Friends from all over were in Chicago for a convention. My local friends and I had a lot of fun catching up with them.

Held at Hyatt Regency in Schaumburg, StarrCast is a convention hosted by Conrad Thompson, mortgage broker, promoter and podcast host. In its sixth year, it drew thousands of attendees over three days.

Hyatt Regency is a perfect place for a convention. Only 30 minutes northwest of Chicago, it is newly renovated with large conference rooms. On Sunday a sports memorabilia convention was added in another of the rooms. While our visiting friends were busy, we took advantage of the hotel’s fitness center or shopped at Woodfield Mall across the street.

I had a great time catching up with old friends and making new ones. With the Premier Network on site, I saw old pals, writers Nick Hausman and Mike Pankow and met television host Denise Salcedo.

Mike Pankow

Mike Pankow

Denise Salcedo

Over the weekend we enjoyed several meals at the adjacent City Works. One of the highlights was Sunday brunch. Sweet Child O’ Mine is brioche French toast stuffed with Baileys cream cheese and topped with vanilla bean ice cream  and mixed berry compote. The big flavor matched its size. Dixie Chicken is lightly breaded popcorn chicken on a sugar pearl waffle with honey maple drizzle.

It was a great weekend filled with a lot of friends all in one spot. Leaving on Sunday was bittersweet, but we were all grateful for the time together.

Rabbi Jeremy Fine and Tony Feddeler

Mike Bennett and Tony Feddeler

— John Wroblewski, online writer