There will be Free Home Run Inn pizza today for the first 200 people to visit the Niles Public Library District for its new exhibit, “I Love Pizza,” featuring material from the U.S. Pizza Museum. The kickoff event starts at 6:30 p.m., at the 6960 West Oakton St. library in Niles.
The “I Love Pizza” exhibit will be on display through March 31 in the library’s Franklin Gallery on the third floor. The exhibit offers visitors a chance to learn about the history of pizza in Chicago, what the Chicago pizza styles are and how they compare with other regional pizza styles.
“Our mission aligns with the library’s mission to enrich and connect with the community,” U.S. Pizza Museum founder Kendall Bruns explained in a press release. “In addition to being a great public space to display items from our collection, the Niles Public Library District is also very close to the original Pequod’s and Burt’s Place — two legendary Chicagoland pizzerias.”
Items from those pizzerias will be on display, as well as menus, pizza boxes and other memorabilia from various Chicago restaurants.
The U.S. Pizza Museum, founded in 2015, doesn’t have a permanent home; its collection can be found on the museum’s website and in exhibits like this.
Today’s kickoff is one in a series of events planned around pizza at the library over the next two months. Among those events: a pizza box art contest for students in grades 5-12; Bruns will speak on the history of pizza at 7 p.m. Thursday in honor of National Pizza Day; and Derrick Tung, of Paulie Gee’s in Chicago’s Logan Square, is slated to give an interactive demonstration on how to make pizza dough at 11 a.m. Feb. 18. For the full list of pizza-themed activities, go to the library’s website
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