Heads up weekend drivers.

If you plan on driving on Chicago’s Northside or downtown this weekend, be prepared for a ton of traffic challenges the entire weekend.

There’s a full menu of festivals, parades, art fairs and other street clogging events. Here’s a quick rundown on the what, where and when.

Keep your sanity and avoid these areas as much as possible.

Bruce Springsteen At Wrigley Field

The Boss is in town Friday and Saturday night at Wrigley Field and totally screwing up traffic up in Wrigleyville.

Do yourself a favor. Don’t drive. Consider taking CTA. Or if you have to drive, park at the DeVry University lot and use the CTA shuttle bus to Wrigley. And don’t forget about SpotHero for locating choice parking spots around the friendly confines.

Open Streets

Our friends over at Active Transportation Alliance are revisiting their Open Streets concept again this year.

Active Trans convinced the city to close down State Street from Lake to Van Buren and Monroe Street from State to the lakefront to all vehicular traffic from 10 AM to 3 PM on Saturday.

People are encouraged to participate in roller skating, yoga, skateboarding, and other activities which somehow become more enjoyable when doing them in the middle of the street.

If you miss this Open Streets, don’t be dismayed as the sequel will take place along Milwaukee Ave. in Wicker Park next Saturday.

German American Festival & Parade

Lincoln Square plays host to German Day Festival, an annual cultural festival featuring great German food and music. While the festival only has a minimal impact at Leland & Western Ave., it’s the German Day parade on Saturday afternoon that is going to really screw up traffic.

The Von Steuben Parade will have Lincoln Ave. closed from Irving Park to Lawrence. But the parade also swings onto Western Ave. from Wilson to Lawrence, reducing traffic to only two lanes.

In German we would call this a traffic “nachtmahr“.

Lakeview East Festival of the Arts

This annual art festival will have Broadway closed between Belmont & Hawthorne both Saturday and Sunday.

Renegade Craft Fair

Division St. will be closed from Ashland to Damen both Saturday and Sunday for what we grudgingly admit is one of the only events that is cool enough to warrant closing a major street for a festival–the Renegade Craft Fair.

Handmade crafts, art, wares, and tons of one of a kind products. Seriously worth checking out.

The Guatemalan Independence Day Parade

Major parking restrictions kick in along Montrose between California and Kimball on Sunday morning for the Guatemalan Independence Day Parade.

Parade starts at noon, but parking restrictions begin much earlier and traffic in the area impacted all day Sunday.