Please Join Us
Tickets go on sale Friday, January 5, 2024
Click below to register and purchase your ticket for the Sherman ‘Dilla’ Thomas speaker luncheon at the Union League Club on Friday, February 2, 2024 at 12 noon.
Online reservations close Tuesday, January 30, 2024 @ 5pm. For any questions or reservations after January 30th, please call Judy Murphy at 224-392-9361
How Can I Purchase a Discounted Luncheon Ticket? Become a Member of the First Friday Club of Chicago!
It’s easy! A donation starting at $75, is good for one membership, September 2023 through May 2024, and allows the purchase of at least one discounted event ticket ($50) per event.
"Everything Dope about America Comes from Chicago": Chicago’s urban historian shares his passion for teaching people about the city he loves.
Join us as Sherman “Dilla” Thomas, proud South Sider, founder of Mahogany Tours, son of a Chicago police officer, and TikTok dad, explains how the power of storytelling can change the narrative about Chicago. “My gift is that I understand history--that helps me to order my steps in the now,” he says. “We all have to do our part to make Chicago better.”
Featured across Chicago media and nationally on both the Today and Kelly Clarkson shows, Thomas soared to fame with his 60-second TikTok videos on Chicago history, which have gathered more than 20 million views. His company, Mahogany Tours, visits neighborhoods such as Bronzeville, Englewood, and North Lawndale. “I wanted to have an asset-based tour,” says Thomas, as opposed to a lineup of notorious mob sites or the like--“not pointing out the site of the St. Valentine’s Day massacre, but instead showing people where Pope John Paul II spoke, where Nat King Cole lived.”
Thomas, an employee of Commonwealth Edison, has been named the 2022 Chicago Tourism Ambassador of the Year by Choose Chicago, the city’s tourism agency. He has also received the prestigious Chicago Public Library Foundation's 21st Century Award, as well as the Studs Terkel Uplifting Voices Award.
Don’t Forget About Parking
Discounted parking as low as $10 for All First Friday Club Attendees is available in the South Loop Self Park, 318 S. Federal St, Chicago through the iParkit Phone App. For more information on this special offer, click on the following button to get started