Summer in Chicago means festival season. After a long winter and short spring, the weather is finally ideal, and people are ready to celebrate. From June through September, the city seems to have something happening almost every weekend, and quite often several things happening at the same time, making for difficult decisions sometimes.
What makes the season unique isn’t simply the number of events, but the variety of them and the different parts of the city where they take place. Somewhere around 50 major festivals and neighborhood street fairs/markets, not to mention all the seasonal farmers markets, are organized and put on through partnerships between individual communities themselves and the city government. The festivals are dedicated to just about everything, most of the time happening over the weekend, starting Friday night.
Organizations like Choose Chicago, Block Club Chicago, and Special Events Management track upcoming festivals and events every summer to keep you up to date. There’s so much going on that you can pretty much use all three sites to make sure you’re informed to the best of your ability. I’m not kidding. It’s a lot! And festivals are only one part of what there is to do in the city. Check out my guide to 11 cool things to do in Chicago for more ideas.
Food Festivals
Food is one of the major themes, with events such as Tacos y Tamales in Pilsen, Food Truck Fest, Roscoe Village Burger Fest, Taste of Polonia, and WingOut Chicago next to Wrigley Field, the famous baseball stadium of the Chicago Cubs. Then you have things like the weekly Argyle Night Market in Little Asia that takes place once a week in July and August. Chicago is a major foodie town, so it’s no surprise that there is so much centered around cuisine. If you’re looking for some lesser-known pizza spots while you’re in town, head to one of these three hidden pizza gems in Chicago.
Cultural Festivals
The city’s diversity is particularly apparent in its cultural festivals, which also highlight food, of course. Neighborhoods throughout the city celebrate their own histories and traditions with events such as Andersonville Midsommarfest, the Puerto Rican Festival in Humboldt Park, the Chinatown Summer Fair, German-American Oktoberfest in Lincoln Square, the Taylor Street Little Italy Festival, Fiesta del Sol in Pilsen, and many more.
These aren’t simply festivals happening in random locations; many are closely connected to the communities and neighborhoods that host them.
Art & Literature Festivals
Art is another big part of the scene, with neighborhood events like the 57th Street Art Fair, Old Town Art Fair, and Wells Street Art Festival bringing artists and vendors into the streets. There are even more specialized events, such as Printers Row Lit Fest, one of the city’s major celebrations of books and literature.
Music Festivals
Then there’s music. Lollapalooza takes over Grant Park for four days and attracts hundreds of thousands of people with major performers from around the world. Riot Fest fills Douglass Park with major punk and alternative acts. North Coast brings electronic music to Bridgeview, and other events like Wicker Park Fest, Edgewater Music Fest, and major staples that focus on Chicago’s musical traditions, such as the Chicago Blues Festival, Chicago House Music Festival, and the Hyde Park Jazz Fest, round out the city’s music scene.
Where Festivals Happen
The settings can be just as varied as the festivals themselves. Some street fests take over major avenues, with several blocks closed to traffic and transformed into temporary pedestrian areas filled with food vendors, artists, musicians, and crowds. Others are much smaller, occupying a couple of blocks of a residential neighborhood. The biggest music festivals take place in parks, while other events use parking lots, plazas, or larger public spaces. If you’re looking for another way to take in the city from above, check out my guide to Chicago’s observation decks, Skydeck and 360 Chicago.
This creates an interesting contrast between Chicago’s biggest festivals and its smaller neighborhood events. For Chicagoans, this is an annual part of summer. Streets that normally carry traffic become pedestrian hubs, neighborhood parks become gathering places, and familiar commercial districts temporarily take on the atmosphere of a fair. Some festivals attract enormous crowds, while others are small community affairs. Together, though, they create a summer calendar that reflects the city’s neighborhoods, cultures, food, art, and music.
Chicago’s Biggest Festivals vs. Neighborhood Events
One of the things I enjoy most about Chicago’s festival season is the contrast between its biggest events and its smaller neighborhood celebrations. You can spend a weekend at a massive music festival with tens of thousands of other people, then turn around the following weekend and stumble upon a small street festival with local vendors, musicians, food, and people from the surrounding neighborhood.
The scale may be different, but both are part of what makes summer in Chicago so lively. The major festivals draw visitors from across the city and beyond, while the smaller events give you a chance to experience individual neighborhoods and their communities.
Conclusion
Festival season is such a distinctive part of Chicago. From a massive music festival in Grant Park to a small street lined with neighborhood vendors, there always seems to be another part of the city celebrating something. Don’t miss out!
