THIS WEEKEND IN CHICAGO – Labor Day Holiday Brings Summer’s Last Hurrah!

The Labor Day holiday weekend has arrived in Chicago!  This usually signals summer’s last hurrah.  But, as usual, Chicagoans aren’t ready to throw the towel in yet!!  So, here are a few of the must-sees and dos for your Chicago Labor Day Weekend!

The oldest of Chicago’s free lakefront music festivals, the Chicago Jazz Festival, brings jazz to the beautiful Millennium Park (201 E. Randolph St.) in The Loop, as well as inside the nearby Chicago Cultural Center, this weekend.  Celebrating its 40th year, this festival showcases the greatest jazz artists from Chicago and around the world!  Headliner performances include jazz greats Ramsey Lewis, Kurt Elling, Dianne Reeves, Marceo Parker, and Orbert Davis’ Chicago Jazz Philharmonic; along with other influential modern masters and crucial new voices to jazz’s continuing evolution!!

It wouldn’t be summer’s last hurrah without the Great American Lobster Fest returning  for its 5th year to Navy Pier (600 E. Grand Ave.) in the Streeterville neighborhood.  This is the Midwest’s largest lobster and seafood festival, where attendees can enjoy live lobster flown in fresh from the East Coast!  There will also be plenty of land-food options, cold beverages, live music performances, family-friendly games and activities, and unique arts/craft shopping to add to the experience!!

Chicago’s Washington Park (northeast section) will once again come alive as a simulated African village to host the 29th annual African Festival of the Arts this holiday weekend.  Vibrant drumming, museum quality and collectible artifacts, colorful and rich handwoven fabric and textiles, and interactive engagements will transport you across the Diaspora!  And, this year’s interactive spaces include:  Drum & Afro-folk Village, Children and Family, African Heritage, African Spirituality, Food Court, the African Marketplace, and many others!!

Another annual Labor Day weekend festival returns to the Jefferson Park neighborhood at the Copernicus Center (5216 W. Lawrence Ave.) with the Taste of Polonia Festival.  Enjoy four days of live music with over 30 bands on four stages performing polka, rock, pop, jazz, classical, and more!  Let’s not forget this festival’s other great features: Polish food and Polish beer, bounce inflatables, a climbing wall, face painting, clowns, a casino, tastings and cooking classes, carnival rides and games … and a whole lot more!!

The TBOX Hawaiian Bar Crawl comes to the Wrigleyville neighborhood this Sunday starting at 2:00 p.m. at Casey Moran’s (3660 N. Clark St.) with a free Pig Roast.  Then it’s off to the other participating bars to collect a different colored TBOX Lei.  But, to win prizes, you must stop at each bar to collect all the Leis!  There’s even a dance party at the last stop around 8:00 p.m.  It’s a tropical themed event where everybody gets Lei’d!!

Due to the Labor Day holiday weekend, only one Movies in the Parks will be shown this weekend and is listed below.  We’ll see you next weekend!

Saturday, September 1st:
“Moana” (8:15 p.m.) – Piotrowski Park (4247 W. 31st St.) – South Lawndale/Little Village

Could This Really Be Summer’s Last Hurrah?