September

Thursday 9/1-Sunday 9/4

August 31 thru next Sunday - Chicago Fringe Festival, Jefferson Park
Thursday  -  Closing night 22nd Black Harvest Film Festival, Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago
Thursday thru Sunday – Chicago Jazz Festival
Thursday thru next Sunday  - Chicago Fringe Festival, Jefferson Park
Friday thru Sunday – Northcoast Music Festival
Friday thru Monday - African Festival of the Arts, Washington Park
Friday thru Monday - Taste of Polonia, Jefferson Park
Friday thru Monday  - Napervile Last Fling
Saturday thru Sunday – Midnight Circus, Gately Park, 744 E. 103rd St.
Saturday thru Monday - Septemberfest, Schaumburg
Saturday - Chicago Fire, Toyota Park

Monday 9/5-Sunday 9/11

Monday thru Sunday - Chicago Fringe Festival, Jefferson Park
Tuesday thru Friday – Free Day for Illinois Residents, Museum of Science & Industry
Wednesday thru Sunday – The 129th Sandwich Fair, Sandwich, IL
Thursday – Adults Night Out, Lincoln Park Zoo
Friday thru Saturday – Windy City Wine Festival, Buckingham Fountain
Friday thru Saturday – 9th Annual Lebanese Festival, Our Lady of Lebanon Church, Lombard
Friday thru Sunday - Festival de La Villita, Little Village
Friday thru Sunday – Official Star Trek Convention, Westin O’Hare
Friday thru Sunday – Chicago German-American Oktoberfest, Lincoln Square
Friday thru Sunday – Hip-Hop Summerfest, Adams/Medill Park, University Village
Saturday – Ribfest, Forest Park
Saturday – Taste of Hungary, Norridge
Saturday thru Sunday - Lakeview East Festival of the Arts
Saturday thru Sunday – Ukranian Village Fest
Saturday thru Sunday – Renegade Craft Fair, Wicker Park
Saturday thru Sunday – Ravenswood ArtWalk
Saturday thru Sunday – Midnight Circus, McKinley Park, 2210 W. Pershing Rd.
Sunday - Scandinavian Day Festival, South Elgin
Sunday – Zoo Run Run, Brookfield Zoo
Sunday thru next Saturday – Naperville Independent Film Festival

Monday 9/12-Sunday 9/18

Monday thru Friday – Free Day for Illinois Residents, Museum of Science & Industry
Monday thru Saturday – Naperville Independent Film Festival
Thursday – ACTIVATE, Cow Path Alley, The Loop
Friday thru Saturday – Oaktoberfest, Oak Park
Friday thru Sunday -  Riot Fest, Douglas Park
Friday thru Sunday, – Midnight Circus, Wicker Park, 1425 N. Damen Ave.
Saturday - 16th Annual Englewood Jazz Festival, Hamilton Park Cultural Center, 513 W. 72nd Street
Saturday - 25th Annual Fall Arts & Crafts Adventure, Park Ridge
Saturday – Japanese Culture Center Open House, 1016 W. Belmont, Chicago
Saturday thru Sunday -  West Loop Art Festival
Saturday thru Sunday – Lakeview Taco Fest
Saturday thru Sunday - City Made Fest, Andersonville
Saturday thru Sunday - American Indian Center of Chicago 63rd Annual Powwow, Busse
Woods Forest Preserve, Elk Grove Township
Saturday thru Sunday - 31st Annual Riverwalk Fine Art Fair, Naperville
Sunday - Monarch Festival, Lake Katherine Nature Center & Botanic Gardens, Palos Heights

Monday 9/19-Sunday 9/25

Monday thru Friday – Free Day for Illinois Residents, Museum of Science & Industry
Thursday thru next Thursday – Reeling, The 34th Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival, Andersonville
Thursday thru Sunday – Expo Chicago, Navy Pier
Friday thru Sunday - The 32nd Annual American Craft Exposition, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe
Friday thru Sunday - Chicago Gourmet, Millennium Park
Friday thru Sunday – St. Alphonsus Octoberfest, Lakeview Chicago
Saturday – The Tao of Tacos, Harris Theater Rooftop, Millennium Park
Saturday - The Annual Elim Dutch Festival, Palos Heights
Saturday - Lisle Ale Fest
Saturday - 11th Annual Hyde Park Arts & Crafts Adventure, University of Chicago
Saturday thru Sunday - Hyde Park Jazz Festival
Saturday thru Sunday - Edgewater Arts Festival, Granville Ave.
Saturday thru Sunday, – Midnight Circus, Oriole Park, 5430 N. Olcott Ave.

Monday 9/26-Friday 9/30

Monday thru Friday – Free Day for Illinois Residents, Museum of Science & Industry
Monday thru Thursday – Reeling, The 34th Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival, Andersonville
Friday thru Saturday October 1st - The West Town Art Walk, Chicago Ave. between Milwaukee & Hoyne
Friday thru Saturday October 1st - Oktoberfest, Naper Settlement, Naperville
Friday thru Sunday October 2nd – St. Benedicts’s Octoberfest, Chicago
Friday thru Sunday October 2nd - Evanston Art & Big Fork Festival

Banner Photo Credit: DBoehm Photography

Facebook Ads already has several powerful tools to help you reach your intended audience. You can promote your content to a specific geographic area. You can pick a city or if you really want to zoom in you can put a pin on a map and set how many miles from that pin you want your ad to show. Facebook also lets you set the age and gender of the people that your ads reach. They even let you specify interests that your audience should have, such as: art, home owners, sports, etc. Drilling down your audience can greatly reduce your cost because your ads are not going to people that are not potential customers.


Now Facebook has added an even better tool to reach a specific audience. Through the Ads Manager feature you can upload your email list and send ads to just the people on your list. That means your ad is reaching only people who have already shown an interest in your company. That can greatly reduce your cost and it allows you to send a more specific message. It is a great way to follow up an email campaign. Most customers are moved to action after seeing an offer more than one time. You can send out an email promoting a big sale and then follow that up by using a Facebook Ad targeting your email list.

Steps to creating a Facebook Ads audience from your email list.

1.       Create a .csv file of your email list. You can turn an Excel file into a .csv file using the save as feature and choosing .csv as the save as type. If you use an email campaign service like Mailchimp you will have to follow their directions in their help section.
2.       Open Ads Manager.
3.       Click on the hamburger symbol in the upper left corner and look for audiences under the assets header.
4.       Click create audience and then scroll down to custom audience.
5.       Click on customer file and then click choose a file and upload your .csv file.
6.       Make sure to name the audience so you can find it easily.

Facebook will use the email addresses to try and find the Facebook accounts of the people on your list. Not everyone will be found but we had a high percentage of the people on our lists found. Now the only thing left to do is design your ads and get started.