This is a list of

festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

s in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Architecture

* Open House Chicago, October * Chicago Architecture Biennial

Arts and crafts

* 57th Street Art Fair, Hyde Park, June * Chicago Art Book Fair, November * Chicago Artists Month, September/October * Gold Coast Art Fair, Grant Park, June *

Manifest Manifest may refer to: Computing * Manifest file, a metadata file that enumerates files in a program or package * Manifest (CLI), a metadata text file for CLI assemblies Events * Manifest (convention), a defunct anime festival in Melbourne, Au ...

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1890, it has 6,493 students (as of fall 2021) pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. It i ...

, May * SOFA Chicago,

Navy Pier Navy Pier is a pier on the shoreline of Lake Michigan, located in the Streeterville neighborhood of the Near North Side, Chicago, Near North Side community area in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Navy Pier encompasses over of shops, restaura ...

, October/November (last held 2022) * Wells Street Art Festival,

Old Town In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins. In some cases, newer developments on t ...

, June

Community festivals and celebrations

* Andersonville City Made Fest, Andersonville, September * Fulton Fest, Near West Side, September * Northalsted Market Days, Boystown, August * Ribfest Chicago, North Center, June *

Six Corners BBQ Fest 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics A six-sided polygon is a hexagon, one of the three regular polygons capable of tiling the plane. A hexagon a ...

Six Corners Six Corners is a geographic term in Chicago due to Chicago's unique rectangular grid street system which is cut by a handful of diagonal streets, and therefore numerous intersections within the city contain six corners. "Six Corners" in in t ...

, Portage Park, June

Culture, heritage and folk

African Festival of the Arts African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** List ...

* American Spanish Dance and Music Festival * Celtic Fest Chicago * Chicago Humanities Festival * Fiesta Del Sol Pilsen * Lebanese Food Festival * Midwest Buddhist Temple Ginza Holiday Festival *

Printers Row Lit Fest Printers Row Lit Fest is an annual book fair and literary festival held in Chicago, Illinois in September. The fair's literary "tableau . . . fills a downtown district where linotype machines and printing presses once whirred." The neighborhood w ...

, June * Venetian Night, August * Von Steuben Day (Ferris Bueller's Day Off)

Fiction and fantasy

* Capricon *

Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo The Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) is fan convention dedicated to comics, pop culture, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, toys, movies, and television held annually in Chicago. The inaugural event was held April 16–18, 2010, ...

* Wizard World Chicago

Film

* Chicago Feminist Film Festival * Chicago International Children's Film Festival * Chicago International Documentary Film Festival *

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

* Chicago International REEL Shorts Festival * Chicago Latino Film Festival * Chicago Outdoor Film Festival * Chicago Palestine Film Festival * Chicago Underground Film Festival * Juggernaut: A Sci-Fi and Fantasy Film Festival * Midwest Film Festival * Midwest Independent Film Festival * Polish Film Festival in America * Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival

Flowers

* Botanic Gardens Antiques & Garden Fair * Chicago Flower and Garden Show

Food

* Chicago Food Truck Festival * Good Food Festival & Conference * Ribfest Chicago *

Taste of Chicago The Taste of Chicago (also known locally as The Taste) is the world's largest food festival, held in September in Chicago, Illinois in Grant Park. The event is also the largest festival in Chicago. Non-food-related events include live music on ...

* Taste of Polonia * Taste of Randolph, June

Holiday

* Christkindlmarket * Clark Street Spooktacular * Magnificent Mile Lights Festival * Spooky Zoo Spectacular * The Way of the Cross Downtown Chicago

LGBT

* Chicago Is a Drag Festival * Chicago Pride Parade

Music, theatre and performing arts

Music

* Alehorn of Power *

Chicago Blues Festival The Chicago Blues Festival is an annual event held in June, that features three days of performances by top-tier blues musicians, both old favorites and the up-and-coming. It is hosted by the Chicago, Illinois, City of Chicago Department of Cu ...

* Chicago Country Fest * Chicago Flamenco Festival * Chicago Gospel Music Festival * Chicago Jazz Festival * Chicago Maritime Festival * Estrojam's Decibelle Music and Culture Festival * The Fest for Beatles Fans * Grant Park Music Festival * Hyde Park Jazz Festival * Lake Shake * Latino Music Festival *

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...

* Mamby on the Beach *

Midwest Clinic The Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference is the world's largest instrumental music education conference, annually drawing approximately 17,000 attendees to Chicago from all 50 states and as many as forty countries. It is he ...

* Midwest Wonderland Music Festival * Million Tongues Festival * North Coast Music Festival * Pilsen Fest *

Pitchfork Music Festival Pitchfork Music Festival was an annual music festival in Union Park (Chicago), Union Park in Chicago, Illinois, organized by the online magazine ''Pitchfork (website), Pitchfork.'' Starting in 2011, the festival announced a branch staged in Paris ...

* Ribfest Chicago * Riot Fest * Ruido Fest * Spring Awakening Music Festival * Square Roots * Sueños * Wicker Park Fest * World Music Festival Chicago

Performing arts

* Chicago Fringe Festival * Chicago Improv Festival * Chicago Sketch Fest * Paragon: A Sci-Fi and Fantasy Short Theatre Play Festival * Windy City Burlesque Festival

Parades

* Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic * Chicago Columbus Day Parade * Chicago Pride Parade * Chicago St. Patrick's Day Parade * Chinese New Year Parade * McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade * Mexican Independence Day Parade * * Polish Constitution Day Parade * Puerto Rican Day Parade

Sports

* Bike The Drive * Boulevard Lakefront Tour * Chicago Marathon * Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac * Crosstown Classic

Transportation

* Chicago Air & Water Show *

Chicago Auto Show The Chicago Auto Show is held annually in February at Chicago's McCormick Place convention center. It is the largest auto show in North America. Event History Samuel Miles, formerly a promoter of bicycle shows, produced the first "official" ...

Other

* Around the Coyote * Chicago Science Festival * MDW Fair * Pier Walk * Version Fest * Viva Chicago

Discontinued festivals

* Art Chicago * Asian Animation Film Festival *

Chicago Railroad Fair The Chicago Railroad Fair was an event organized to celebrate and commemorate 100 years of railroad history west of Chicago, Illinois. It was held in Chicago in 1948 and 1949 along the shore of Lake Michigan and is often referred to as "the last ...

* Chicago Reggae Festival * ChicagoFest * Cineme * Green Apple Music & Arts Festival *

Intonation Music Festival The Intonation Music Festival was a yearly summer music festival held at Union Park in Chicago, Illinois. 2005 The festival was held on July 16–17, 2005. It was conceived of and launched by Skyline Chicago, who hired Pitchfork Media to curate, ...

* Looptopia

References

External links

Chicago festivals

Chitown Festivals

{{DEFAULTSORT:Festivals in Chicago *

Festivals A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...