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Headline acts this year included The Weeknd (pictured), along with Bruno Mars, Jack White, and Arctic Monkeys.

Lollapalooza 2018: How Brands Such as Toyota and American Eagle Drew Guests In — And Kept Them Cool

BLVD came to Fulton Market in June. Inspired by Hollywood in the 1950s, the restaurant offers shareable plates of American fare—think whipped-avocado toast, house-made pappardelle, and giant seafood towers. Upstairs, a private dining space known as the Champagne Room holds seated dinners for 50, and has an additional 10 seats at its bar. The room also holds standing receptions for 75. Just off the Champagne Room, the Lounge holds seated dinners for 35 or receptions for 50. Hosts may opt for a full upstairs buyout, reserving the Champagne Room and the Lounge together. Downstairs, the main dining room seats 85 for dinner; it also has a bar with nine seats and high-top tables that seat 16. The entire venue is available for buyouts.

Best of 2017: 10 Most Notable Chicago Venue Openings of 2017

#10 Festival The free, classical music festival runs each summer for 10 weeks. This year, organizers made an effort to increase educational programming. Events included a half-day musical immersion program for children in Millennium Park, as well as lectures before concerts. Next: Summer 2018

Chicago's Top 100 Events 2017

Ella Elli opened in Lakeview in March. The globally inspired restaurant serves charcuterie, toasts, and pizzas cooked in a wood-burning oven. With decor inspired by the 1920s, the 2,200-square-foot restaurant has around 70 seats that include love seats, couches, barstools, and booths. Replete with a fireplace-lit lounge, the venue offers buyouts for receptions of 100 guests.

10 Festive New Venues for Holiday Parties in Chicago

Lollapalooza returned to Chicago's Grant Park from August 3 to 6. Between stages, festival grounds offered plenty of props for guests to pose with—including a giant fake lollipop in the festival's signature blue-and-orange hues.

Lollapalooza 2017: 24 Whimsical, Nostalgic Ideas From Sponsors and Brands

Hotel EMC2 opened in Streeterville in May. The 21-story hotel has 195 rooms, and a design scheme inspired by art and science. Artwork from local artists spruces up the public spaces, while guest rooms pay subtle homage to 1920s laboratories. (The freestanding bathrooms, for example, reference wet labs.) Decked with vintage science books, the hotel's restaurant, the Albert (pictured), has 120 seats including a chef's table that seats 20. The eatery serves seasonal, globally inspired fare, and a major design feature is a custom glass structure called 'the infusary,' which pours house-infused liquors. The hotel's 2,000 square feet of meeting space includes two meeting and event rooms, each decked with blackboard-style art installations. The 812-square-foot Emmy Noether room, named after the famous mathematician, holds conferences for 22 or receptions for 50. The 988-square-foot Symmetry Room holds conferences for 28 or receptions for 75. There's also a 690-square-foot terrace, which holds receptions for 35.

10 New Venues in Chicago for Fall Meetings and Events

After dinner, guests retreated to a 'glamping' theme after-party. The custom 12-by-14-foot tents were filled with custom benches by Fragrant Design, as well as directors chairs and decorative lanterns. Each tent had a dedicated server for food and drink service.

How One Gala Took Guests on Safari

The dining tent featured colorful, tentacle-strewn decor that HMR Designs created in collaboration with Takashi Murakami.

How Takashi Murakami’s Pop-Art Octopus Inspired a Gala

Design Spring2017 Cover Heroboxcs52

Event Innovators 2017: Most Innovative People in Events & Meetings

Event Innovators 2017: Taylor Carlson

Crains Ar Credit Crains Chicago Business Kendall Karmanian

Event Innovators 2017: Steven Dyme & Jo Dickstein

The third location of taqueria Broken English opened in Lincoln Park on April 20. The color-drenched venue serves casual Mexican fare, margaritas, and mezcal cocktails. A private dining room with its own entrance seats 50 or holds 75 for receptions. For summertime events, a patio with hanging TVs and its own bar seats approximately 100 guests at picnic and highboy tables.

10 New Venues in Chicago for Summer Entertaining and Events

The JW Marriott El Convento Cusco is a five-star hotel on the site of a 16th-century convent. On site, the property offers 153 guest rooms, and about 9,400 square feet of event space. Hotel reps arrange off-site activities for small or large meeting or incentive groups. One such outing is a full-day excursion lot the peak of Machu Picchu (pictured).

5 Adventurous, Outdoorsy Teambuilding Activities From Around the World

Kehoe Designs created a custom Slinky installation to hang above the venue's light-up dance floor.

See an '80s-Style "Throwback Thursday" Party