On the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, Lake Shore Dr goes car-free for a day as Chicagoans bring out their two-wheeled steeds and rule the road along the city's epic waterfront. Around 20,000 Bike the Drive cyclists roll merrily along the parkway to celebrate the unofficial start of summer. The pancake breakfast and post-party funk band soothe tired muscles after the 30-mile ride.
Dates and price: May 24, 2015; adult/child $47/16
For two days in June, over 150,000 bibliophiles swarm S Dearborn St, aka Printers Row, for this literary event which features thousands of rare and not-so-rare books for sale, plus author readings. Fill a bag as you browse the booths on the very street where printing companies used to cluster back in the day when Chicago was a publishing hub.
Dates and price: Jun 6–7, 2015; free
When half a million people stream toward Grant Park with blankets and picnic baskets in tow, it's kickoff time for Blues Fest . Fans flock to hear guitar notes slide, bass lines roll and fret-bending bands work their mojo. It's the largest free blues gig in the world – a fitting legacy for the city that electrified the genre. Local axe-man Buddy Guy stars in 2015.
Dates and price: Jun 12–14, 2015; free
Follow sweet symphonic sounds to the Pritzker Pavilion – Millennium Park's swooping silver band shell designed by Frank Gehry – and behold the Grant Park Orchestra. Top musicians from around the world come to partake of this music festival, where locals pile in with wine and whopping picnics to hear the likes of Shostakovich, Beethoven and Schumann play out to a backdrop of glowing skyscrapers.
Dates and price: Wed, Fri and Sat, Jun 17–Aug 22, 2015; free
Chicagoans of all stripes filter in to the Spirit of Music Garden in Grant Park to boogie on weekends for SummerDance. Instructors lead lessons in samba, tango, rumba or another style. Once the group masters the footwork, a band arrives to play the music. The result is a rip-roaring, open-air global dance party.
Dates and price: Fri, Sat & Sun Jun 26-Sep 15, 2015; free
This Grant Park food festival pulls in enormous crowds hungry for its assortment of sweet and savory local edibles. Sniff through the maze of 60 vendors and food trucks. What will it be: West African jollof rice or a medieval-sized turkey leg? Peach cobbler or a Polish sausage with sauerkraut? There's also free live music from big-name bands. Stevie Wonder, Robert Plant and the Replacements are among those who've played amid the sizzling grills.
Dates and price: Jul 8–12, 2015; free
Bespectacled indie-rock fans get giddy for the taste-making line-up of alternative and emerging acts at the Pitchfork Music Festival . The young crowd – in thrift store sun-dresses and Converse high tops, tie-dyed shirts and jean shorts – roams between the three main stages in offbeat Union Park, with pit stops to buy vinyl and crocheted wares in between. Wilco, Chance the Rapper and Sleater-Kinney cap the 2015 bill.
Dates and price: Jul 17–19, 2015; 1-/3-day pass $65/180
The super-sized rock festival amps up Grant Park like no other bash, with 130 bands getting loud on eight stages. For three full days guitars thrash, lights spin, and the audience dances into a sweaty, arm-flailing frenzy. Paul McCartney, Metallica and Florence + the Machine headline the 2015 gig. Beyond rock and roll, Lolla has tents for video game playing, eco-friendly shopping and chowing down on lobster corndogs . Two million people gather to see daredevil jets curlicue in the sky and parachutes pop and drift toward shore. Families go ga-ga for the action. North Avenue Beach is the viewing epicenter.
Dates and price: Aug 15–16, 2015; free
Jazz Fest anchors the city's Labor Day festivities. Devotees chill in chairs on Millennium Park's lawn or in the marble confines of the Chicago Cultural Center, and pretend the prominent musicians aren't blowing the last notes of summer on their horns. Well into its fourth decade, Jazz Fest has seen Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Charlie Haden and their like bebop into the night.
Dates and price: Sep 3–6, 2015; free
