Great Trip Ideas in your own city!!!

Variety of Free Events and Outdoor Activities Make Chicago the Perfect Summertime Destination

Top Summer Activities Include Neighborhood Festivals, Family Events, Outdoor Attractions


Chicago is one of America’s most popular destinations and there’s no better time to visit the city than this summer. With unique activities and events from Memorial Day through Labor Day, plus 77 diverse and vibrant neighborhoods to discover, a summer visit to Chicago is fun-filled, action-packed and affordable.
Visitors to the city are invited to make their first stop the Visitor Information Center in the Chicago Cultural Center, located at 78 E. Washington St. or in the historic Chicago Water Works, 163 E. Pearson St. at Michigan Avenue.
For more information on the events and activities listed below or on visiting Chicago this summer, visit www.explorechicago.org.
Urban Excursions: Explore Chicago
The Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture’s 2011 Summer initiative showcases hundreds of treks, tours, itineraries, and other urban adventures downtown and throughout the neighborhoods, Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day. First-time visitors looking for popular and must-see attractions, seasoned travelers seeking out new destinations, or locals searching for hidden neighborhood gems will all be able to experience the city in a new way, brimming with adventures just waiting to be discovered. Whether tracking down sweets, from cupcakes to cannoli, on a neighborhood bakery expedition; biking historic tree-lined boulevards; or discovering the roots of Chicago blues with an audio tour narrated by blues legend Buddy Guy, most treks are free or affordable and offer something for all ages and interests. Treks and tours throughout the city will be posted daily on the Urban Excursions blog, including neighborhood treks, thematic treks, treks within museums, festival previews, and free events. www.ExploreChicago.org/summer.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Visitors and Chicagoans flock to the beautiful lakefront and bustling downtown for family style entertainment, festivals and city-wide celebrations all summer long.
The Chicago Blues Festival is the largest free blues festival in the world and remains the largest of Chicago's Music Festivals. During three days on five stages, more than 500,000 blues fans prove that Chicago is the "Blues Capital of the World." The free festival kicks off with a tribute to the 100th Birthday of Robert Johnson, the most admired and influential of the Delta blues artists, on Friday, June 10. Renowned performers expected to pay tribute include David “Honeyboy” Edwards, Rick Sherry, Rocky Lawrence, Hubert Sumlin and the Duwayne Burnside Band. Other great local artists of international fame slated to perform include Shemekia Copeland, Lonnie Brooks, Billy Branch and The Sons of Blues, and Dave Specter. For more information, please call 312-744-3315 or visit www.chicagobluesfestival.us.
Taste of Chicago is the nation's premier outdoor food festival showcasing the diversity of Chicago's dining community. From Friday, June 24 through Sunday, July 3, the delicious array of food served at Taste of Chicago will be complemented by music and exciting activities for the entire family. Every summer since 1980, Chicago's beautiful Grant Park on the city's magnificent lakefront has been home to the world's largest food festival.
Lollapalooza happens every summer in Grant Park between the iconic Chicago skyline and the shores of Lake Michigan. With thousands of music fans from all over the world, Lollapalooza continues to be a mecca for music lovers
from all over the world. The 2011 Lollapalooza Music Festival is happening Friday, August 5 through Sunday, August 7 with headliners Eminem, Foo Fighters, Coldplay and My Morning Jacket.
North Avenue Beach will yet-again be the spot for the largest free spectator event in the U.S. and the longest ongoing show of its kind in North America when the Chicago Air & Water Show returns to Chicago’s shoreline on Saturday, August 20 and Sunday, August 21. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and U.S. Army Parachute Team Golden Knights will headline the 53rd annual show along the lakefront from Fullerton to Oak Street.
Celebrate Chicago’s rich maritime heritage during A Taste of Tall Ships®  Chicago 2011 at Navy Pier, Thursday, August 11 through Sunday, August 14.  Explore four majestic tall ships from around the globe. This four-day maritime event includes plenty of interactive activities and educational opportunities for the entire family.
Sample the City’s ongoing year-round celebration of free music at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park this summer. Through July 25, Downtown Sound: New Music Mondays showcases an eclectic mix of music discoveries, including cutting-edge indie rock, pop bands and rock veterans. The acclaimed Grant Park Music Festival returns for its 77th season from Wednesday, June 15 through Saturday, August 20, with more than 30 concerts featuring the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus. On Thursdays from June 9 through July 21, the Park will present traditional folk and pop artists from around the globe with its celebration of international music, Music Without Borders. Made in Chicago: World Class Jazz features Chicago’s leading jazz artists across the spectrum of jazz—from Latin to Big Band to experimental sounds—and includes world premiere commissions, international collaborations and centennial celebrations on Thursdays from July 28 though September 1. Monday nights in August (August 1-22) bring a new wave of music, mixing pop and alternative genres with classical music as part of the Dusk Variations series.
Spend your afternoon at the Lunchbreak Music Series in Millennium Park and hear a diverse array of live bands, DJs, or open rehearsals in a different genre of music each day, including Jazz, Blues and Beyond on Mondays, Electric Picnic’s electronic sounds on Saturdays and American Roots on Sundays. Concerts are at noon daily in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. Open rehearsals for the Grant Park Music Festival run June 14 to August 19, typically on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 11am-1:30pm and Thursdays from 10:30am-1pm.

FAMILY FUN
When families need to get away for some fun, Chicago is the place to go. With numerous attractions, rich history, and plenty of activities that engage and delight, Chicago is sure to be a hit with kids of all ages.
The Family Fun Festival returns to Millennium Park this summer, making Millennium Park the place to be for kids of all ages. Every day, from June 13 - August 21 between 10 am and 3 pm,, free family performances and hands-on activities will take place in the Family Fun Tent, located on the Park’s Chase Promenade North.
Explore Chicago with affordable, fully-guided adventures created specifically for families. Family Adventures
offer exciting one-day expeditions that feature plenty of hands-on activities to keep kids engaged while learning about unique Chicago neighborhoods and parks. Choose from eight different adventures ranging from a behind-the-scenes tour of U.S. Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, to fishing in Lincoln Park, to riding a water taxi on the Chicago River. Recommended for children ages 6 and up. $12; includes lunch, admission, round-trip transportation and all other fees. Fridays, July 1 – August 27 and Saturdays, July 9 and 23, August 6, 20, and 27.
NEIGHBORHOOD FESTIVALS AND PARADES
Discover the many cultures, traditions, and lifestyles of Chicago communities while enjoying the summer air at various festivals and parades throughout the city. Chicago offers more than 400 neighborhood festivals and parades this summer that showcase ethnic customs, music and food through the end of September.
On Saturday, June 25 and Sunday, June 26, Chicago's Wicker Park plays host to the Green Music Fest on Damen Avenue between North and Schiller. The event draws thousands of people to hear high quality live music programmed by local venue Subterranean during the Green Music Fest. The event will also includes neighborhood retailers and restaurants, local fine artists and crafters; plus the “Green Vendor Village” with businesses that provide environmentally friendly or eco-conscious products and services. The event will also be produced in the most eco-friendly way possible with bio-diesel fuel operated generators, biodegradable plastic cups, recycling and composting options and a free bike valet.
In Smith Park on Saturday, August 20 and Sunday, August 21, the 28th annual Ukrainian Heritage Festival will feature an array of Ukrainian culture from music, dance, entertainment, arts, crafts, and food.
Other annual favorites include: the 57th Street Art Fair on Saturday, June 4 and Sunday, June 5 in Hyde Park; the 15th annual Taste of Randolph Street on Friday, June 17 through Sunday, June 19 in the West Loop; the 42nd annual Gay
Pride Parade on Sunday, June 26 in Lakeview; the African-Caribbean International Festival of Life Friday, July 1
through Monday, July 4 in Washington Park; the Chicago Dragon Boat Race for Literacy on Saturday, July 23 in Chinatown; Fiesta del Sol Thursday, July 28 through Sunday, July 31 in Pilsen; and the Bud Billiken Parade on Saturday, August 13 on King Drive and concluding in Washington Park.
OUTDOOR ATTRACTIONS
Starting on Friday, May 27 beach season in Chicago begins. This season, beachgoers will find a variety of amenities, from bike rentals to great concessions, at beaches across the city. The Chicago Park District beaches are open to the public until Monday, September 5, and admission is always free. Walk, eat, jog, catch some rays, bike, rollerblade, sail, play volleyball, explore, or just relax along Chicago's 26 miles of lakefront at any one of the city’s 31 free beaches.
Each summer, the Chicago Park District’s open-air stage is home to the best dramatic, comedic and innovative performances the city of Chicago has to offer, all showcased inside this one-of-a-kind venue. Unique to the country and to the city of Chicago, Theater on the Lake presents the best of professional Chicago theatre in a world-class summer series that features 8 plays in 8 weeks and is a catalyst for vibrant off-Loop theater companies. The 2011 season opens June 15 with evening performances running Wednesdays through Sundays.
Lincoln Park Zoo is the country’s most historic and distinguished zoological facility and also one of the country’s last remaining free admission zoos. The zoo’s newest attraction, the Pritzker Family Children’s Zoo, features North American wildlife. Four large outdoor exhibits feature black bears, red wolves, beaver and river otters. By bringing together animal habitats, interactive elements and educational activities, kids learn by touching, smelling, listening, building and playing.
MUSEUMS
The stunning new exhibit BODY WORLDS & The Cycle of Life at the Museum of Science and Industry is an opportunity to peer inside the human body to see it as never before. Making its U.S. debut, this new exhibition from physician and pioneering anatomist Dr. Gunther von Hagens presents the body throughout the human life cycle and across the arc of aging. More than 200 plastinates—real human specimens preserved through Dr. von Hagens' invention, the remarkable process called Plastination—reveal the human body in all its stages, across youth, growth, maturity and advanced age, and in all its conditions, from health to distress to disease. Runs through September 5.
The vibrant underwater world of whales comes to life at the Field Museum in a new exhibit, Whales: Giants of the Deep. Dive to the depths of the sea with a mighty sperm whale in the hunt for giant squid. Climb into and explore a life-sized whale heart. Stand before two massive whale skeletons — each longer than a school bus. Listen to the voices of different whales and see how they use sound to navigate, find food, and communicate with each other.  And meet people whose lives have been inextricably linked with whales — from legendary South Pacific whale riders to whale scientists and former whaling families. Through January 16, 2012.
THEATER
The smash hit Broadway musical for all generations, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, returns to Chicago from
June 29 - August 7 at the Oriental Theatre. Based on the Academy Award-winning animated feature film, this eye-popping spectacle has won the hearts of over 35 million people worldwide and is filled with unforgettable characters, lavish sets and costumes, and dazzling production numbers including “Be Our Guest” and the beloved title song.
Steppenwolf Theatre Company presents Middletown, a wry, human portrait of a town with two lives, one ordinary and visible, the other epic and mysterious. Mary Swanson just moved to Middletown, eager to start a family and enjoy the neighborly bonds a small town promises. But when Mary befriends resident John Dodge, she is quick to discover that below Middletown’s flinchingly honest exterior lies something much more complex. Steppenwolf is renowned for its great acting of challenging material in an intimate theater space and celebrates ensemble acting with rich, intense performances that advance the vitality and diversity of American theater. June 16-August 14.
Black Ensemble Theater’s All In Love Is Fair, a musical comedy featuring the music of Luther Vandross, is full of dance, great music and a whole lot of love. Written, produced and directed by Jackie Taylor, it delivers an uplifting and inspiring message. The Black Ensemble Theater is celebrating its 35th anniversary in 2011 and has grown from a small community arts organization to a nationally and internationally renowned arts institution. Open run.
TOURS
The InstaGreeter service is an offshoot of the popular Chicago Greeter program, offering free, on-the-spot “insider’s orientations” of neighborhoods for groups of 6 or fewer. From May 28 through October 8, visitors can register and choose a neighborhood or interest to explore, such as architecture, history, or ethnic Chicago. Instagreeter locations include the Loop (Fridays-Sundays), Millennium Park (daily), or at one of three neighborhood outposts – at the Hyde Park Hyde Park Art Center (5020 S. Cornell Ave.), Second City (1616 N. Wells St.) in Old Town, and the Pilsen outpost, new in 2011, at
the National Museum of Mexican Art (1852 W. 19th Street). Check www.ExploreChicago.org/summer for the Instagreeter neighborhood outpost schedule on Saturdays.
Chicago's architectural heritage is considered to be among the finest in the world, and the Boat Tours provide the ultimate setting to view these magnificent structures. The summer season for the Official Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise starts Saturday, June 4 through Sunday, October 2 aboard the Chicago’s First Lady. The boat tour showcases more than 50 buildings along the Chicago River, revealing how the city grew from a small back-country outpost into one of the world’s most important crossroads in less than 100 years. Wendella Boat’s signature tour of Lake Michigan and the Chicago River boat tours include a trip through the Chicago Lock and a live narration featuring an overview of the city’s architecture and history.
Chicago Neighborhood Tours are the perfect introduction to Chicago's many neighborhoods. Among this season’s 24 different excursions are seven new Neighborhood Tours, all offering an insider perspective on Chicago’s communities. Tour these distinctive enclaves with local residents as your guides.  Each Neighborhood Tour is $30 and approximately three hours long. www.chicagoneighborhoodtours.com.