Tonight at the Logan Center, Cookies and Karaoke on Harper Court, and a Saturday Bazaar at Augustana: Hyde Park's Weekend Is Stacked
By Socialhood News · Hyde Park ·
Hyde Park neighbors, Friday, November 6 is arriving with a genuinely varied evening — and the weekend that follows keeps the momentum going. From a world-class jazz pianist at the Logan Center to karaoke and baked goods on Harper Court to a holiday bazaar and bake sale on Saturday morning, there is something real happening within walking distance for virtually every neighbor this weekend.
The marquee event tonight is at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th Street, where UChicago Presents hosts the Craig Taborn Trio beginning at 7:30 p.m. and running until 9:30 p.m. Craig Taborn is one of the most admired and inventive pianists in contemporary jazz — a musician who has recorded extensively for the ECM label and collaborated with some of the most significant names in modern improvised music. Presenting the Craig Taborn Trio in Hyde Park is exactly the kind of programming that has made UChicago Presents one of the most credible classical and contemporary music series in the Midwest: serious, artistically ambitious, and rooted in the Logan Center's identity as the South Side's premier performing arts venue. The Logan Center, which opened in 2012 on the southeast edge of campus, was designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects and has since become one of the neighborhood's most architecturally and culturally significant buildings. For neighbors who follow jazz and improvised music, tonight's performance is not a thing to miss. Check the UChicago Presents website for ticket availability and pricing.
For something with a different kind of energy tonight, Strugglebeard Bakery at 5221 S. Harper Court is hosting Cookies and Karaoke from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. — running concurrently with the Logan Center show for neighbors who want their Friday to involve a mic and a sugar rush rather than a concert hall. Strugglebeard Bakery has become one of Hyde Park's most warmly regarded spots on Harper Court since opening, and an evening that pairs the shop's baked goods with open karaoke is precisely the kind of low-barrier, neighborhood-living-room event that makes Harper Court feel like an actual community destination rather than just a dining corridor. The event is listed on the Welcome to Hyde Park calendar. No ticket appears required — just show up at Harper Court.
Then, on Saturday morning, Augustana Lutheran Church at 5500 S. Woodlawn Avenue — the same venue that hosted Lee Bey's architecture talk last month — becomes the site of the University of Chicago Service League's Holiday Bazaar and Bake Sale, running from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The University of Chicago Service League is one of the oldest volunteer and philanthropic organizations connected to the university and the broader neighborhood, and its annual Holiday Bazaar is a Hyde Park tradition that shows up reliably on the fall calendar every year. For neighbors who want to get a head start on holiday shopping while supporting a long-running community institution, Saturday morning at Augustana is a natural stop. The Welcome to Hyde Park events calendar lists the event; no advance ticket appears required.
Also on the horizon this weekend: also on Sunday, November 8, the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts hosts CelloGayageum, a UChicago Presents performance featuring the unusual pairing of cello and gayageum — the traditional Korean zither — from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The pairing, which bridges Western classical and Korean traditional musical traditions, fits squarely into the Logan Center's curatorial identity: cross-cultural, acoustically adventurous, and built around the idea that the South Side deserves programming that treats its audience as sophisticated and curious. Check UChicago Presents for details.
Taken together, this Friday-through-Sunday stretch captures something Hyde Park does better than almost any other Chicago neighborhood: layer events so that the weekend has real texture, with options running from an internationally recognized jazz trio to a neighborhood bakery karaoke night to a holiday bazaar benefiting a century-old community institution. The Logan Center, Harper Court, and Augustana Lutheran Church are all within comfortable walking distance of each other — which means neighbors with enough energy can, in theory, hit all three.
Neighbors: Are you heading to the Craig Taborn Trio at the Logan Center tonight, or making it a Cookies and Karaoke evening at Strugglebeard on Harper Court? Will you be at the Service League Holiday Bazaar on Saturday morning at Augustana? And are you planning to catch CelloGayageum at the Logan Center on Sunday afternoon? Share your plans and let us know what you find in the comments on Socialhood.
Sources:
1. https://welcometohydepark.com/events/
2. https://www.hpherald.com/