Chicago Dance Crash performs The Cotton Mouth Club. 

AROUND TOWN
Chicago League of Lady Arm Wrestlers: CLLAW XVI Histrionics trump forearm strength as Lumberjack Jill, Anne Hackaway, Bust Your Tooth Bluth and other women go Over the Top in the night's staged bouts. If you think the ladies' names are a hoot, wait until you see their costumes. The event is a benefit for Sideshow Theatre Company and Community Counseling Centers of Chicago. Logan Square Auditorium. 10:30pm. $10.

BOOKS
Adam Rapoport (Bon Appétit) at Parson's The editor in chief of Bon Appétit signs copies of the magazine's new grilling cookbook, The Grilling Book: The Definitive Guide, at Parson's Chicken & Fish. Daniel Gerzina, editor of Eater Chicago, moderates a conversation, and appetizers and cocktails from the new cookbook will be available for purchase. Parson's Chicken & Fish. 6:30pm.

Juan Pablo Beltran Hilarion and Carolina Ariza at the inaugural Brave New Art World.

 

Photo: Rafael Franco-Steeves

If this erratic weather has been turning your feel-good summer vibes inside-out, like a cheap CVS umbrella in a gust of wind, we don't blame you. But as a wise redheaded orphan once told me, "The sun'll come out tomorrow." (And then her friends were like, "You're never fully dressed without a smile," and I was like, "Girls! ENOUGH.") Sun or no sun, there's lots of art to see and experience tonight—free food and drink to enjoy, too—so walk, don't run (cause you'll miss stuff) to the following:

Pop-Up Art Loop: First Thursdays Gallery Walk | Block 37 and Loop galleries
Pop-Up Art Loop—the Chicago Loop Alliance's initiative to fill empty storefronts downtown with eye-popping art—unveils its new 17,000-square-foot space at Block 37. It features the Chicago Design Museum's 2013 exhibition "Work at Play." Stop by for food, beverages, and works by Marian Bantjes, John Massey, Michael C. Place and Wolfgang Weingart. Then take a free, self-guided tour to any of the other walk-in and walk-by galleries in the area. Go to popupartloop.com for a map. Free, 5–8pm.

Brave New Art World | River North gallery district
The second installment of Brave New Art World—a radical new initiative to unify disparate art communities by providing a once-a-month forum in River North—returns for another evening of critical talks, performance art, food and drink. Pick up a map at Franklin and Superior or in any of the participating galleries (listed at bravenewartworld.com). It's free. It's inclusive. It's attempting to do something hospitable and transparent and to elevate art-focused discourse without alienating people. If this is the future, we are stoked. Free, 5–8pm.

More art events 

Doughnut Day | Tim Hortons slideshow

• 

  Doughnut Day | Give Chicago a Tim Hortons now!

  doughnutday_timhortons1.jpg162712361
• 

  Doughnut Day | Give Chicago a Tim Hortons now! We demand Timbits.

  doughnutday_timhortons2.jpg162712312
• 

  Doughnut Day | Give Chicago a Tim Hortons now! The man himself, Tim Horton, would want it that way.

  doughnutday_timhortons3.jpg162712263

PreviousNext

Doughnut Day | Give Chicago a Tim Hortons now!

[Ed. note: Tomorrow is National Doughnut Day, and we at Time Out are starting preparations. First, by eating lots of fruits and vegetables today to counterbalance the sugar diabetes we will surely induce with tomorrow's epic doughnut eating and, second, by revving you up for the big day with several posts devoted to fried dough. Here's the first, and be sure to come back tomorrow for our Doughnut Day blowout coverage.]

I watch a lot of hockey. I love the speed, the mullets, the K- and I-stuffed Finnish names, the emergency dentistry, the nicknames (Soupy, Sharpie, Tazer, Kaner…), the Hawks, Jim Cornelison and the overall Canadianness of the sport. Canada is a wonderful country, and in my travels to Toronto, Montreal and Victoria, I've sought out brands of junk like Pizza Pizza, Molson, Roots, Boston Pizza and Tim Hortons because I see so many ads during Canucks, Leafs, Senators, Oilers, Flames and Canadiens games. You see these ads painted along the boards of the rink. It gives you something to want to buy as you watch a guy get his ribs crushed against the glass.

Tim Hortons is a doughnut and coffee shop, named after a hockey player. The maple dip doughnuts are amazing, obviously. The dougnut holes are called Timbits. That's adorable. It's not just a symptom of grass-is-greener syndrome to say they blow away Dunkin' Donuts. 

"Waiting for a flight could start to look a lot more like date night."

That quotation (from Xavier Rabell, "CEO of Areas USA, a leading provider of food and beverage, news and gifts and specialty retailers in more than 70 airports worldwide") in this morning's press release from O'Hare Airport is, on the one hand, hilarious. On the other hand, Tortas Frontera (which opened its third location in Terminal 5) has taught us that it is indeed possible. 

Today, O'Hare announced the opening of Vosges and Big Bowl (Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises' first airport restaurant) in Terminal 5. These debuts are the beginning of a "transformation by Westfield" that "will bring 15 new dining and retail brands" to the terminal.