Chicago Events

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Events

Mamma Mia!

Back by popular demand the smash-hit musical features ABBA's best known songs woven into a story about a mother, daughter and three possible fathers. If you are an ABBA fan the music is guaranteed to have you out of your seat.

Venue: Ford Centre (Oriental Theatre)
Date: 23 November to 26 December 2004

Chicago blues © www.cityofchicago.org

Chicago Blues Festival

The Chicago Blues Fest is one of the biggest outdoor, free blues events in the world and is a must for all blues lovers. It features over 70 international, national and local Chicago artists spread over five stages and at night the festivities continue in blues clubs around the city. For more information contact the Chicago Office of Special Events on +1 312 744 3315.

Venue: Grant Park
Date: 5-8 June 2008
Time: 12pm to 9.30pm
Website: www.chicagobluesfestival.us

Taste of Chicago

The Taste has been an annual summer festival for 20 years, featuring 10 days of Chicago-style food and entertainment. Samples from over 70 restaurants are available for tasting, with fare ranging from pizzas and burgers, to the city’s classic prime rib steaks, and haute cuisine from some of the city’s top restaurants. Various activities and events take place throughout the festival, including cooking demonstrations by top chefs, Ferris wheel rides, street performers, and face painting, and live music is staged around the park. The 4th of July is celebrated by a fireworks display accompanied by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Venue: Grant Park
Date: 27 June to 6 July 2008
Time: 11am to 9pm
Website: www.cityofchicago.org/specialevents

Venetian Night

Venetian Night is the city of Chicago's longest running annual event, having started in 1958 as part of the Lakefront Festival, and today attracts hundreds of thousands of people to the lakefront. The waterside parade on Lake Michigan includes about 35 boats decorated with extravagant lights and skippered by costumed crews. There is also live music and an impressive fireworks display.

Venue: South Lake Shore Drive
Date: 26 July 2008
Time: Parade: 8.30pm; Fireworks: 9.30pm

Air and Water Show

Chicago Air and Water Show

The oldest and biggest exhibition of its kind in the country, the Air and Water Show displays daredevil acrobatics both in the air and water. It can be viewed from many lakeside locations, but the main hub is above and beyond North Avenue Beach. Both civilian and military demonstrations take place and electrifying stunts are performed, the highlight being the US Navy Blue Angels' jet formation.

Venue: North Avenue Beach
Date: 16-17 August 2008
Time: 9am to 4pm

Chicago Jazz Festival

In Grant Park on the shores of Lake Michigan, hundreds of thousands of people gather to picnic on the grass and to listen to the chilled-out music. A popular annual event, the festival offers a pleasing selection of old favourites and new talent on the jazz scene. For more information phone +1 312 744 3315 or email the Chicago Office of Tourism on Tourism@ci.chi.il.us

Venue: Grant Park
Date: 28-31 August 2008
Time: 11am to 9.30pm
Website: www.chicagojazzfestival.org

Pow-wow © Photo by South Dakota Tourism

Annual American Indian Center Pow-wow

The annual Pow-wow looks back at Native American culture and invites other native Americans and outsiders to come and appreciate the fascinating aspects of their lives. There are a variety of cultural expressions including crafts, music and dance, histories and renewed interpretations. There are also plenty of opportunities to sample delicious, traditional cuisine.

Venue: University of Illinois Chicago Pavilion
Date: 14-16 November 2008
Website: www.aic-chicago.org

Magnificent Mile Lights Festival

The official start of the holiday season in Chicago is signalled by the lighting of more than a million white lights along the Magnificent Mile during a procession of Mickey Mouse and his Disney friends, concluding with a spectacular fireworks show over the Chicago River. The whole winter wonderland weekend is geared for the holiday season with special offers and family entertainment along the Magnificent Mile.

Venue: North Michigan Avenue
Date: 22 November 2008
Time: 6pm
Website: www.themagnificentmile.com

Fireworks

New Year’s Eve Fireworks

The countdown to New Year culminates in a pyrotechnic display of colourful fireworks above Michigan lakefront that is choreographed to a musical soundtrack. For more information contact the Chicago Office of Tourism on +1 312 201 8847 or 877 244 2246 (toll free information line).

Venue: Buckingham Fountain, Grant Park
Date: 31 December 2008
Time: 11.40pm

The Chicago River

St. Patrick's Day

The famous Irish holiday is undoubtedly celebrated on a grander scale across the United States, but in Chicago, one can expect the river to be turned green. St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is a well-known figure in the U.S. even if his origins and deeds have been somewhat lost in the mass commercialisation of his special day. Every Irish Pub (and almost every non-Irish Pub too) will be celebrating with plenty of Guinness, Irish Car Bombs and dyed-green beer.

Venue: Various
Date: March 2009, TBC
Time: 12pm

Art Chicago

Art Chicago has been acclaimed as America’s finest exhibition of modern and contemporary art and is world renowned on the international art scene as an innovative art fair where the works of over 3000 artists from the top galleries around the world are exhibited and sold. Dramatically situated on the Chicago lakefront, the fair attracts thousands of art collectors, museum curators and visitors.

Venue: Butler Field
Date: 1-4 May 2009
Time: 11am to 7pm (6pm on Sunday and Monday)
Website: www.artchicago.com