty Google Voice box in the right hand panel and leave me a Voicemail.

Market Days: Chicagos Other Gay Festival

This weekend past was the annual Chicago Market Days, a gay ol' time that celebrates… um, well, no one is really sure what it celebrates. Best we can figure it honors bar and store owners along Boystown's Halsted strip for being open and making money. And the best way to do that is to provide a way for them to make even more money, of course!

Whatever, who cares, it's a lot of fun. The only way to experience Market Days is to grab a smattering of friends and attack the festival with all the humor that a fagle of friends can have. Alcohol also helps. This year, attendees were treated to pineapples full of pina colada, reality TV "stars" in dunking booths, spinning wheels of underwear, lifeguards with hoses, music, and, of course, porn stars playing Twister in their skivvy's. It just wouldn't be Market Days otherwise.

I love that Market Days is simply a street fair and not a parade like Pride. I think it offers people that are not part of the GLBT community the opportunity to experience gay without the stigma of going to the Pride parade. Even with the debauchery that finds its way into the festival, there is plenty of fun to be had. For once, I wasn't annoyed by the throngs of straight women that flooded Halsted Street, because there is just nothing funnier than seeing straight girls pretend to not be interested in watching Porn Star Twister. Even funnier is the girls faces when their mothers jump into the game and ask their daughters to take pictures!

What I love most though is the music. Market Days has a tendency to bring in a few good acts, and they are always queer friendly. This year's highlight, for me at least, was Eric Himan, a young, adorable singer-songwriter that has a decidedly folksy and country flavor to his music (pictured above with me). I've had one of his albums for about a year now, and enjoyed it, but seeing him in concert asserted that a few of the things I didn't like about the album had been worked on. He's good, and definitely worth a listen, and now that he has a backing band, may be even more fun to see out and about if you get the chance. Other big names at Market Days were 90's girl group Expose (meh…) and Jennifer Holiday (who I would have been willing to see if she wasn't on the small stage, and I'm sure the audience for her performance would have been packed beyond comfortability for me).

Overall, it was another great year at Market Days. The festival also holds some special significance for the boyfriend and me, which made it all the more fantastic. Sadly, it signals the end of the "Gay Summer" here in Chicago, but it also means we're that much closer to next year's celebrations!