Millennium Park

Millennium Park is a public park located in the Chicago Loop community area of Chicago within Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a prominent civic center of the city's Lake Michigan lakefront. Completed in 2004, it covers a 24.5-acre (99,000 m2) section of northern Grant Park, previously occupied by Illinois Central railyards and parking lots. The park, which is bounded by Michigan Avenue, Randolph Street, Columbus Drive and East Monroe Drive, features a variety of public art. Today, Millennium Park trails only Navy Pier as a Chicago tourist attraction.

Millennium Park
(from the north)]]Millennium Park as seen from the Aon Center (from the north)
Type Urban park
Location Chicago, Illinois
Coordinates
41°52′57.75″N 87°37′21.60″W / 41.8827083°N 87.622667°W / 41.8827083; -87.622667 (Millennium Park)Coordinates: 41°52′57.75″N 87°37′21.60″W / 41.8827083°N 87.622667°W / 41.8827083; -87.622667 (Millennium Park)
Size 24.5 acres (9.9 ha)
Opened July 16, 2004
Operated by Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs
Status Open all year (daily 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.)
Millennium Park (inside black borders) within Grant Park in Chicago's Loop community area

Millennium Park is a public park located in the Chicago Loop community area of Chicago within Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a prominent civic center of the city's Lake Michigan lakefront. Completed in 2004, it covers a 24.5-acre (99,000 m2) section of northern Grant Park, previously occupied by Illinois Central railyards and parking lots. The park, which is bounded by Michigan Avenue, Randolph Street, Columbus Drive and East Monroe Drive, features a variety of public art. Today, Millennium Park trails only Navy Pier as a Chicago tourist attraction.

Planning of the park began in October 1997. Construction began in October 1998 and was completed in July 2004. Millennium Park, which has become the world's largest rooftop garden, was opened in a ceremony on July 16, 2004 as part of a three-day celebration that included an inaugural concert by the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus. The grand opening festivities included some 300,000 people. The park's design and construction won awards ranging from accessibility to green design. Admission to the park is free. The park features the Cloud Gate, Crown Fountain, Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Lurie Garden and other attractions. The park is connected by bridges to other parts of Grant Park (BP Pedestrian Bridge, Nichols Bridgeway).

The park is considered to be the city's most important project since the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, and it far exceeded its originally proposed budget of $150 million. The final cost of $475 million was borne by Chicago taxpayers and private donors. The city paid $270 million and private donors paid the rest. Private donors assumed roughly half of the financial responsibility for the cost overruns.

The park was finished four years behind schedule and cost approximately three times as much as was initially budgeted. Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley at first placed much of the blame for the delay and cost overrun on Frank Gehry, who designed several parts of the park. Some of the features have changed names due to corporate mergers and acquisitions of Bank One with Chase and SBC Communications with AT&T.

Background

<imagemap>File:Millennium Park Map labels.png|
Image map of Millennium Park. Each feature or label is linked.
|alt=Rectangular map of a park about 1.5 times as wide as it is tall. The top half is dominated by the Pritzker Pavilion and Great Lawn. The lower half is divided into three roughly equal sections: (left to right) Wrigley Square, McCormick Tribune Plaza, and Crown Fountain. North is to the left.|400px|thumb

rect 51 18 145 80 McDonald's Cycle Center rect 338 2 496 94BP Pedestrian Bridge rect 497 62 536 101BP Pedestrian Bridge rect 497 6 631 34 Columbus Drive rect 10 88 154 104 Exelon Pavilion NE rect 47 108 79 131 Exelon Pavilion NE rect 619 95 754 112 Exelon Pavilion SE rect 728 113 759 135 Exelon Pavilion SE rect 10 246 166 263 Exelon Pavilion NW rect 47 265 78 288 Exelon Pavilion NW rect 613 243 762 258 Exelon Pavilion SW rect 736 260 757 275 Exelon Pavilion SW rect 44 149 174 229 Harris Theater rect 175 103 572 288 Jay Pritzker Pavilion rect 573 134 757 238 Lurie Garden rect 572 311 718 329 Nichols Bridgeway rect 516 298 777 306 Nichols Bridgeway rect 58 350 207 396 Chase Promenade North rect 291 350 453 396 Chase Promenade Central rect 537 350 687 396 Chase Promenade South rect 313 397 431 424 AT&T Plaza rect 37 434 227 473 Boeing Gallery North rect 516 433 757 469 Boeing Gallery South rect 337 426 416 470 Cloud Gate rect 60 486 216 546 Wrigley Square rect 287 477 457 543 McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink rect 557 488 727 543 Crown Fountain rect 308 567 439 583 Michigan Avenue rect 1 316 23 442 Randolph Street desc bottom-left </imagemap> From 1852 until 1997, the Illinois Central Railroad owned the right of way that they used for railroad tracks that separated the downtown Chicago from Lake Michigan. Briefly, in 1871, (because of the Great Chicago Fire) the Chicago White Stockings played home games at this location in what was then Union Base-Ball Grounds. From 1878 to 1884, the location hosted the team in Lake Front Park I and Lake Front Park II, which had a short right field due to the railroad tracks. During that Illinois Central Railroad years, the railroad property was forbidden fruit and Grant Park was planned around it by Daniel Burnham in his 1909 Plan of Chicago. In 1997, when the city gained control of the land in the form of airspace rights, it decided to build a parking facility there. Eventually the city realized that a grand civic amenity might lure private dollars that a municipal improvement would not and thus began the effort to create Millennium Park. The park was originally planned under the name Lakefront Millennium Park.

The park was originally conceived as a 16-acre (65,000 m2) landscape-covered bridge over an underground parking structure to be built on top of the Metra/Illinois Central Railroad tracks in Grant Park. Originally the park was to be designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, but gradually additional architects and artists were incorporated into the plan such as Frank Gehry and Thomas Beeby. Sponsors were sought by invitation only. In February 1999, the city announced it was negotiating with Frank Gehry to design a proscenium arch and orchestra enclosure for a band shell as well as a pedestrian bridge crossing Columbus Drive and that it was seeking donors to cover his work. At the time, the Chicago Tribune dubbed Gehry "the hottest architect in the universe" in reference to the acclaim for his Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and they noted the designs would not include Mayor Daley trademarks such as wrought iron and seasonal flower boxes. Millennium Park, project manager Edward Uhlir said "Frank is just the cutting edge of the next century of architecture," and noted that no other architect was being sought. Gehry was approached several times by Skidmore architect Adrian Smith on behalf of the city. His hesitance and refusal to accept the commission was overcome by Cindy Pritzker, the philanthropist, who had developed a relationship with the architect when he won the Pritzker Prize in 1991. She enticed him in head on confrontations with a $15m funding commitment toward the bandshell's creation, according to John H. Bryan. The choice of Gehry was a key component of having modern themes in the park.

(from the southeast)]] The initial construction of the park was under the auspices of the Transportation department because the project bridges the railroad tracks. However, as the project grew and expanded, its broad variety of amenities placed it under the jurisdiction of the city's Public Buildings Commission.

In April 1999, the city announced that the Pritzker family had donated $15 million to fund Gehry's Bandshell and an additional nine donors committed $10 million. The day of this announcement, Gehry agreed to the design request. In November, when his design was unveiled, Gehry said the Bridge was preliminary and not well-conceived because funding for it was not committed. The need to fund a bridge to span the eight-lane Columbus Drive was evident, but some planning for the park was delayed in anticipation of details on the redesign of Soldier Field. In January 2000, the city announced plans to expand the park to include features that have become Cloud Gate, Crown Fountain, The McDonalds Cycle Center, and BP Pedestrian Bridge. Later that month, Gehry unveiled his first design for the bridge, which included a winding bridge.

Some sources say that the park was the outgrowth of the exuberance of private sponsors,[] and others say that Mayor Daley used his power to garner corporate supporters. One Time magazine writer describes the park as the crowning achievement for Mayor Daley, while another suggests the park's cost and time overages were examples of the city's mismanagement. The July 16-18 opening gala was sponsored by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

The community surrounding Millennium Park has become one of the most fashionable residential addresses in the city. In 2006, Forbes named 60602 as the hottest zip code in the country in price appreciation, with upscale buildings such as The Heritage at Millennium Park (130 N. Garland) leading the way for other buildings such as Waterview Tower, The Legacy and Joffrey Tower. The median sale price for residential real estate was $710,000 in 2005 according to Forbes, ranking it on the list of most expensive zip codes. The park has been credited with increasing residential real estate values by $100/square foot.

Features

(before Legacy Tower)]] Millennium Park is a portion of the larger Grant Park, the "front lawn" of downtown Chicago. One of the larger public parks in metropolitan Chicago, it is a showcase for postmodern architecture. It features the McCormick Tribune Ice Skating Rink, Peristyle at Wrigley Square, Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance, AT&T Plaza, Chase Promenade and Trees in Millennium Park. The park is successful as a public art venue in part due to the grand scale of each piece and the open spaces for display.<ref>Gilfoyle, p. 344.</ref> There are four major artistic highlights: Cloud Gate, Crown Fountain, Lurie Garden and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. Millennium Park is often considered the largest roof garden in the world, having been constructed on top of a railroad yard and large parking garages. Of its 24.5 acres (99,000 m2) of land, Millennium Park contains 12.04 acres (48,700 m2) of permeable area. The park has a very rigorous cleaning schedule with many areas being swept, wiped down or cleaned multiple times a day. The park is known for being user friendly. Although the park was unveiled in July 2004, upgrades continued for some time afterwards. Along with the cultural features above ground that are described below the park has its own 2218-space parking garage.

Jay Pritzker Pavilion

is the centerpiece of Millennium Park.]]

Main article: Jay Pritzker Pavilion

The principal signature of Millennium Park is the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, a bandshell designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry with 4,000 fixed seats plus additional lawn seating for 7,000. A Pritzker Architecture Prize honoree and National Medal of Arts winner, Gehry designed such landmarks as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Der Neue Zollhof in Düsseldorf and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Characteristic of Gehry, the Pritzker Pavilion consists of curving planes of stainless steel resembling the graceful blooming of a flower or the unfurling sails of a massive ship.

The Pritzker Pavilion is the home of the Grant Park Music Festival, the nation's only remaining free, municipally supported, outdoor, classical music series. The Festival is presented by the Chicago Park District and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.<ref>GPMF2006</ref> Winding eastward from Pritzker Pavilion is the only bridge in the world designed by Frank Gehry. The 925-foot (282 m) pedestrian bridge, clad in the same type of steel sheet as the bandshell with a hardwood deck, winds like a fluttering ribbon across nearby Columbus Drive from the bandshell to a section of Grant Park along the lakefront.

AT&T Plaza and Cloud Gate

]]

Main articles: Cloud Gate and AT&T Plaza

AT&T Plaza was originally named Ameritech Plaza for Ameritech Corporation, the corporate sponsor. <ref>Public Building Commission of Chicago, Millennium Park News, Winter 2001-2.</ref> By the time the park officially opened in 2004, Ameritech had merged with SBC Communications and the plaza was called SBC Plaza. When SBC acquired AT&T and subsequently changed the name from SBC to AT&T in 2005, the name of the plaza changed again.

The plaza is home to Cloud Gate, a three-story, 110-ton steel sculpture that has been dubbed by residents as "The Bean". The sculpture is the work of world-renowned artist Anish Kapoor and is the first of his public art in the United States. The piece was privately funded and the cost $23 million, which was considerably more than the original estimate of $6 million. The piece is wildly popular.

Cloud Gate is a highly polished reflective steel sculpture that is meant to resemble a drop of mercury hovering at the point of landing on a plaza of the park. When Millennium Park opened in 2004, the grid of welds around each metal panel was still visible. In early 2005, workers polished out the seams. The curved, mirror-like surface of the sculpture provides striking reflections of visitors, the city skyline (particularly the historic Michigan Avenue "Streetwall") and the sky. Since its installation, Cloud Gate has probably become the most popular sculpture in the city.[]

Crown Fountain

]]

Main article: Crown Fountain

Crown Fountain, named in honor of Chicago's Crown family, was designed by the Spanish conceptual artist Jaume Plensa, and is the first of its kind in the world. Transparent glass block bricks are used to build two 50-foot (15 m) towers standing at either end of a long, black granite plaza submerged under an eighth of an inch layer of water. Behind the glass bricks are high-tech LED video screens. When the screens are illuminated they show the faces of nearly a thousand individual Chicagoans, which features the vast diversity of the city. Playing on the theme of historical fountains based around gargoyles with water coming through the open mouth of the creature, each video includes moments where the person purses his or her lips and water spouts from a point in the display, such that it appears that the person is spitting the water out. This happens roughly every five minutes, and there is also a continuous stream of water that cascades over the images.

Lurie Garden

]]

Main article: Lurie Garden

Lurie Garden is a 2.5-acre (10,000 m2) public garden located at the southern end of Millennium Park designed by Kathryn Gustafson, Piet Oudolf, and Robert Israel. The garden is a combination of perennials, bulbs, grasses, shrubs and trees. It is the featured nature component of the world's largest green roof. The garden cost $13.2 million and has a $10 million endowment for maintenance and upkeep. It was named after Ann Lurie. The garden is a tribute to the city whose motto is "Urbs in Horto," which is a Latin phrase meaning City in a Garden.

BP Pedestrian Bridge

]]

Main article: BP Pedestrian Bridge

BP Pedestrian Bridge is a pedestrian bridge crossing Columbus Drive that connects Millennium Park to Daley Bicentennial Plaza in Grant Park. The girder bridge is the first bridge designed by Pritzker Prize-winner, Frank Gehry, and was named for British Petroleum who donated $5 million to the construction of the Park. The bridge is referred to as snakelike or serpentine in character due to its curving form. The bridge's design enables it to bear a heavy load and is known for its aesthetics. Additionally, it serves acoustic needs as a sound barrier and functional needs as a connecting link between Millennium Park and points east.

McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink

]]

Main article: McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink

McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink is a multipurpose venue located along the western edge of Millennium Park in the Historic Michigan Boulevard District. It was the first attraction in Millennium Park to open. The plaza was funded by a donation from the McCormick Tribune Foundation. For four months a year, it operates as McCormick Tribune Ice Rink, a free public outdoor ice skating rink. It is generally open for skating from mid-November until mid-March. It is known as one of Chicago's better outdoor people watching locations during the winter months. For the rest of the year, it serves as The Plaza at Park Grill or Park Grill Plaza, Chicago's largest outdoor dining facility. The Park Grill hosts various culinary events and musical performances during its months of outdoor operation.

Wrigley Square

]]

Main article: Wrigley Square

Wrigley Square is a public square located in the northwest section of Millennium Park in the Historic Michigan Boulevard District. It contains the Millennium Monument, a nearly full-sized replica of the semicircle of paired Greek Doric-style columns (called a peristyle) that originally sat in this area of Grant Park, near East Randolph Street and North Michigan Avenue, between 1917 and 1953. The square also contains a large lawn and a public fountain.

Harris Theater

]]

Main article: Harris Theater (Chicago)

Harris Theater is a 1525-seat theater for the performing arts located along the northern edge of Millennium Park. It is the city's premier performance venue for small and medium sized performance groups. It is the first new performing arts venue built in the city's theater district or downtown since 1929. The theater was named for its primary benefactors, Mr & Mrs. Irving Harris.

Exelon Pavilions

(Millennium Park Welcome Center)]]

Main article: Exelon Pavilions

The Exelon Pavilions are a set of four solar energy generating structures in Millennium Park. The pavilions provide sufficient energy to power the equivalent of 14 star-rated energy-efficient houses in Chicago. The Pavilions were designed in January 2001 and construction began in January 2004. The South Pavilions were completed and opened in July 2004 and the North Pavilions were completed in November 2004, with a grand opening on April 30, 2005. Besides producing energy, three of the four pavilions provide access to the park's below ground parking garages and the fourth serves as the park's welcoming center. Exelon and its subsidiary ComEd donated $5.5 million for the Pavilions.

McDonald's Cycle Center

]]

Main article: McDonald's Cycle Center

McDonald's Cycle Center is a 300-space heated and air conditioned indoor bike station located in the northeast corner of Millennium Park. The facility provides lockers, showers, a snack bar with outdoor summer seating, bike repair, bike rental and other amenities for downtown bicycle commuters. The Bike Station also accommodates runners and in-line skaters. In addition, the station provides space for a Chicago Police Department Bike Patrol Group.

Boeing Galleries

]]

Main article: Boeing Galleries

Boeing Galleries are a pair of outdoor exhibition spaces within Millennium Park located along the south and north mid-level terraces, above and east of Wrigley Square and the Crown Fountain.

Chase Promenade

during 2005 Revealing Chicago Exhibition]]

Main article: Chase Promenade

Chase Promenade is an open-air tree-lined pedestrian walkway in Millennium Park. The Promenade was made possible by a gift from the Bank One Foundation. Its 8 acres (32,000 m2) accommodate exhibitions, festivals and other family events. It also serves as a venue for event planning on a rental basis.

Nichols Bridgeway

]]

Main article: Nichols Bridgeway

The Nichols Bridgeway opened on May 16, 2009. This pedestrian bridge connects the South end of the park with the Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago. It begins at the south west end of the Great Lawn and extends across Monroe Street connecting to the third floor of the West Pavilion of the Art Institute of Chicago.

2009 Pavilion projects

opening weekend June 19, 2009]]

Main article: Pavilion projects

The pavilions by Zaha Hadid and Ben van Berkel were constructed to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Daniel Burnham’s 1909 Plan of Chicago. They are privately funded and are designed to be temporary structures.

The van Berkel Pavilion is composed of two parallel rectangular planes joined by curving scoops on a steel frame with glossy white plywood covering it. It is situated on a raised platform which is sliced by a ramp entrance making it ADA accessible. The Hadid Pavilion is a tensioned fabric shell fitted over a curving aluminum framework exceeding 7,000 pieces. It is expected to accommodate centennial-themed, video presentation its interior fabric walls.

Budget

The project was known for its notorious delays (it was originally intended to open in 2000 instead of 2004) and tripled costs. Some Chicagoans began to refer to the project deridingly as "next-millennium" park.

During development and construction of the park, many structures were added, redesigned or modified. These changes often resulted in budget increases. For example, the band shell's proposed budget was $10.8 million. When the elaborate, cantilevered Gehry design required extra piling be driven into the bedrock to support the added weight, the cost of the band shell eventually spiraled to $60.3 million. The cost of the park, as itemized in the following table, amounted to almost $500 million. Much of the fundraising was borne by local business leaders, including the Pritzker family and Crown family. ]]

Project Proposed cost Final cost  % of proposed
Garage $87.5 million $105.6 million 121%
Metra superstructure $43.0 million $60.6 million 141%
Jay Pritzker Pavilion $10.8 million $60.3 million 558%
Harris Theater $20.0 million $60.0 million 300%
Park finishes/landscaping N/A $42.9 million
Design and management costs N/A $39.5 million
Endowment $10.0 million $25.0 million 250%
Crown Fountain $15.0 million $17.0 million 113%
BP Pedestrian Bridge $8.0 million $14.5 million 181%
Lurie Garden $4.0–8.0 million $13.2 million 330%–165%
Cloud Gate sculpture $6.0 million $23.0 million 383%
Exelon Pavilions N/A $7.0 million
Peristyle/Wrigley Square $5.0 million $5.0 million 100%
Chase Promenade $6.0 million $4.0 million 67%
McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink $5.0 million $3.2 million 64%
Misc. (fencing, terraces, graphics) N/A $1.6 million

Criticism and controversy

The Millennium Park project has been the subject of some criticism since its inception. In addition to concerns about the cost overrun, individuals and organizations have complained that the money spent on the park might have gone to other worthy causes, specifically citing ongoing issues with poverty in Chicago and problems within the city's schools.

Grant Park has been protected since 1836 by "forever open, clear and free" legislation that has been affirmed by four previous Illinois Supreme Court rulings.<ref>Sinkevitch, p. 37</ref> Aaron Montgomery Ward twice sued the city of Chicago to force it to remove buildings and structures from Grant Park and to keep it from building new ones. As a result, the city has what are termed the Montgomery Ward height restrictions on buildings and structures in Grant Park. However, Crown Fountain and the 139-foot (42 m) Pritzker Pavilion were exempt from the height restriction because they were classified as works of art and not buildings or structures.<ref>Gilfoyle, p. 181</ref> Some say the Pavilion is described as a work of art to dodge the protections established by Ward who is said to continue to rule and protect Grant Park from his grave. This is why Harris Theater is largely underground.

Although the park's design and architectural elements have won wide praise, there has been some criticism of its aesthetics. Other criticism has revolved around the larger issue of corruption and political favoritism in the city; for example a July 2004 New York Times article reported that an inflated contract for park cleanup had gone to a company that made large contributions to Mayor Daley's election campaign. Concerns have also been raised over the use of mixed taxpayer and corporate funding and associated naming rights for sections of the park. While a large monument in the northwest corner of the park honors the many private and corporate donors who contributed to its construction, entire squares and plazas within the park are named for their corporate underwriters, with the sponsors' names prominently indicated with stone markers (Boeing Gallery, Exelon Pavilion, AT&T Plaza, Wrigley Square); some critics have deemed this to be inappropriate for a public space.

A controversy arose when the park enforced a requirement for professional photographers to obtain a paid permit to photograph the artwork in the park for commercial purposes. In doing so, the city cited the copyrights of the artists who created the works (particularly the popular Cloud Gate sculpture). The copyrights give the artists sole right to profit from their work, and thus applies to images taken for commercial purposes. However, enforcement of the permit requirement was inconsistent and sometimes heavy-handed, resulting in some non-commercial photographers and tourists being accosted while taking pictures of the sculpture, and leading to the incorrect public perception that they are banned from taking pictures of the park they helped pay for.

In addition to weather-related closures in the winter, the bridge has had controversial event-related closures in the summer. The first of these closures occurred in 2005. The initial plan was that the lawn seating at nearby Jay Pritzker Pavilion would be free for all events. However, parking revenue fell short of estimates during the first year and the city charged $10 for lawn seating at an August 31, 2005 Tori Amos concert, leading to protests. On the day of the concert, officials closed the bridge—which is generally open to the public—until 7 a.m. the next day.

Officer blocking pedestrian access to Millennium Park with Pritzker Pavilion visible in the background]]

The park curfew (the park is closed from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily) and obvious presence of security guards is also cited in some quarters as working against a public park. For example, during the dusk to dawn event Looptopia on May 11 and May 12, 2007, public access to the park was prevented by police enforcement of the park curfew.

In both 2005 and 2006, almost the entire Millennium Park was closed for a day for corporate events. This was controversial for both commuters who walk through the park and for tourists who were lured by the attractions of the public park. On September 8, 2005, Toyota Motor Sales USA paid $800,000 to rent all venues in the park except Wrigley Square, Lurie Garden, McDonald's Cycle Center and Crown Fountain from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. The money was used to both fund free events in the park such as concerts and for day-to-day operations. The events included the Lurie Garden Festival, a Steppenwolf Theater production, musical performers along the Chase Promenade all summer long, a jazz series, children's concerts and other free events.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:CTRB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=10A022DA744102CE&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=AA98CDC331574F0ABEAFF732B33DC0B2%7Ctitle=A day in the park with Toyota|accessdate=2008-07-26|date=2005-05-10|publisher=Newsbank|work

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Jackie Mann
21 August 2015
The free events here in the summer are awesome, although trying to enjoy the park otherwise can be hard during tourist season. The beat time is fall or spring early in the morning- no one's there!
Shawn Calhoun
26 June 2017
An absolutely world class park in one of the best cities I've ever visited. Try to catch a summer concert at the amphitheater.
Jason
22 June 2015
Free concerts in the park. Lots of green space and art. I was really impressed with all this park had to offer and it was all free. I love Chicago.
Thamer A
4 May 2018
One of the coolest places I have ever visited in Chicago. It’s perfect for families to enjoy the good weather. Strongly recommend.
Noel Rodriguez
27 July 2017
An amazing place to catch a free concert during the summer, awesome views of Chicago's skyline, and just be one with Chicago's residents.
Shania G
8 July 2018
If you do not visit Chicago frequently, definitely a place to check out. There's always something to check out in Chicago though, even just walking down the streets can be a nice day in the city.
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