Goodbye, Steve; hello, Joe. It’s the end of an era when Steve Burns departs “Blue’s Clues” in a 90-minute farewell trilogy of episodes at 6 p.m. Monday on Nickelodeon. Steve hands his handy, dandy notebook to Joe (Donovan Patton), his younger and way-taller brother, who visits at the end of the first episode. In the second, Joe learns to play the interactive game “Blue’s Clues.” In the poignant final episode, Steve announces that he is going to college(!) and that Joe will be filling his rugby shirt, “playing, exploring and making up dances.” Wonder what Steve’s college roommate will think when he hears that for the last five years Steve’s been pals with a blue dog, married salt and pepper shakers and a wisecracking mailbox.
Last day to catch National Archives exhibit
After Sunday, the “American Originals: Treasures from the National Archives” exhibit at the Peggy Notebaert Museum will be history. This exhibit has priceless original govenment documents. Among them are John F. Kennedy’s notes for his inaugural address, the Louisiana Purchase Treaty and the Emancipation Proclamation. The museum is at 2430 N. Cannon Drive. Admission to the museum is $7 for adults, $5 for seniors and $4 for children ages 3-12. There is no extra charge for the exhibit, but a timed ticket from the admissions desk is required. Call 773-871-2668.
Mmmm . . . Long Grove Chocolate Festival
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There will be a variety of foods at the third annual Long Grove Chocolate Festival, Friday through May 5. But why spoil your appetite when there are hand-dipped chocolate strawberries to savor, artisans carving an 8-foot chocolate Statue of Liberty to applaud and demonstrations by world-class chefs to admire? Call 847-634-0888.
‘Spider-Man’ movie spins a fine yarn
On Friday, along comes a “Spider-Man” to perhaps steal the summer movie box office thunder from “Attack of the Clones,” the second episode in the “Star Wars” saga. Sam Raimi directed this PG-13 franchise in the making. Tobey Maguire stars as awkward adolescent Peter Parker, who becomes a superhero after a radioactive spider bite.