11.21.2012

A Chicago Original: 'Black Wednesday.'


            It has come to the attention of this writer that a certain event before Thanksgiving happens every year in Chicago. The day is known as ‘Black Wednesday.’ It is the culmination of college students, young upcoming professionals and other unspecified demographics of partiers congregating at bars and clubs to make a mockery of any civility they have. Since many do not have work or anything the day before Thanksgiving it is a seen as a prime opportunity for debauchery. This piece will attempt to identify patterns, trends and (hopefully) statistics that will garner a better characterization of this emerging event.

First off, if one were to do a simple online search, without the aid of scholarly databases one would find a particularly strange occurrence: This is a real Chicago holiday. In fact, the first result tends to be an Urban Dictionary submission:

“Nov 22nd Day in Chicago where all the students come home from college for the holidays; the Biggest College Party night of the year.”

Now, this submission was made in 2006. Clearly this date would be adjusted to suit the last Wednesday of November, but I will not scorn this user for his lack of common sense. Then if one does a search for news regarding Black Wednesday, results from “Metro Mix,” and other party and event publications present where the best places are to go. Certain bars run “Blackout Wednesday,” specials. If one tries to his or her best ability they may find a story in Washington State about “Black Wednesday,” but other than that this event seems to be strictly regulated to Chicago. We’ll take it.

Indeed there is a propensity for Chicago to stretch its muscles in terms of drinking.  In a piece for Examiner.com, Maryellen Grady compiled some fascinating statistics, one of which included “A study done in 2007 by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) said, of the 15 largest cities in the country, Chicago topped the list for binge drinking. The study reported 25.7 percent of Chicagoans are binge drinkers, well over the national average.” This Black Wednesday was made for Chicago. It quite honestly is the perfect storm of circumstances for bars, and especially the beer producers of Chicago, Pabst and Goose Island see this as a positive externality of Thanksgiving.

Chicagoans propensity to drink doesn't end with that. Take for instance if you will a fine Sunday in November, the fourth of November in this 2012 calendar when the Chicago Bears played the Titans of Tennessee. The Bears destroyed the Titans with a score of 51-20 and as it happened the majority of attendees at the game may have been mostly Bears fans, "They've traveled well. Hats off to our fans, it's been a fun year -- Dallas, Jacksonville, here it's been crazy to watch the Bears fans take over," Cutler said after the game. "You know you have a ton of fans when you're in an away stadium in the red zone and I'm trying to get the crowd to hush up and they're responding.  They got quiet in a hurry, so it makes it fun." Cool story bro, what’s the point? Well, after the game the Chicago fans went to celebrate and drank Nashville dry! This is no exaggeration, according to NBC Chicago “Nashville wasn't quite prepared for the many Bears fans who descended on its town, as bars ran out of the beer. The Paradise Trailer Park Resort, just across the river from the Titans stadium, was out of bottled beer by Sunday evening. The Whiskey Bent Saloon had just two brands of beer left by the time the Chicago contingent left town.”  Chicago doesn't mess around, I guess.

What motivates the youth of this fine city to create such a valid stereotype? Why does Black Wednesday have so much steam behind it? According to a report filed by the Center for Prevention Research and Development, Chicago’s youth starts early when drinking. “Within the City of Chicago, alcohol is the most prevalent drug among youth. The prevalence of alcohol use is more than double that of any other drug,” (CRPD 2008).

They even included a graph:



So Chicago starts early. This imprint of binge drinking doesn't end there. What follows the unifying theme of the night is a very strong shattering of demographic factions, that is, those who chose to go to clubs, those who chose to go to bars, those who chose to go to specific hipster-esqe bars, and those who stay at home and are part of the 17.2 percent of all grades in high school who smoke marijuana.

Having asked some of my fellow Chicagoans about their procedural experience of the event there were a few stipulations: “it seems like people want to start earlier on Black Wednesday so they have time to explore their options throughout the night. Also, I know some people like to start earlier tonight so they're able to do things in the morning w/ family… People go to pregames earlier and stay there longer to get more liquored up before going out,” said Loyola Student Stas Moldavskiy. He later went on to describe that people aren’t as separated like mentioned earlier: “I think people are typically in the mood to do bar then club. The bar part is more of a continuation to the pregame. While the club part is the ‘now that I'm liquored up, I can dance.’”

            There does exist a contingent of individuals that fiercely guards their right to saying they were her or there in terms of hipster dynamics. I cannot begin to explain this strange phenomenology of the hipster here, but needless to say, the place where the hipster ends up and why is very, very complicated.

            ANYWAY, the necessary empirical observation here is the local bar. A vast majority of people in the greater Chicagoland area will not be going to the city and partying like a rockstar turkey (although there may be a sizable and notable amount of individuals gettin’ stuffed like turkey’s, (alcoholically and sexually)), rather they’ll be visiting the local watering hole and running into that kid in high school whose name you can’t remember but face you can. It’s like an unofficial homecoming or high school reunion. It is a peculiar place to find yourself in. It reminds this writer of ACT I of a dramedy  where the main character goes home and runs into all those people that remind him or her what made them… them. It’s cliché, but you can actively experience that this evening at your hometown establishment and you should embrace it. It can create a sense of density and meaning in a world that can seem to lack it.

            There is perhaps no real valuable thing that can be derived from Black Wednesday, unlike the next day. Should one find him or herself in the bar a couple miles away from their childhood home perhaps they could ponder over the moments and memories created in this hometown of theirs.

            One final thing, of all the research compiled for this short report, I could find nothing on what the South Side does. That’s a whole other Chicago that rarely gets mentioned, but this fact should be disclosed.


            Happy Thanksgiving, and enjoy your Black Wednesday! 

(If you have something to add, feel free to comment!)

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