I just discovered this awesome event happening about 2.5 hours from Chicago:
Midwest Reprap Festival | 2014 MRRF
Some of the action includes:
LIVE PRESENTATIONS Come here presentations on some of the highlights of reprap projects, examples of innovative ideas and designs, here Josef Prusa talk about the core team, even some really neat examples of what can be done with reprap printers. We’ll also have one of the most active teachers in the U.S. with 3D printing explaining how to get kids in schools to grab ahold and use 3D printing
MEET THE MAKERS Meet some of the big names in RepRap, like MaxBots (Mendel MAX dev), Josef Prusa (Prusa Mendel/i3 and more), Logxen (Smoothieboard Dev) and many more.
CRAZY NEW REPRAPS Nicolas Seward (RepRap WALLY, SIMPSON, LISA) will be showing off his newest reprap creations, and talking about the unique features of his designs
Anyone else planning to go?
Finally something to look forward during this terrible tail end of Winter! 
cheers,
drew