Things to Do in Chicago in June

June is when things really get into full swing in Chicago, and in many ways it's the ideal month to visit. Between free concerts in Millennium Park, the first big lakefront festival of the year, Pride and a neighborhood street fest on nearly every weekend, there's always something going on. Here are the highlights.

Dates move from year to year, so we've listed when things usually happen. For exact dates, check the city's festival dates page or each event's own site. Weather, crowds and packing are on our Chicago in June planning page.

Chicago Blues Festival (early June)

The city calls the Chicago Blues Festival the largest free blues festival in the world, and it's the one June event I'd plan a trip around. It used to be in Grant Park, but it moved to Millennium Park in 2017, with music from noon into the evening over a weekend in early June. Admission is free. The 2026 edition added an opening night at the Ramova Theatre on Halsted Street in Bridgeport. Bring a blanket for the Great Lawn, and if the fest leaves you wanting more, the city's blues and jazz clubs are open all year.

Free music all summer

The Grant Park Music Festival has been putting on free classical concerts since 1935. Its season opens in June and runs about ten weeks, with concerts on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. Pack a picnic and sit on the lawn. It's one of the best free nights out in the city.

The city's Millennium Park Summer Music Series and Summer Film Series start in mid to late June at the same pavilion. We cover all of them in free events in Millennium Park and Grant Park.

If you're willing to go to the suburbs, Ravinia in Highland Park has been running outdoor summer concerts since 1904. It's ticketed, but people bring elaborate picnics for the lawn. Metra's Union Pacific North line stops right at its gate during the season, so you don't need a car. See the Ravinia calendar.

Street fests

June is prime neighborhood festival season. Most ask a suggested donation at the gate, and it's the main fundraiser for the neighborhood groups that run them. A few to plan around:

• Old Town Art Fair, usually on the second weekend of June, brings more than 200 artists to the Old Town Triangle, along with a garden walk and live music. The Wells Street Art Festival runs a few blocks away on the same weekend.
• Andersonville Midsommarfest fills Clark Street in mid-June, celebrating the neighborhood's Swedish roots. The suggested donation is $10.
• Taste of Randolph takes over Randolph Street's restaurant row in the West Loop every Father's Day weekend.
• The 57th Street Art Fair in Hyde Park, the city's oldest juried art fair, is another June regular, and Do Division in West Town usually lands in late May or early June.

Pride (late June)

June is Pride Month, and Chicago goes big for it. Chicago Pride Fest, run by the Northalsted Business Alliance, is a two-day street festival on Halsted Street the weekend before the parade. The Chicago Pride Parade steps off at 11am on the last Sunday of June. Its organizers say it's the oldest Pride parade in the country, and it has run since 1970. It pulls enormous crowds through Lakeview, so take the Red Line or Brown Line rather than trying to drive, and check PRIDEChicago's site for the route. Our gay Chicago page has more.

Outdoors

The Chicago Park District's beaches have lifeguards from the Friday before Memorial Day through Labor Day, 11am to 7pm. The water is still cold in June, so you may be lying on the sand more than swimming in the lake. The Lakefront Trail is at its best on a June morning, before the heat sets in.

Navy Pier puts on free fireworks over the lake all summer, on Wednesday nights at 9pm and Saturday nights at 10pm in recent seasons. You can see them from all along the lakefront, and the view from a spot up the shore beats fighting the crowd on the pier.

Baseball is in full swing too. The Cubs play at Wrigley Field (Red Line to Addison), and the White Sox play at Rate Field, which dropped the "Guaranteed" from its name in 2024 (Red Line to Sox-35th).

Green City Market, the city's best-known farmers market, runs on Wednesday and Saturday mornings from 7am to 1pm at 1817 N. Clark Street, at the south end of Lincoln Park. It's a good breakfast before a walk to the free Lincoln Park Zoo. There's more on our farmers markets page.

If it rains

June afternoon storms don't usually last long, and the museums are the obvious place to wait one out. The Art Institute, the Field Museum and the Museum of Science and Industry can each eat most of a day. Illinois residents get free days at many of the big museums, which we track on our free museum days page. For more, see things to do on rainy days and theatre in Chicago.

What's not in June anymore

Older versions of this page listed a few events that have moved or changed. Printers Row Lit Fest, the big free book fair on Dearborn Street, used to be a June fixture, but it's now held in September. Taste of Chicago no longer opens in late June. It's now a five-day festival, and its dates have moved around, so see things to do in Chicago in July. Lincoln Square's German fest is now spelled Maifest and usually falls in late May or early June.

For the rest of the year, see our holidays and events calendar and what to do in Chicago in summer.

Photos by adriangonsalves, Brandon Cirillo