The Chicagoland Guide

Episode 146: Exploring Hyde Park Through the 57th Street Art Fair

In this episode of The Chicagoland Guide, Aaron Masliansky sits down with Cate Slighton, longtime volunteer and leader of the 57th Street Art Fair, for a conversation about Hyde Park, neighborhood identity, public space, art, history, and one of Chicago’s most enduring cultural traditions.

As the 57th Street Art Fair approaches its 79th year, Cate shares how the fair began in 1948 as a small gathering of local artists and evolved into the oldest juried art fair in the Midwest. The discussion expands into the broader story of Hyde Park, from the World’s Columbian Exposition and the growth of the University of Chicago to urban renewal, community activism, and the neighborhood’s continued cultural influence.

Topics discussed include:

• The origins and evolution of the 57th Street Art Fair

• Mary Louise Vollmer and the artists who helped launch the fair

• Why the fair remains volunteer-run and free to attend

• Hyde Park’s early artist colonies and creative communities

• The impact of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition

• The University of Chicago’s role in shaping Hyde Park

• Urban renewal and neighborhood transformation

• The Obama Presidential Center and the future of the South Side

• Why public gathering spaces and cultural events matter

• The changing landscape of art fairs and independent artists

• What makes Hyde Park one of Chicago’s most distinctive neighborhoods

Learn more about the 57th Street Art Fair:

https://www.57thstreetartfair.com/

The 79th Annual 57th Street Art Fair takes place June 6-7 in Hyde Park and features nearly 200 artists from across the country. The fair is free and open to the public.  

Book Mentioned in This Episode:

From Clotheslines to Canopies: A History of Outdoor Art Fairs in America by Kathleen Eaton

https://artfairhistory.com/about-the-book  

Learn more about The Chicagoland Guide:

https://www.thechicagolandguide.com/

Connect with Aaron Masliansky:

https://www.aaronmasliansky.com/

Thank you for listening to The Chicagoland Guide.

For thoughtful, data-driven insights on living, working, and investing in Chicagoland, visit thechicagolandguide.com.

Connect with Aaron Masliansky on LinkedIn for market updates and new episodes.

If you have questions, ideas, or topics you’d like covered, feel free to reach out.

If you found this episode valuable, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who cares about Chicago and its future.

Aaron Masliansky sits down with Mayor Nancy Rotering of Highland Park at City Hall for a wide-ranging conversation about leadership, housing, placemaking, and the future of one of Chicagoland’s most distinctive communities.

Mayor Rotering, now serving her fourth term, shares the story of how a neighborhood stop sign issue first brought her into public service, and how that journey eventually led to City Hall.

“A stop sign brought me into City Hall.”

“Housing is where jobs go to sleep.”

“A community that grows is a community that’s progressing.”

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or at The Chicagoland Guide.com. 

Thank you for listening to The Chicagoland Guide.

For thoughtful, data-driven insights on living, working, and investing in Chicagoland, visit thechicagolandguide.com.

Connect with Aaron Masliansky on LinkedIn for market updates and new episodes.

If you have questions, ideas, or topics you’d like covered, feel free to reach out.

If you found this episode valuable, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who cares about Chicago and its future.

Aaron Masliansky sits down with Johanna Nyden, Community Development Director for the Village of Skokie, to explore how local government navigates housing, infrastructure, and development in a built-out suburban community.

This conversation goes beyond headlines and breaks down the real-world constraints that shape housing supply, affordability, and the built environment.

In this episode, we cover:

Key takeaway:

Thank you for listening to The Chicagoland Guide.

For thoughtful, data-driven insights on living, working, and investing in Chicagoland, visit thechicagolandguide.com.

Connect with Aaron Masliansky on LinkedIn for market updates and new episodes.

If you have questions, ideas, or topics you’d like covered, feel free to reach out.

If you found this episode valuable, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who cares about Chicago and its future.

In Episode 143 of The Chicagoland Guide, Aaron Masliansky visits Youth Conservation Corps in Waukegan to explore a critical but often overlooked part of the housing conversation: workforce development. As Lake County and the broader Chicagoland region face a persistent housing shortage, rising construction costs, and a shrinking skilled trades workforce, solutions must go beyond zoning reform and financing tools. This episode examines how YouthBuild Waukegan is training the next generation of construction professionals while building affordable housing for local families. If we want more housing supply, stronger neighborhoods, and sustainable economic growth in Lake County and across the Chicagoland area, we need people who know how to build—and that’s exactly what this program is doing.

Aaron sits down with Executive Director Jennifer Yonan to discuss how their programming serves 16–24 year olds who are disconnected from education and employment, helping them earn their GED or diploma, gain hands-on construction experience, and prepare for registered apprenticeships and careers in the trades.

The conversation covers:

-How workforce training directly impacts housing supply

-Building affordable homes from the ground up in Zion

-Why the skilled trades are increasingly valuable in an AI-driven economy

-The role of regional housing policy and zoning reform in Lake County

-Supporting the “whole person” through education, mentorship, and life skills

Youth Conservation Corps is not only training future electricians, plumbers, and carpenters—it’s strengthening neighborhoods and expanding opportunity from within the community.

Learn more or get involved at:

youthconservationcorps.org

Thank you for listening to The Chicagoland Guide.

For thoughtful, data-driven insights on living, working, and investing in Chicagoland, visit thechicagolandguide.com.

Connect with Aaron Masliansky on LinkedIn for market updates and new episodes.

If you have questions, ideas, or topics you’d like covered, feel free to reach out.

If you found this episode valuable, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who cares about Chicago and its future.

In this episode of The Chicagoland Guide, Aaron Masliansky sits down with Adrian Brizulea of CoStar to unpack the Chicago real estate outlook for 2026.

They discuss multifamily rent trends, housing supply, downtown office recovery, industrial and logistics markets, data centers, suburban redevelopment, and the major development projects shaping Chicagoland’s future.

Adrian shares data-driven insights from his work at CoStar and his recent presentation at the Chicago Association of Realtors Market Outlook, offering a clear view of where the market stands and what investors, homeowners, and residents should be watching next.

Whether you are buying, selling, investing, or simply care about Chicago’s long-term trajectory, this episode provides grounded, practical perspective on the region’s real estate economy.

View the full CAR presentation slides here:

https://chicagorealtor.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/FINAL-2026-Chicago-Association-of-Realtors-Presentation_AdrianBrizuela_CoStar-1.pdf

Thank you for listening to The Chicagoland Guide.

For thoughtful, data-driven insights on living, working, and investing in Chicagoland, visit thechicagolandguide.com.

Connect with Aaron Masliansky on LinkedIn for market updates and new episodes.

If you have questions, ideas, or topics you’d like covered, feel free to reach out.

If you found this episode valuable, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who cares about Chicago and its future.

In one of the most forward-looking episodes of The Chicagoland Guide to date, host Aaron Masliansky sits down with Kyle Schulz, Deputy of Strategic Advancement at the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP). This conversation breaks down where Chicagoland is heading over the next decade, and what it will take to stay globally competitive.

Aaron and Kyle originally connected through the Chicago Association of Realtors’ Global Council, and they pick up right where their first conversation left off: the opportunities, risks, and transformational forces shaping the region.

Together, they dive into:

The economic outlook for Chicagoland and where the region is gaining (and losing) ground

Quantum tech and Chicago’s bid to become a global quantum capital

The surge in data centers-why they’re here, what risks they create, and how they impact energy, land use, and local tax bases

Transportation as Chicagoland’s superpower — rail, airports, freight, and the region’s logistical advantage

How immigration, labor markets, and demographic trends will influence long-term regional competitiveness

The evolving Chicago vs. Arlington Heights dynamic around the Bears and big projects

What makes a region attractive to employers, and what CMAP is seeing in real time

How climate resilience, zoning modernization, and infrastructure investment will shape the next decade

Why Chicagoland’s stability, diversity, and economic depth remain a massive strategic asset

What Kyle believes are the big decisions leaders must get right between now and 2035

This episode is smart, fast-paced, and deeply insightful — the kind of conversation that helps residents, investors, civic leaders, and curious locals understand where Chicagoland is truly headed.

If you care about the future of this region, this is a must-listen.

Guest Info

Kyle T. Schulz

Deputy of Strategic Advancement

Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP)

Website: https://www.cmap.illinois.gov

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/chicago-metropolitan-agency-for-planning/

Thank you for listening to The Chicagoland Guide.

For thoughtful, data-driven insights on living, working, and investing in Chicagoland, visit thechicagolandguide.com.

Connect with Aaron Masliansky on LinkedIn for market updates and new episodes.

If you have questions, ideas, or topics you’d like covered, feel free to reach out.

If you found this episode valuable, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who cares about Chicago and its future.

Licensed clinical professional counselor and board-certified dance/movement therapist Erica Hornthal (“The Therapist Who Moves You”) joins Aaron to explain how changing the way we move changes the way we feel. Recorded on November 3, 2025, the conversation grounds movement therapy in the realities of Chicagoland life: financial pressure, screen-driven immobility, community trauma in Highland Park, and heightened anxiety around recent ICE activity across the North Shore. Erica shares practical, accessible ways to regulate the nervous system, reduce anxiety, and communicate nonverbally when words are not enough.

Key Takeaways

Movement is already part of therapy: posture shifts, breathing, pacing, and small gestures can be therapeutic starting points.

We have “out-evolved” our natural instinct to move; immobility amplifies anxiety.

Stressors show up differently across communities. Whether it is public-safety trauma or fear tied to immigration enforcement, the body stores that stress.

You can change your state by changing your movement, even with simple, seated interventions.

Nonverbal work helps couples and families de-escalate conflict and build empathy.

Parents can meet kids’ energy with movement rather than suppression, then teach time-and-place skills.

Research supports dance and movement as effective for anxiety and depression; therapy fit and relationship still matter most.

Practical access: look for “somatic,” “body-oriented,” or “creative arts therapy” in your area; insurance coverage depends on the clinician’s license.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro to Erica and dance/movement therapy

02:00 What movement therapy looks like in practice

04:50 Why Erica wrote “BodyTalk” and how readers use it

08:15 Why we feel so stressed today, and how immobility feeds anxiety

10:45 Local context: Highland Park trauma and recent ICE activity on the North Shore

12:30 Changing movement to change mood and cognition

15:15 Treating the “snake bite” before debating the “why”

16:00 Individual vs group work, and what movement builds between people

17:35 Getting over discomfort and starting small

20:40 A simple intervention: washing hands slowly to interrupt anxiety

22:20 Working across ages: from 3 to 107

26:15 Coaching kids and meeting their movement needs

31:30 Nonverbal communication in relationships and negotiations

35:00 “Embodied listening” and the limits of AI for mental health

39:30 Walks, showers, and why ideas arrive during movement

42:00 Using your body as a free mental health resource

43:00 Finding somatic or creative arts therapists and dealing with insurance

46:45 What the research says about dance, anxiety, and depression

49:00 Where to find Erica and her books

50:00 Closing

Practical Exercises Mentioned

Seated reset: notice shoulders, jaw, feet; slow your breath and lengthen exhale.

Pattern interrupt: pick one daily action and do it slowly for 20 seconds (example: handwashing) to downshift intensity.

Conflict pause: step outside or to separate corners, walk, then reconvene.

With kids: “shake out the wiggles,” go outside for 60 seconds, then return.

Guest

Erica Hornthal, LCPC, BC-DMT

Founder and CEO, Chicago Dance Therapy

Author of BodyTalk, Body Aware, and The Movement Therapy Deck

Website: https://www.ericahornthal.com

Practice: https://www.chicagodancetherapy.com

Instagram: @thetherapistwhomovesyou

Email: [email protected]

Resources Mentioned

BodyTalk: 365 Gentle Practices to Get Out of Your Head and Into Your Body

Body Aware

The Movement Therapy Deck

Search terms for local care: “somatic therapy,” “body-oriented therapy,” “creative arts therapy,” “dance movement therapy,” plus your city.

For Listeners in Chicagoland

If anxiety has spiked for you or your family due to recent events in the region, consider brief, daily movement check-ins. Even small posture and breath changes can reduce a constant state of alert. Nonverbal practices can help when words feel risky or overwhelming.

Connect

Host: Aaron Masliansky — The Chicagoland Guide

Subscribe, rate, and share if this episode helped you. New episodes highlight people and ideas that make Chicagoland a great place to live.

Thank you for listening to The Chicagoland Guide.

For thoughtful, data-driven insights on living, working, and investing in Chicagoland, visit thechicagolandguide.com.

Connect with Aaron Masliansky on LinkedIn for market updates and new episodes.

If you have questions, ideas, or topics you’d like covered, feel free to reach out.

If you found this episode valuable, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who cares about Chicago and its future.

How can celebrating cultural traditions strengthen a community?

In this episode, host Aaron Masliansky is joined by Diana Gran — Founder of Diana Gran Portraits and Director of Día de los Muertos (DDM) Week in Highland Park — to explore how honoring heritage can create unity, healing, and connection across generations and cultures.

Diana shares her journey from Acapulco to Highland Park, how reclaiming her roots transformed her life and art, and why DDM Week has become a meaningful celebration for the North Shore community. We discuss the power of remembrance, the importance of cultural authenticity, and how local businesses, libraries, and community organizations have come together to support this growing annual tradition.

What Día de los Muertos truly represents

Diana’s journey of identity, immigration, and finding home

The origins and mission of DDM Week in Highland Park

The healing power of honoring ancestors and community storytelling

How local businesses and organizations are collaborating to keep culture alive

Why “done is better than perfect” can change your life and creativity

Website: https://dianagranportraits.com

DDM Week Instagram: @ddmweekhp

DDM Week Information & Events: https://hpculturalarts.org

Website: https://thechicagolandguide.com

Instagram: @thechicagolandguide

YouTube: @TheChicagolandGuide

Thank you for listening to The Chicagoland Guide.

For thoughtful, data-driven insights on living, working, and investing in Chicagoland, visit thechicagolandguide.com.

Connect with Aaron Masliansky on LinkedIn for market updates and new episodes.

If you have questions, ideas, or topics you’d like covered, feel free to reach out.

If you found this episode valuable, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who cares about Chicago and its future.

Episode Overview

In this episode of The Chicagoland Guide, host Aaron Masliansky sits down with Jeff Haydon, President & CEO of the iconic Ravinia Festival in Highland Park — America’s oldest outdoor music festival.

Jeff shares how Ravinia began as a railroad amusement park over a century ago and evolved into one of the nation’s leading cultural institutions. The conversation covers Ravinia’s deep roots in the community, its role as a good neighbor in Highland Park, and its vision for the future through the Setting the Stage campaign — a $75 million renovation of its 36-acre campus to be completed by 2029.

Highlights

The fascinating history behind Ravinia’s founding and evolution.

How Ravinia collaborates with Highland Park to manage traffic, sustainability, and neighborhood harmony.

Reopening after the pandemic and reshaping audience experiences.

The Reach Teach Play® education program — bringing music to 120+ schools across Chicagoland.

Jazz legend Kurt Elling’s role as Jazz Advisor and the creation of the Breaking Barriers Festival with Marin Alsop.

Details on the Setting the Stages campaign to renovate Ravinia’s stages, pavilion, and guest experience.

About the Guest

Jeff Haydon has over 30 years of arts management experience and has led Ravinia since 2020. Under his leadership, the organization has secured major funding, expanded educational initiatives, and continued its mission to make world-class music accessible to all.

Learn more: ravinia.org

About the Host

Aaron Masliansky is a Realtor at Compass and host of The Chicagoland Guide, showcasing the people and places that make the region a great place to live. As a trusted local expert, Aaron helps clients navigate real estate across Chicago and the North Shore — guiding home buyers and sellers through every step of their journey.

Explore more episodes and connect with Aaron at thechicagolandguide.com.

Thank you for listening to The Chicagoland Guide.

For thoughtful, data-driven insights on living, working, and investing in Chicagoland, visit thechicagolandguide.com.

Connect with Aaron Masliansky on LinkedIn for market updates and new episodes.

If you have questions, ideas, or topics you’d like covered, feel free to reach out.

If you found this episode valuable, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who cares about Chicago and its future.

In this episode of The Chicagoland Guide, host Aaron Masliansky visits one of the last working farms in Cook County: Historic Wagner Farm in Glenview, Illinois. Joined by Director Jonathan Kuester, the conversation covers the surprising depth of history, education, and innovation happening just off Lake Avenue.

Jonathan shares how Wagner Farm blends historic preservation with modern agriculture, offering programs for students (including special education farmers), operating one of the region’s most vibrant farmers markets, and even exploring robotic milking systems and crop science.
 

Highlights include:

The transformation of Wagner from a 1900s family farm to a public living history museum

The impact of 4-H and farm apprenticeships on future veterinarians, scientists, and chefs

How U.S. farming changed under the Nixon administration—and what it means for small farmers today

How cows, robots, and soil science intersect to shape the future of agriculture

The renewed push for local food and what’s coming next at Wagner Farm

Whether you’re a local history buff, foodie, or just someone who’s driven past the cows on Lake Avenue and wondered what goes on there—this episode will surprise and inspire you
 

Listen and watch now and explore more at thechicagolandguide.com

Thank you for listening to The Chicagoland Guide.

For thoughtful, data-driven insights on living, working, and investing in Chicagoland, visit thechicagolandguide.com.

Connect with Aaron Masliansky on LinkedIn for market updates and new episodes.

If you have questions, ideas, or topics you’d like covered, feel free to reach out.

If you found this episode valuable, consider subscribing and sharing it with someone who cares about Chicago and its future.