EVERY SEASON IN CHICAGO IS FILLED WITH ACTIVITIES OF ALL KINDS, AND
HOPEFULLY THE WARM WEATHER WILL BRING YOU TO THE CHICAGO AREA IF
YOU’RE STAYING CLOSE FOR THE SUMMER!
THERE ARE SO MANY EXCITING EVENTS TAKING PLACE FROM MAY TO AUGUST TO KEEP YOUR SCHEDULE BUSY. LOOKING AHEAD TO MAY WE HAVE THE NAVY PIER SUMMER FIREWORKS, CHICAGO FARMERS MARKET, MAXWELL STREET MARKET, AND MAYFEST, AMONGST OTHERS.
IN JUNE WE HAVE THE CHICAGO PRIDE PARADE, THE WINDY CITY HOTDOG FEST,
CHICAGO BLUES FESTIVAL, SUMMER SMASH FESTIVAL, AND MORE.
JULY FEATURES THE WINDY CITY SMOKEOUT, PITCHFORK MUSIC FESTIVAL, CHINATOWN SUMMER FAIR, AND ADDITIONAL MARKETS, TASTES, AND FESTIVALS
YOU CAN CHECK OUT ALL SUMMER LONG.
FINALLY IN AUGUST WE HAVE LOLLAPALOOZA, THE CHICAGO AIR AND WATER SHOW, TASTE OF GREEKTOWN, CHICAGO TRIATHLON, AND MANY OTHERS.
LET’S DIVE INTO A FEW OF CHICAGO’S FAVORITES.
FIRST WE HAVE MAYFEST PRODUCTIONS, WHICH IS AN ORGANIZATION HERE AT
NORTHWESTERN THAT PLANS AND PRODUCES THE NATION’S LARGEST STUDENT-
RUN MUSIC FESTIVAL, DILLO DAY, WHICH WILL BE HELD ON MAY 18 THIS YEAR.
I ASKED WEINBERG JUNIOR, DEFNE DEDA, TO GIVE US SOME INSIGHTS ON HOW
HARD THE MAYFEST TEAM HAS BEEN WORKING TO PREPARE DILLO DAY.
Defne Deda: It’s a whole thing, right, like one hundred people, and those hundred people everyone has to have a schedule, and for people at the end of the day. Our shift is on the day of, on Dillo Day, the exec board starts at 5, and all of the members come in at 6am. We are there approximately until 2, 3am, so that’s a very long time.
DEFNE IS THE CO-HEAD OF PROMOTIONS FOR MAYFEST PRODUCTIONS, AND
HANDLES PR, MARKETING, AND MORE. THIS YEAR, IT’S NEWS THAT MAYFEST WILL BE DOING SOMETHING DIFFERENT REGARDING SAFETY PRECAUTIONS.
[DD]: One thing that we’re doing differently this year is that we are going to have metal
detectors for safety, so when entering Dillo, we want all attendance to know that they will be scanned by and scanned with metal detectors entering Dillo. So it’s really important this year for us, safety wise, I think it’s going to be a big improvement – not that anything bad happened in the past Dillo Days thank God – but we can never be too safe right? So like we think that’s a very big difference still.
DEFNE SHARED THAT MAYFEST IS RESPONSIBLE FOR NOT ONLY PRODUCING DILLO DAY, BUT HOLDING OTHER PROGRAMMING EVENTS SUCH AS BATTLE OF THE DJS AND BATTLE OF THE ARTISTS. IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN ATTENDING DILLO DAY, YOU CAN GET WRISTBANDS NOW AT DILLODAY.COM.
ANOTHER SUMMER FAVORITE, THE WINDY CITY SMOKEOUT, FEATURES COUNTRY MUSIC AND BARBECUE. IN THE PAST ,THERE’S BEEN UP TO 20,000 PEOPLE IN ATTENDANCE EACH DAY, AND WINDY CITY SMOKEOUT GOES TO PLAN RAIN OR SHINE. THIS YEAR IT WILL BE HELD JULY 11-14, AND FEATURES HEADLINERS LIKE CODY JOHNSON AND CARRIE UNDERWOOD.
THERE IS CLEARLY A LOT TO BE EXCITED ABOUT WHEN IT COMES TO THE CHICAGO
FESTIVITIES, ESPECIALLY FOR STUDENTS WHO ARE NEW TO THE CHICAGO AREA
Lleyton Gunter: Well, I’m from Florida, so things are a lot different, we don’t have that many street festivals, most of our street festivals are like I guess like farmers markets and stuff like that.
THAT WAS FIRST YEAR WEINBERG STUDENT, LLEYTON GUNTER. LLEYTON MAY BE STICKING AROUND FOR THE SUMMER, AND IS EXCITED FOR WHAT’S TO COME.
[LG]: I went to Christkindlmarket during the winter and it was very homey and very set up and very formal, and it seemed like there was a lot of effort that went into that, so I
imagine that the summer ones will be similar and with different things.
IN PARTICULAR, LLEYTON IS LOOKING FORWARD TO ATTENDING LOLLAPALOOZA,
WHICH WILL TAKE PLACE FROM AUGUST 1ST TO AUGUST 4TH.
[LG]: I was pretty excited for Lollapalooza, I thought that would be pretty cool and I
guess there is a lot of concerts in Florida, but it would be a different style and nothing
really that big in Florida.
LOLLAPALOOZA WILL FEATURE HEADLINERS INCLUDING SZA, TYLER THE CREATOR, BLINK-182, AND OTHER CELEBRATED ARTISTS. WHETHER IT’S FOOD, MUSIC, OR SHOPPING, SUMMERS IN CHICAGO WILL HAVE EVERYTHING TO KEEP YOU SATISFIED. HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!
FROM WNUR NEWS, I’M SARAH THORNTON.
