{"id":48479,"date":"2019-06-17T11:41:42","date_gmt":"2019-06-17T16:41:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/?p=48479"},"modified":"2019-06-24T16:05:47","modified_gmt":"2019-06-24T21:05:47","slug":"local-experts-where-to-go-eat-drink-rockford-illinois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/local-experts-where-to-go-eat-drink-rockford-illinois\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Experts On Where To Go, Eat & Drink in Rockford, Illinois"},"content":{"rendered":"

Located about 90 minutes from Chicago or Madison by car, and within driving distance to Milwaukee and other notable destinations, Rockford is absolutely a notable city<\/a> in its own right. Offering the world far more than Rock & Roll Hall of Fame act Cheap Trick and legendary women\u2019s baseball team The Rockford Peaches, Rockford has just about everything one would expect from a small city.<\/p>\n

Beyond its own regional airport (Chicago Rockford International Airport), for starters, Rockford has an arena (BMO Harris Bank Center), theaters (Coronado Performing Arts Center and the Starlight Theatre), craft breweries (including Prairie Street Brewing, Carlyle Brewing and the forthcoming Urban Forest Craft Brewing), minor league sports teams (baseball\u2019s Rockford Rivets and hockey\u2019s Rockford IceHogs), a Japanese garden, and its fair share of colleges and corporate offices. On top of all that, rumor is that a casino is coming to Rockford in the near-future<\/a>, as co-owned by Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen.<\/p>\n

I had the pleasure of visiting Rockford \u2014 which Reader’s Digest<\/em> named one of the “15 Best Places to Move to in the U.S.” last year<\/a> \u2014 earlier this month. Below are highlights from my Q&A with some local experts about what they enjoy most about Rockford<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u2022 deLaney & Dennis Erckfritz<\/a>, musicians<\/p>\n

\u2022 Alex Cando, co-owner of Urban Forest Craft Brewing<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022 Luke Schneider, CEO & founder of Fire Dept. Coffee<\/a> (and actual City of Rockford firefighter)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Beth S. Howard, Executive Director at Friends of the Coronado Foundation<\/a><\/p>\n

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Come hang out with us Saturday at @pretzelcitybrewfest<\/a><\/p>\n

A post shared by Urban Forest Craft Brewing<\/a> (@urbanforestbeer) on