CHICAGO is a world-class destination with lots to see and do. And one of the crown jewels of Chicago is MILLENNIUM PARK. It is a must-see for anyone visiting Chicago!

June thru August, there are lots free programs offered. Free lunchtime concerts,  talks or readings.

The park has a variety free concerts and music festivals ongoing all summer. Some evenings at 6:30, some lunchtimes around 12:15, and weekends, depending. Gospel, blues, jazz and other types of music festivals. Check their schedule.

Bring your food and a big bottle of water, and sit around all day or all evening! You can bring a bottle of wine or some beer too - or there is a restaurant on the grounds and a carry-out cafe.

It was Mayor of Chicago Richard M. Daley's ambitious idea to realize that which was originally designed as part of Daniel Burnham's Plan of Chicago, a plan for the future of Chicago created in 1909.

The project was known for its notorious delays (it was originally intended to open in 2000 instead of 2004) and tripled costs. Some Chicagoans began to refer to the project deridingly as "next-millennium" park.

During development and construction of the park, many structures were added, redesigned or modified. These changes often resulted in budget increases. For example, the band shell's proposed budget was $10.8 million. When the elaborate, cantilevered Frank Gehry design required extra piling be driven into the bedrock to support the added weight, the cost of the band shell eventually spiraled to $60.3 million. The total cost of the park  amounted to almost $500 million.

 
Crown Fountain, named in honor of Chicago's Crown family, was designed by Catalan conceptual artist Jaume Plensa, and is the first of its kind in the world. Transparent glass block bricks are used to build two 50-foot (15 m) towers standing at either end of a long, black granite plaza submerged under an eighth of an inch layer of water. Behind the glass bricks are high-tech LED video screens that when illuminated, scrolls through videos of the faces of nearly a thousand individual Chicagoans and showcases the vast diversity of the city while a stream of water cascades over the images.

 Cloud Gate, a three-story, 110-ton steel sculpture that has been dubbed by residents as "The Bean". The sculpture is the work of world-renowned artist Anish Kapoor and is the first of his public art in the United States. The piece was privately funded and the total cost was $23 million — up from the original estimate of $6 million.

Cloud Gate is a highly-polished reflective steel sculpture that is meant to resemble a drop of mercury hovering at the point of landing on a plaza of the park.

While it is a not a gay attraction (everything can't be gay!) it does draw a very international crowd and there are always hotties walking around on any given day! And it's a must-see!

The Best of Gay Chicago!