Chicago hosts variety of free festivals

CHICAGO -- In this city known for its buildings, locals know the best place to be in the summer is outside.\nFrom an air and water show expected to draw 2 million people to Lake Michigan's shores later this month to music festivals and movies in a downtown park, dozens of free outdoor events are Chicagoans' reward after months of being cooped up.\n"Sometimes winter doesn't end until May," said 38-year-old Mai Dubrick, who moved here from Virginia two years ago. "After you hibernate for nine months, the three (summer) months you appreciate a lot."\nDubrick and her husband, Jon, were among 38,000 people who turned out on a recent sweltering evening to see "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" on a 50-by-25-foot screen in Grant Park as part of the Chicago Outdoor Film Festival, which runs on Tuesdays through Aug. 23.\n"One of the reasons why I won't move from the city is all the great things they do for free," said lifelong Chicagoan Nikki Piermarini, 44, who also came out for the show.\nEven the summer's sometimes oppressive heat can't keep people away from the festivals.\n"Chicagoans, like most Midwesterners, are pretty hearty folks," said Cheryl Hughes, director of program development in the Mayor's Office of Special Events.\nChicagoans apparently love to dance, which has helped to make the Summer Dance Festival at Grant Park a hit. Dancers take free lessons to learn everything from samba and swing to the polka and zydeco before boogying for two hours to live music during the 11-week festival that runs through Aug. 28.\nOn a recent evening, Lisa Szczupaj twisted and turned with her 4-year-old son while her husband, Jim, danced with their 16-week-old baby boy in his arms.\n"It's a family thing to do together," she said. "We go to the neighborhood festivals, but we love the downtown stuff."\nSummer revelers don't have to look far to find something to do. This month more than 40 neighborhood gatherings are spread throughout the city, featuring the arts, food and ethnic themes from Korean to Ukrainian.\nThe city pays homage to its music roots throughout the summer with a series of lakefront festivals featuring blues, country, Latin and jazz artists.\nThe Jazz Festival, now in its 27th year, usually draws 300,000 people to the lakefront Grant Park over Labor Day weekend, said Jennifer Washington, the event's manager from the Mayor's Office of Special Events.\nThis year's festival, which runs Sept. 1-4, will feature an 80th birthday party for jazz legend Roy Haynes, who is scheduled to perform Sept. 2.\nSays Chicago resident Ed Purnell, a 52-year-old high school administrator who frequents Summer Dance, Venetian Night and the Jazz Festival: "I love summer in the city"