Celebrate Black History Month and more with these local events

Welcome to The Herald-News’ Will County Inside/Outside Guide. Each week, Features Editor Denise M. Baran-Unland (@Denise_Unland61) highlights a few ideas for you to enjoy your weekend in Will County.

Well, it looks like this weekend will be cold with snow.

If you do go out, be sure to layer up.

And if you feel like making a snowman outside, follow some good tips here.

But if it’s too cold, try making a snowman inside with using these tips here.

I’ve also included a variety of virtual programming through the week: art, music, cooking, Black History Month, etc.

But first, a bit of benevolence.

If you or someone who know needs free food, the Northern Illinois Food Bank will hold a pop-up, drive-thru market from 9 to noon on Saturday at Joliet Junior College, 1215 Houbolt Road, parking lot E3.

Anyone in need of food assistance during this uncertain time is welcome to attend. No identification or proof of address or income is required to receive food.

JJC Police will be directing traffic during this time to guide people through the market. Visitors arriving for the market should enter through the college’s main entrance off Houbolt Road.

In the event of inclement weather, the market may be cancelled. It will be decided by 3 p.m. on Friday.

Black History Month Celebration in Lockport

From 1 to 3 p.m. this Saturday, drive up to the Fairmont Community Center on 525 Barry Ave. in Lockport for a free drive-thru event in honor of Black History Month Celebration.

Each participant will receive an activity/resource book to help cultivate learning and will include a list of local black-owned businesses to visit all month long.

Additionally, every person in the car will receive an individually wrapped cake pop from Eat Moore Cakes.

History at Home: French Baking

5-6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10, Zoom webinar. Free, ages 16 or older.

From 5 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, learn about baking in the 18th century. Explore the ingredients and methods that were used and try a recipe from the 1700s.

The event is free and for ages 16 and older. Registration is required via the event calendar at ReconnectWithNature.org. Zoom links will be emailed upon registration. For more information, visit the website or call 815-886.1467.

Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie Silver Anniversary celebrations

The celebrations start at 6 p.m. Feb. 10 will feature journalist Bill Kurtis and James Beard award-winning executive chef Sarah Stegner.

Kurtis will discuss the importance of prairie restoration.

Stegner, with special guest Kenya Vera-Sample from DuSable City Botanical Farms, will highlight the importance of identifying local providers of prairie ingredients into your life every day.

Stegner will share her recipe for wild rice cakes with local black beans, roasted garlic, and mushrooms with drizzled honey and elderberry tincture, which she applies to the wild rice cake like a sauce.

Vera-Sample will talk about the elderberries that she grows in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood. She will share her ideas for how you can bring elderberries into your diet for greater health and wellness.

NFF President and Chief Executive Officer Mary Mitsos will emcee in the culinary-focused program. The NFF has worked in partnership with Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie to restore tallgrass prairie since 2012.

The program will be sponsored by the National Forest Foundation.

Register here.

The Enigma of Bird Behavior

The public is invited to the Will County Audubon’s February meeting on Feb. 11.

A business meeting will be held at 7. John Kricher will present “The Enigma of Bird Behavior” at 7:15 p.m.

Kricher taught ecology and ornithology at Wheaton College (Massachusetts) for 48 years. His quest to learn ecology and to watch birds has taken him to over 30 countries and to all the continents.

He is a fellow in the American Ornithological Society and past president of the Wilson Ornithological Society, the Association of Field Ornithologists, and the Nuttall Ornithological Club. Massachusetts.

Kricher has authored ten books including The New Neotropical Companion (2017). His most recent book is Peterson Reference Guide to Bird Behavior (2020). He lives with his wife Martha Vaughan in Hingham.

Will County Audubon meetings and programs are free and open to the public. For the Zoom link, visit willcountyaudubon.org

Free Hand Textured Painting Demonstration

On Feb. 10, the Lemont Artists Guild will host artist Bala Thiagarajan. This virtual event is open to the public.

From 7 to 8:30 p.m., Thiagarajan will demonstrate how she paints her free-hand textured acrylic paintings and her incorporation of Indian folk-art forms.

Thiagarajan has been painting for more than 10 years in the style of henna body art by piping acrylic paint using piping bags and squeeze bottles. More recently, she has been working on Gond paintings - a form of tribal folk art from India that she does with her textured painting technique.

These paintings are done with precise patterns that are repeated consistently to create signature motifs influenced by nature and culture. Her demonstration will include how she brings her own style to these paintings.

Thiagarajan is a self-taught artist with a doctorate in biology. After spending 10 years in academia, she started her art career and has now sold more than 700 original paintings to collectors in the past nine years.

She participates in 20 or so juried art fairs in the United States every year and has won awards for her work both at juried shows and local art guilds, including the Elmhurst Artists Guild. She currently lives in Texas.

Register here.

For more information, visit artbybala.com and lemontartistsguild.org.

The Blues According to John Primer

At 6 p.m. Feb. 11 explore the blues with Chicago Blues Legend John Primer. Learn about Primer’s blues life, his views on the history of the blues and how he sees today’s blues music.

Primer will tell stories about his life growing up in 1945 on sharecropper land, his family life and his migration to Chicago in 1963.

He’ll discuss how he learned the blues at the famous Theresa’s Lounge from all the blues legends, joining the bands of Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters and Magic Slim, and then becoming his own band leader for his Real Deal Blues Band.

The event is free and open to the public. Registration is required.

Register at jolietmuseum.org.

Thoughts? Drop me a line at dunland@shawmedia.com.