Yesterday evening John and I went downtown to see the Chicago Fire Festival. Miles stayed home because he’d been outside volunteering at a pumpkin patch all day, and was really done with being outdoors in the very chilly weather! The fire festival celebrated the great Chicago fire, which lasted from October 8-10, 1871. It just shows how changeable the weather is this time of year, since the year of the fire was so hot and dry the city burnt very easily and this October… not so much (details on that to come.)
The entertainment / story itself was set on the Chicago River downtown on either side of the Michigan Avenue bridge. Despite there being rain during the day, it was dry but a bit chilly, and people were bundled up very warm. We even got out our big box of winter accessories yesterday in preparation! We got an OK viewing spot down on the Riverwalk, just west of the Michigan Avenue bridge. Beautiful views!
There were three structures on barges floating in the river, representing pre-fire buildings. We think they were all similar but could only see one. Some very cool things happened, like cauldrons were lit and lowered from the bridges and brought to the barges, kayaks pulled other sculptures that were lit afire, the Children’s Choir came through on a big boat with beautiful music. Then a number of small boat / sculptures that represented industry at the time started gliding around the pre-fire city.
They were spewing sparks, and caught the wood frame city on fire:
Except… they didn’t really. There was a long delay at this point where the some 40,000 people gathered watched the city kinda burn. It was painful, like watching someone who just can’t get the BBQ grill lit. After a while the announcer said that there was an electrical issue and they would move to a manual igniting system, and after some more lighting, there were more flames. I think the house we were near was the least aflame, but it still was pretty cool to see. Then an amazing fireworks display was set off from the barge, which was pretty incredible given it was right there between all the skyscrapers and so close to the crowds. The fireworks were aimed pretty vertically so they just went straight up over the river. It was really dramatic both for the eyes and ears — the richochet of fireworks off all the buildings was incredible!
We headed off after the fireworks because at this point it was getting late due to the delays, and I had my race in the morning (more on that later today!). I think something happened at the end — sculptures emerged from the river maybe? It’s such a great idea for an event, I hope that we have it again next year, with some of these kinks worked out.
Oh and dinner? We lucked upon an amazing restaurant on Chicago Avenue that was open and had a table for us — Shaman by Chilim Balim. I know one reader who is a big fan of Chilim Balim — we were very wow’d by Shaman! YUM!
I like the comparison to watching someone trying (with some delay) to light a barbecue grill. Still, the project must have taken so much planning and preparation! Next year’s production will probably go more smoothly.
THat was amazing!
Looked like a fun evening!
Oh those photos made me miss our trips to Chicago – has been too long.
The fireworks going off in close quarters reminded me of Australia Day fireworks we brought Debbie to see where one seemed to go up way too close to us!