Zombie Pub Crawl, Artisan Food Fest Top Your Weekend: Time Out - Chicago News and Weather | FOX 32 News

Zombie Pub Crawl, Artisan Food Festival Top Your Weekend: Time Out Chicago

This weekend is packed with everything to get you out of the house and enjoying the city, with events from a Zombie Pub Crawl and book sidewalk sale to an artisan food festival and orchid show. Time Out Chicago's Marissa Conrad is back with her picks for the perfect weekend in Chicago.

Head over to Andersonville on Saturday, as the neighborhood turns into an awesomely bad B movie as legions of undead shuffle down the streets on pH Productions' Chicago Zombie Pub Crawl.

Around a thousand people are expected to don fake bruises and scream for brains, ahem, beer. Bar stops include Mary's Attic and Simon's Tavern. Meet at pH Productions Theatre, 1515 Berwyn Ave ( chicagozombiepubcrawl.com ). 1:30pm; $25.

If zombies aren't your thing, literary nonprofit and bookstore Open Books hosts its annual Sidewalk Sale on Saturday as well. Each read costs $1, $2, or $3, or around a hundredth of the price of a Kindle.

Choose from 5,000 used books, including novels, coffee-table tomes and cookbooks. The Open Books Store, 213 W Institute Pl ( open-books.org ) Noon-5pm; free.

If it's food you're hungry for (rather than beer or books), check out Pastoral's Artisan Producer Festival. Cheese in a spray can just doesn't cut it. Sample and purchase fine cheeses and delicacies like truffle honey and goat-milk caramel candy from more than 70 international purveyors.

The second annual festival is hosted by Pastoral Artisan Cheese, Bread & Wine. Chicago French Market, 131 N Clinton St (312-454-2200, pastoralartisan.com ) 11am-3pm.

Orchid enthusiasts are out in force for the 60th Anniversary Illinois Orchid Society Spring Show & Sale on Sunday. Check out 128 orchid competitions and 34 displays of orchids, ranging from the rarest species to cultivated hybrids.

Tom Mirenda, who manages a collection of a whopping 8,000 orchids at the Smithsonian Institution, speaks at 2pm. Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake-Cook Rd, Glencoe (847-835-5440, chicagobotanic.org ). 10am-5pm; free, parking $20.