This post isn't completely within Streetsblog Chicago's wheelhouse, but I thought many of our readers would enjoy it, so I wrote it up over the weekend for fun.
Streetsblog Chicago readers may have noticed that whenever I mention an initiative that's supposed to happen by the end of the year, I often say it will take place "before the giant pierogi drops in Whiting, IN." This New Year's Eve, I decided to finally put my money where my mouth is by doing a train + bike trip to the tenth annual Pierogi Drop to hear Chicago's polka-rock kings The Polkaholics.
What exactly is the Polka Drop? USA Today, which rated the event the No. 1 Best New Year's Eve Drop last year, explained it thusly. "The town of Whiting, Indiana, drops a giant pierogi at midnight. The [10-foot, lit-up] pierogi descends over 50 feet into a boiling cauldron, and the event includes music, fireworks, and more in celebration of the region's Eastern European heritage." (Whiting is currently about 50 percent Latino, and the crowd at the event was ethnically diverse, as well as intergenerational.)
As you head east from Chicago's Southeast Side across the "Hoosier Curtain," Whiting is the second city along Lake Michigan after Hammond. Located about 16 miles from the Loop, Whiting is the home of an eponymous oil refinery that's the largest in the Midwest. With a population of about 4,500 people, the city has an appealing small-town feel, and each summer Chicagoans bicycle down the lakefront to feast at Whiting's popular Pierogi Fest.
For my Wednesday, December 31 journey, my plan was to catch the Metra Electric commuter train from downtown Millennium Station at 6:40 p.m., arriving at its terminus in the South Chicago neighborhood at 7:17. From there it would be about a half-mile bike ride to the legendary seafood shack Calumet Fisheries, 3959 E. 95th Street, so I'd get there in time to stock up on supplies for the next morning's brunch before they closed at 8.
However, by the time I'd wrapped up the afternoon's Streetsblog Chicago fundraising efforts and packed my bags for an overnight stay, I was running behind schedule.
As I left my apartment in Uptown, fresh snow was falling, the temperature had dropped to the lower 20 degrees Fahrenheit, and the roads were icing over. So instead of taking my touring bike and pedaling to the Loop, I grabbed my Legacy Frameworks Rambler, locally made by Levi Borreson. It's a sturdy single-speed cruiser with relatively wide tires, and a no-rust belt drive instead of a chain.
The roads were looking sketchy, but it was a little past 6 p.m., which meant the CTA's 4-6 p.m. weekday bike blackout was over, so I rode carefully to Uptown's Wilson Station. I wasn't certain I'd be able to catch my 6:40 Metra train downtown, but fortunately soon after I reached the Wilson platform, a southbound Red Line run showed up.
I exited the State/Lake 'L' stop a little after 6:30. I only had a couple of blocks to ride to the staircase outside the Chicago Cultural Center, at the southwest corner of Randolph Street and Michigan Avenue, leading to the Millennium Station entrance.
But time was tight, and if I took that route, I'd have to walk a few minutes through the station, which also serves South Shore Line trains, to access the Metra Electric platform. (The South Shore goes all the way to South Bend, IN, and I could have ridden to within four miles of downtown Whiting, but it doesn't run close to Calumet Fisheries.) It wasn't clear that I'd make it.
So I took a risk and high-tailed it to the ADA-compliant elevator entrance to the Metra platform at the 225 North Michigan Avenue building. I wasn't sure whether it would be open or not, and when I arrived there, the doors to the street were locked. A security guard was standing in the lobby, but rather than let me in to use the elevator, she waived me off.
At that point, my best option might have been accessing the elevator from the lobby of the adjacent, connected 205 North Michigan Avenue building, but that didn't occur to me. Instead, I sprinted south two blocks to the Cultural Center and walked my bike a couple blocks through the station back to the Metra platforms. Needless to say, by then the 6:40 had already taken off. My plan to buy smoked shrimp at Calumet Fisheries before it closed for the holiday was sunk.
But all was not lost. Another Metra train was leaving Millennium at 8:40, arriving in South Chicago at 9:17, which would still give me plenty of time to bike five miles to catch The Polkaholics.
I killed time in one of my favorite downtown locations, the gorgeous Sistine Chapel-like lobby and bar of the historic Palmer House hotel, of "North by Northwest" fame. The space was filled with NYE revelers. With a cocktail and a copy of the history and architecture book "Chicago's Uptown" by Jacob Lewis-Hall, the hour or so passed pleasantly.
I'll now switch this post to photo gallery mode to give you a quick sense of how the rest of this very fun adventure went down. Unless otherwise noted, all images are by yours truly.
Does riding a bike in the dead of winter to go hear The Polkaholics sounds like your idea of a good time? If so, there's a proposal for the January Chicago Critical Mass to head to Fuller's Pub, 3203 W. Irving Park, to see the band, aka the annual Polka Ride. That excursion gathers on Friday, January 30, in Daley Plaza, 50 W. Washington after 5:30 p.m., departing sometime after 6. Bundle up and join the fun!
Thanks to Dubi Kaufmann for the headline suggestion.
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