U.S. Pizza Museum now open in Chicago’s South Loop

Chicago is known for its signature deep-dish pizza. Now, the city is home to the pop-up U.S. Pizza Museum.

The museum opened last week at the Roosevelt Collection, the mixed-use development in Chicago’s South Loop, and is scheduled through the end of October. If there is enough interest, organizers say they will consider extending the engagement.

It’s open on Fridays from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free to all ages, but an online reservation is required for timed entry. The first wave of tickets is available now.

Founded by Kendall Bruns, the museum showcases pizza art, pizza-themed clothing, pizzeria menus, pizza ads, pizza toys, pizza-themed magnets and pizza books.

Throughout the summer, the U.S. Pizza Museum and the Roosevelt Collection will partner to offer events and activities such as dough-making demonstrations, pizza parties and book signings.

Visitors can make online reservations for timed entry here.

A look at the 160th Illinois State Fair

The 160^th Illinois State Fair kicks off with the Twilight parade on Thursday, Aug. 9.

It runs from Thursday, Aug. 9 through Sunday, Aug. 19, at the fairgrounds in Springfield.

This year, the State Fair will be celebrating Illinois’ bicentennial. In 200 years, the fair has changed in many ways, but it continues to attract people from all over the state and country.

Admission:
The admission charge at the fair is $10 for adults 13 and older and free for children 12 and under.

Attractions:

• The Dairy Building: This is where the famous Butter Cow resides during the fair. It takes about 500 pounds of unsalted butter to sculpt the cow, which has been a tradition since the 1920s.

• Conservation World: This area features a number of free and unique attractions, including fishing clinics, youth archery and BB gun ranges, dog demonstrations, a rock climbing wall and a lumberjack show.

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Decatur ranked No. 1 in the country for agricultural bioscience employment

Decatur was recently named as the best metro area in the country for jobs in agriculture by Business Facilities Magazine.

The national publication ranked American cities in a variety of areas that include solar energy, economic growth potential and cost of living. The magazine also based their ranking on agricultural feedstock employment leaders from the 2018 Biotechnology Innovation Organization report.

The city has twice the number of people employed in the feedstock and biosciences subsector compared to Houston, Texas and three times that of Chicago.

Decatur is also home to global companies like ADM, one the world’s largest agricultural processors and food ingredient providers, and Tate & Lyle, a multinational agribusiness.

To see the full list of rankings, click here.

Did you know? The first aquarium opened in Chicago in 1930.

John G. Shedd Aquarium, currently Shedd Aquarium, is an indoor public aquarium that opened in Chicago Illinois in 1930. The aquarium has up to 1,500 different species of not only aquatic animals but other species such as birds, snakes, amphibians and insects. It had the first inland aquarium with a saltwater fish collection.

Shedd Aquarium was designed by one of Chicago’s most prestigious architectural firms, Graham Anderson, Probst & White. The firm has created buildings such as the iconic Terminal Tower in Cleveland and Federal Reserve Bank in Kansas City. The design of the aquarium was in the Beaux-Arts style, with elements of classical Greek architecture to make it a better structural match with the neighboring Field Museum.

It was the most visited aquarium in the U.S in 2005 and in 2007. It is now a National Historic Landmark because of its expansions and additions. These expansions included exhibits such as vast habitats for marine animals and large sharks and rays.

For More information on this amazing aquarium and its legacy Click Here