A bit further out in the suburbs, but for anyone seeing this interested, we have a monthly meetup group in Valparaiso, IN, called ValpoHacks. We averages ~10-15 people per month and group has significant overlap with HackerNews interests.

Here's meetup link for more info: https://www.meetup.com/valpo-hacks-meetup/. If anyone has questions, my email is my HN username @gmail.com.

+1 for a Chicago area IRL event. Would also love to be in the know.

+1 for Chicago

Please also loop me in for a Chicago event!

+1 Would be happy to come as well.

There are dozens of us!