Millennium Park and nearby Maggie Daley Park are two public spaces in Chicago where the whole day can be filled with play. At these parks locals from around the city and tourists come together to talk and engage in the outdoors. Most tourists visit Millennium Park to see Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate (The Bean), Chicago’s famous polished stainless-steel sculpture. The reflective surface captures the clouds above, buildings nearby and people gathering. It is a special occasion photo location so when hanging out for a bit you may be surprised by people carrying interesting props or wearing special attire for the occasion.
Another highlight in the park is Jaume Plensa’s multi-media Crown Fountain. This public art piece is fun, surreal and on hot summer days it is always refreshing. Chicagoans and tourists converge around the entertaining digital displays to cool down and interact with the water. The locals are always prepared with swimsuits and water shoes and the unprepared visitors can’t resist diving in with their street clothes and sneakers.
Inspired by classic gargoyle fountains Crown Fountain is made up of a black granite reflecting pool situated between two fifty-foot-tall glass block towers. Water continually cascades down the surfaces of the towers and people gather around to feel the spray. The two towers showcase a video projection of almost a thousand Chicagoans. They blink their eyes and pucker their lips as unexpected bursts of water spit on to kids and adults alike waiting in anticipation. Weather permitting the fountain operates May-October.
Nearby, the iconic steel Frank Gehry designed bandshell, the Jay Pritzker Pavilion offers free classical music concerts and films in summer. Also designed by Gehry is the biomorphic BP Pedestrian Bridge that guides visitors to many more ways to play at the creatively designed and landscaped Maggie Daley Park.
Maggie Daley Park includes roller-skating / blading (ice skating in winter), rock-climbing, miniature golf and six custom designed play areas. Each section is divided into landscaped rooms that include the wave lawn, the harbor, the watering hole, the slide crater, the enchanted forest, and the sea. You will experience upside-down trees, a mirror maze, an enormous structure with suspension bridge elevated by two towers and slides offering many play features. In the water play area a whale spouts as children splash each other. In another, kids’ work collaboratively and swing boats. The well-considered landscaping includes natural playthings such as hydrangea flowers that can be used as balls and seed pods that can be tossed in the air to watch fly.
Heading back to Millennium Park you will realize that the park sits on top of parking structures and rail lines. It is considered the world’s largest rooftop garden. On the Southern end of the park Lurie Garden is designed to be an urban model of responsible horticulture with its combination of perennials, bulbs, grasses, shrubs trees and maintenance practices. It is an oasis for wildlife. Near the gardens a quick walk across the Nichols Bridgeway, designed by Renzo Piano is the Art Institute of Chicago the USA’s 2nd largest museum.
