There will be FIVE Sundays on the Boulevard events this summer, and Eric Gyllenhaal and Gail Fisher will represent The Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois (ESCONI) at all of them.
All Sundays on the Boulevard run from 1 to 4 p.m. Four Sundays on the Boulevard events take place at Douglas Blvd. and Central Park Ave. in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood. On August 23 we set up several blocks south along Central Park Avenue, at Ogden (under the Pink Line).
Our theme this summer is Make Your Own Home Nature Museum, and visitors at each event can add FREE rocks, mineral, fossils, or shells to their at-home nature collections.
Here’s our schedule for summer 2026:
June 7: Slide into Summer. Celebrate World Ocean Day by beachcombing for seashells, fossil shark teeth, and tumbled stones. Decorate a free box to display your finds.
June 28: Taste of Lawndale. Select free rocks, minerals, fossils, and more at ESCONI’s Nature Museum Shop. Use stickers and markers to decorate a cardboard box to store your collection.
July 26: Sports! On the Boulevard. Today rock collecting is a sport as you search for tumbled stones and crystals and spin to win a beautiful geode at the ESCONI Spinner.
August 23: Back to School Lit Fest on Ogden Ave. Celebrate the 100th anniversary of Route 66 at Chicago’s Classic Car Show by racing toy cars down ramps and tunnels. Celebrate the amazing geology found along Route 66 by winning a fossil fern, petrified wood, barite rose, or coal at the ESCONI Spinner.
September 27: Animalpalooza. Our “Sharkpalooza” will include collecting fossil shark and ray teeth on a simulated beach, plus ESCONI’s free Nature Museum Shop will be open for business.
Nature Collector's Garden and Nature's Swap Shop 