Holidays and Events in Chicago

Residents of Chicago love to party, and it seems we'll take any excuse to celebrate. Summer gets most of the attention, and for good reason, since many of the biggest festivals are free and happen outdoors on the lakefront. But there's something on the calendar every month, and a few of the best traditions happen when it's cold enough to see your breath.

This is the year in outline. Exact dates move around, so check each event's official page before you book. The city's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events runs the big free festivals, and Choose Chicago keeps a month-by-month festival guide that's updated through the year.

January and February

Winter is the quiet season. Chicago Restaurant Week, the city's biggest dining promotion, runs for a couple of weeks from late January into February with set-price menus at hundreds of restaurants. Skating in Millennium Park and on the ribbon in Maggie Daley Park carries on through the cold months. The Chicago Auto Show fills part of February, and Lunar New Year brings a parade through Chinatown in February or early March, depending on the lunar calendar. Then there's Valentine's Day, when couples book tables at the city's romantic restaurants. For more ideas, see winter activities in Chicago and our guides to January and February.

March: the green river

St. Patrick's Day is one of the city's wildest days, and it happens on the Saturday on or before March 17, not always on the day itself. In the morning, members of Plumbers Local 130 pour an orange powder into the river that turns it a bright green. The union has done this since the early 1960s, and the recipe is still a secret. The parade committee says the best view is from Upper Wacker Drive between Columbus Drive and Fairbanks Court, and those spots fill up early.

The downtown parade marches down Columbus Drive in Grant Park the same day. The neighborhoods hold their own parades on the Sunday, including the South Side Irish Parade in Beverly and the Northwest Side Irish Parade. After that, the bars take over, with plenty of green beer. We've rounded up the best bars for St. Patrick's Day.

April and May

Baseball season opens in late March or early April, and spring brings flowers and a lot of rain. By May, the neighborhood street festival season is starting, and so are the farmers markets. The Belmont-Sheffield Music Festival in Lakeview is usually one of the first street fests, over Memorial Day weekend, and Navy Pier starts its summer fireworks around the same time. The city holds its downtown Memorial Day parade and wreath-laying that weekend too. See our pages on April and May.

June: blues and Pride

The Chicago Blues Festival, which the city bills as the largest free blues festival in the world, runs in early June. It moved out of Grant Park and into Millennium Park in 2017, with free shows on several stages over the weekend. The Grant Park Music Festival's free classical concerts start at the Pritzker Pavilion in June and run through the summer.

June is Pride Month, and it's big here. Chicago Pride Fest, organized by the Northalsted Business Alliance, takes over Halsted Street in Lakeview a weekend or so before the parade, with a suggested donation at the gate. The Chicago Pride Parade is on the last Sunday of June, not mid-month as we used to say. It dates to 1970 and draws huge crowds along a route through Lakeview and the Northalsted neighborhood, so check the organizer's site for the current route and step-off time. Our gay Chicago page has more. In the neighborhoods, June is peak season for street fairs, including Andersonville's Midsommarfest, the Old Town Art Fair and Taste of Randolph. More in Chicago in June.

July: fireworks and the Taste

The 4th of July means fireworks, backyard barbecues and crowded beaches. Taste of Chicago is no longer a Fourth of July fixture. It's now a five-day, free-admission festival in Grant Park, and its dates have shifted from year to year, so check the city's page. You pay for food and drinks, and there's live music on several stages.

Chicago SummerDance is still going too. It's a free series of dance lessons followed by live music and social dancing, held in parks around the city and in the Spirit of Music Garden in Grant Park at Michigan Avenue and Balbo Drive. See the SummerDance schedule and our list of free events in Millennium Park and Grant Park.

Late July and August: Lollapalooza and the air show

Lollapalooza fills Grant Park for four days, usually in late July or the first days of August. It's ticketed, and the fencing goes up days before, so plan around it if you just want a quiet walk by Buckingham Fountain.

The Chicago Air and Water Show takes a weekend in mid-August. It's free and has run since 1959, and you can watch it from the lakefront anywhere between Fullerton Avenue and Oak Street, with North Avenue Beach at the center. The pilots also fly a rehearsal on the Friday. Read our tips for attending the Air and Water Show. August also brings Northalsted Market Days in Lakeview and the Bud Billiken Parade on the South Side, which is almost a century old. See Chicago in August.

September: jazz

The Chicago Jazz Festival is a free Labor Day weekend tradition, now based in Millennium Park and the Chicago Cultural Center, and programmed with the Jazz Institute of Chicago. Lincoln Square throws its German American Oktoberfest in September, and there's plenty more on our Labor Day weekend and September pages. If the jazz fest leaves you wanting more, try the blues and jazz clubs.

October: the marathon and Halloween

The Chicago Marathon is run on a Sunday in October. It starts and finishes in Grant Park, and it's one of the World Marathon Majors. Even if you're not running, it's worth heading out to cheer. Then, as the air turns cooler, Chicagoans start planning their costumes for Halloween, a night when the kids trick-or-treat and the adults dress to impress at the local bars and clubs. More in Chicago in October.

November and December: lights, markets and the parade

The holiday season starts on the Saturday before Thanksgiving with the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival. There are daytime activities on Michigan Avenue, and in the evening a parade heads south on Michigan Avenue from Oak Street toward Wacker Drive, followed by fireworks over the river.

The Christkindlmarket is a German-style Christmas market that has run in Daley Plaza since 1997. We had this wrong before. It opens on the Friday before Thanksgiving, the day before the Lights Festival, and stays open daily until Christmas Eve. There's a second market at Gallagher Way next to Wrigley Field that runs through New Year's Eve, and one in suburban Aurora. Entry is free. You'll pay for the glühwein, which comes in a collectible mug.

The Chicago Thanksgiving Parade goes down State Street on Thanksgiving morning, the fourth Thursday of November (we once said the third). It's been running since 1934 and it's on local TV if you'd rather watch from the couch. See our pages on Thanksgiving and Christmas events in Chicago, including ZooLights at Lincoln Park Zoo.

The year closes out with a bang on New Year's Eve. Navy Pier puts on fireworks over the lake. Some residents opt for a house party, while others spend the last night of the year dressed to the nines at their favorite nightclub.

Photo by ChicagoGeek