No I don’t live in Dodge City (I’m using an idiom here), but I’m taking a break from my normal routine (school work in New Jersey) to head back home to Chicago (or near it, I live in the same county (Cook)). Besides the normal food and drinks I missed, what events are there in the area I can take part of while I’m home clearing my mind? I will be near the area until August 25th, so no Jazz festival this year for me (rats), but there must be some interesting events happening on.
Oh, I thought you were getting out of your Dodge brand vehicle (with a HEMI™) after a long drive.
The City of Chicago has an events page that is helpful and fairly thorough. I’d link, but I’m on my phone and it’s a pain. Oh, and “del” is the tag for strikethroughs. [del]Like see here.[/del]
No, but it’s more like I’m getting into a HEMI™ straight into the city, except my HEMI™ is a 737 from Boeing going straight into Midway. Whatever. I’m not going to be [del]sober[/del] in a working mood for the next couple of days while I’m on vacation. 
strictly NJ
AUGUST
10-14 - The 40th Ocean Township Italian Festival will have food-eating contests, rides, games and a petting zoo; iaato.com
13 - The 16th Butterfly Festival at Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed featuring the Kate Gorrie Butterfly House is dedicated to the swallowtail; thewatershed.org
13 - Food Trucks on the Waterfront, hosted by South Toms River and South Toms River EMS, will also have live music and vendors; strfas.org
13-14 - The "Truck"erton Food Truck & Brew Fest at Tuckerton Seaport will have gourmet food trucks, live music, beer and wine; tuckertonseaport.org
20 - The Canal Day Music & Craft Festival in Wharton will have music on two stages and kayak and boat rides on the Morris Canal; canalday.org
20 - Toms River’s Art in the Park returns, this time next to the Ocean County Historical Society on Hadley Avenue, will have work from local artists, live music, children’s activities and food vendors and trucks; downtowntomsriver.com
20-21 - The Collingswood Crafts and Fine Arts Festival will have more than 175 crafters and fine artists as well as food tents and live music; collingswood.com
20-21 - The Jersey Fresh Harvest Festival at Alstede Farms features dishes made with local produce; alstedefarms.com
25 - Hoboken’s Spaghetti Dinner Block Party will have a variety of pasta, sausage and meatballs along with live entertainment; hobokennj.org/spaghetti-dinner-block-party
Nearby & worth mentioning:
New York Renaissance Faire, Tuxedo NY
…say, and isn’t that Ren-Faire right near Warwick Valley Winery, where they have both wine and hard cider tastings?
I said I’m flying to Chicago, not Newark.
Ooops. Disregard then…
Here are some ideas:
He was, ummm, ahhh, listing the things you’ll miss while you’re away. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
It would have been nice to experience all those things, but I don’t live there and the government program I’m working with has a curfew at 9PM, prohibits alcohol usage off center (while monitored), and even if I could get out on the weekend (it’s allowed), there’s not enough money in my bank to pay for a motel to do all this.
Try to catch Hot Tuna at the Old Town School Of Folk Music on Saturday, if you’re in town by then. There’s a 7pm show- not sure how that would fit with your curfew.