The Great Chicago Fire Festival
Sure, the weather was to blame, right? But the unspoken criticism of this spectacle on the river, hyped for more than a year and compared to opening ceremonies at the Olympics in some breathless advance accounts, was that even if Redmoon had succeeded in torching its river floats, the whole thing would have been a fair bit underwhelming. With vendors from the neighborhoods selling candy and jewelry, middling live musical acts and a few food trucks, the event was a perfectly fine affair—if it were, say, a neighborhood street festival. But spectacle of a much higher order is what we were promised, and fire or not, spectacle it would not, could not, have been. Remember, we expect magic to stir our blood in Chicago.
Audience Choice: School closings
Other audience comments that caught our attention: “Getting wine from Rauner”; “His t-shirt tucked in his pants at a Blackhawks game”; “potholes.”
Best of Chicago 2014
