The free, outdoor classical music festival took place from June 12 to August 17 this year and offered diverse programming. Highlights ranged from a Pink Martini concert to Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. The festival reached new audiences this year by bringing the Grant Park chorus to two local park-district facilities; 2013 also saw the launch of “Project Inclusion.” Developed in partnership with the Chicago Sinfonietta, the professional development program assists young minority musicians. Next: June 11-August 16, 2014
Success and change were common themes among Chicago's biggest and most influential events. City festivals were reinvented to promising ends, fund-raisers had their highest-grossing year or drew their largest-ever crowd of philanthropists, and the staples that put Chicago on the international event map stayed strong.
From established affairs like the American Cancer Society's Discovery Ball and Lollapalooza to newcomers like the Old Town Art Fair and the Green Tie Ball, which made its return to the list this year, here are our picks for the events that annually draw the biggest buzz, crowds, media and donor attention, and important players in their respective fields.
To choose and rank the annual events on this list, we look at several factors, including economic impact, buzz, innovation, and an event's prominence within the communities it intends to serve.
