Friday, May 25, 2012

Chicago: Family Fun Festival



The Family Fun Festival returns to Millennium Park this summer, making the Park the place to be for kids of all ages. Every day, from July 2 through September 2 between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., family performances and hands-on activities will take place in the Family Fun Tent, located on the Park’s Chase Promenade North. The Family Fun Festival is sponsored by Target and presented by the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.

“At Target, we are committed to serving local communities where we do business,” said Laysha Ward, President, Community Relations, Target. “That’s why we are proud to partner with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events to present the Family Fun Festival as we work to strengthen communities and enrich the lives of our guests and team members.”

Activities in the Family Fun Tent every day include Wiggleworms® at 10 a.m., when instructors from the Old Town School of Folk Music lead young children in a fun-filled sing-along that has kids singing and dancing to popular children’s favorites from the Wiggleworms program. A reading circle follows at 11 a.m., and concerts by some of the most notable names in local and regional entertainment will take place at 1 p.m.

Throughout the day, the Family Fun Tent’s Activity Zone will include hands-on craft projects and garden, science and environmental activities led by some of the region’s popular museums and cultural institutions, including Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Architecture Foundation, Chicago History Museum, Chicago Park District, Chicago Wilderness, Chicago Youth Circus, CircEsteem, Lurie Garden, Museum of Science and Industry, Swedish American Museum and William Moss and Friends.

The Family Fun performer line-up and the Activity Zone schedule can be found at www.millenniumpark.org. For more information about the Family Fun Festival and all of the programming in Millennium Park this summer, visit millenniumpark.org, call 312.742.1168, visit Millennium Park on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @Millennium_Park.

Weekly Activity Zone Partners
July 2-8

Wild in the City with activities led by Chicago Wilderness
July 9-15

Pop Goes the Easel with activities led by Art Institute of Chicago
July 16-22

Past, Present and Future: Your Chicago with activities led by Chicago History Museum
July 23-29

Under the Big Top with activities led by CircEsteem and Chicago Youth Circus
 July 30-August 5

Architecture Week: Building Chicago with activities led by Chicago Architecture Foundation
August 6-12
TBD
August 13-19

Science and Exploration with activities led by Museum of Science and Industry
August 20-26

Cultural Exchange: Explore Swedish Traditions with activities led by Swedish American Museum
August 27-September 2

Garden in the City with activities led by Lurie Garden (August 27-31) and Get Out & Grow with activities led by William Moss and Friends (September 1-2)

Millennium Park
Millennium Park is located in the heart of downtown Chicago. It is bordered by Michigan Ave. to the west, Columbus Dr. to the east, Randolph St. to the north and Monroe St. to the south. Convenient parking is located in the Millennium Park Garage (entrance on Columbus at Monroe or Randolph) and at the Grant Park North and East Monroe Garages, all located within a short walking distance of Millennium Park. 

Millennium Park, managed and programmed by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, is an award-winning center for art, music, architecture and landscape design. The result of a unique partnership between the City of Chicago and the philanthropic community, the 24.5-acre park features the work of world-renowned architects, planners, artists and designers. Among Millennium Park’s prominent features are the Frank Gehry-designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion, the most sophisticated outdoor concert venue of its kind in the United States; the interactive Crown Fountain by Jaume Plensa; the contemporary Lurie Garden designed by the team of Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, Piet Oudolf and Robert Israel; and Anish Kapoor’s hugely popular Cloud Gate sculpture. 

For more family fun in Chicago check out the article on FamilyCorner - Fun Things to Do with Your Kids in Chicago