Chicago’s newest openings and attractions for 2024

2024 is a packed year of celebrations for Chicago.

The city marks 20 years of Millennium Park, 65 years of comedy institution The Second City, and 35 years of the iconic Buddy Guy’s Legends.

Still, there is also a host of new happenings and attractions arriving this year in Chicago – there has never been a better time to visit.

Discover new hotels, restaurants, and eclectic festivals coming to the city throughout the year.

The spotlight continues to shine on the city after being featured in award winning TV show, The Bear, making Chicago a must visit foodie destination.

For the cultural explorers, Chicago’s 77 diverse neighborhoods are perfect for learning about the communities that make up the city.

Here are some of the hot new Chicago experiences to be had this year.

Accommodations:

L7 HOTEL – *new hotel opening spring 2024. Bringing one of Asia’s most prominent hotel brands stateside for the very first time, South Korea’s largest hotel group Lotte Hotels and Resorts introduces its vibrant, lifestyle-centric L7 HOTEL to downtown Chicago. Designed by award-winning design firm AvroKO, the aesthetics of the property reflect both its brand origins in Korea as well as the surrounding spirit of Chicago. It features 191 guest rooms (including 22 suites), unique wellness-focused amenities, a curated contemporary art and a signature ground-floor restaurant, PERILLA Korean American steakhouse.

Hyatt Regency Chicago This upscale hotel in the heart of the city will unveil a $102 million reimagination this spring. The renovation will encompass 2,032 guest rooms and suites along with the Regency and Crystal Ballrooms. The latest update to Illinois’ largest hotel comes on the heels of a $168 million lobby and meeting space rejuvenation in 2013, bringing the total investment into the hotel to more than $270 million in 10 years.

Food and Drink:

Hawksmoor opening spring 2024. Hawksmoor, one of London’s best-loved restaurants, is slated to open its location at The LaSalle Street Cable Car Powerhouse, a designated Chicago landmark, in spring 2024. The award-winning restaurant serves steaks from ethically reared cattle and sustainably sourced seafood alongside a progressive cocktail program.

Sushi-san opening early 2024. Sushi-san opens a new location in Lincoln Park in early 2024, joining the River North and Willis Tower locations. It will serve Sushi-san’s famous sushi, maki, nigiri/sashimi, and other signature dishes.

Feverdream opening early 2024. The second concept from Chicago’s Milkhorse Hospitality will be made up of a team of industry veterans including Mark Steuer, Felipe Hernandez, Kelsey Kasper, and Jason Turley. Feverdream will incorporate dietary accessibility within its menus and ensure that everyone can have a great meal and killer cocktail in an intimate, cool, vibey setting and space.

The Dearborn – Chicago O’Hare opening 2024. Chicago’s iconic Loop destination spot known for its world-class culinary program and exceptional hospitality, will open its second location at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport Terminal 5 in 2024.

Cariño opened December 2023. Carino in Uptown is an immersive culinary journey offering a Latin-inspired tasting menu and taco Omakase by Chef Norman Fenton. Each dish has been meticulously crafted to highlight the rich tapestry of flavors and ingredients found across Latin America.

Farm Bar Ravenswood opened November 2023.  Farm Bar brings approachable Midwestern fare straight from the farm, with an extensive menu of fresh salads and handhelds, craft cocktails, and a carefully crafted wine list.

Sports:

After a historic inaugural race in July 2023, NASCAR Chicago Street Race will return to downtown Chicago from July 6-7, 2024. Stay tuned for additional updates.

Festivals & Events:

2024 Chicago Auto Show February 10-19, 2024. The Chicago Auto Show is the largest in North America and has been held more times than any other auto exposition on the continent. This year marks the 116th edition. Held in McCormick Place, the Chicago show features multiple world and North American introductions and the complete range of domestic and imported passenger cars, trucks, sport-utility vehicles, minivans, and experimental and concept cars. In total, the 2024 Chicago Auto Show boasts hundreds of different vehicles from more than two dozen different manufacturers.

2024 Chicago St. Patrick’s Day Parade *March 16, 2024*

Chicago’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade​ and River Dyeing returns on Saturday, March 16. Sponsored by the Chicago Plumbers Local 130 UA, this iconic St. Patrick’s Day celebration will be celebrating its 69th anniversary in 2024.

EXPO CHICAGO April 11 – 14, 2024

The 11th edition of the in-person exposition returns to Navy Pier this spring. The International Exposition of Contemporary & Modern Art features leading international galleries alongside a platform for contemporary art and culture. In 2023, EXPO CHICAGO hosted 170 leading international exhibitors. The exposition draws upon the city’s rich history as a vibrant international cultural destination.

La Femme Dance Festival March 14-16,2024, This three-day biennial celebration of women in dance brings choreographic works created by women of the Black/African Diaspora to Chicago audiences. On March 14, the festival kicks off with a VIP opening reception at The Arts Club of Chicago, featuring a fireside chat with Emmy-nominated hip-hop and pop music choreographer Fatima Robinson about her legendary career. On March 15, Robinson and the festival will host a masterclass and professional development workshop for professional dancers at Red Clay Dance Company’s Center for Excellence. The closing performance at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance on March 16 will include the Chicago premiere of Portraits in Red by Paris-based choreographer Wanjiru Kamuyu.

Lunar New Year Parade Feb 18, 2024. Welcome the Year of the Dragon with traditional lion dances, cultural performances, and more during this colorful celebration. The parade feature traditional dragon and lion dancing teams, colorful floats, marching bands and marching groups.

Exhibitions (Immersive Art & Museums):  The Art Institute of Chicago has announced its winter/spring programming.

David Goldblatt: No Ulterior Motive through March 25, 2024 – South African photographer David Goldblatt (1930–2018) devoted himself to documenting his country and its people. Born into a family of Lithuanian Jews who emigrated to South Africa, Goldblatt focused much of his work on Johannesburg, the city where he lived for most of his life..

Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan through June 3, 2024 – Radical Clay celebrates thirty-six contemporary ceramic artists—all women—through 40 stunning, virtuosic pieces. Since World War II, women have made influential contributions to the ceramics field in Japan that have not been adequately recognized.

Chicago History Museum‘s Back Home: Polish Chicago is open now through June 8, 2024. Through the lens of Chicago’s Polish communities, experience the journeys immigrants have taken to get to the city, how they have established themselves in its neighborhoods, and the duality of feeling a deep connection to two places at once.

Hyde Park Art Center presents Aimée Beaubien: Through the Hothouse March 2-June 2, 2024. The installation by the internationally exhibited artist, who has established herself as an educator and peer in the Chicago art community, showcases her innovative techniques and transforms a 92-foot-long hallway into a green corridor by integrating elements such as plant matter, weaving, photographs, and 3D drawings.

Alice Shaddle: Fuller Circles March 23-June 16, 2024 – Discover the intricate world of Alice Shaddle (1928 – 2017), an artist whose practice centered more than 60 years on paper-based creations in Chicago. The exhibition introduces Shaddle’s ingenious, original manipulations of paper, including daring papier mâché bas relief sculpture; shadow boxes with haunting visages.

The United Colors of Robert Earl Paige April 6-October 27, 2024 – The largest exhibition of Robert Paige’s work to date, The United Colors of Robert Earl Paige, surveys the iconic textile designs and painted fabric of one of the most generative artists/designers from the South Side of Chicago.

Poetry Foundation will feature Kara Walker: Back of Hand until May 18, 2024. The exhibition features 2015 Book, a series of 11 typewritten pages with ink and watercolor illustrations and two large-scale drawings, The Ballad of How We Got Here and Feast of Famine. Completed in 2021, this will be the first time these works are shown in Chicago.

The Museum of Science and Industry has annually displayed the Black Creativity Juried Art Exhibition since 1970. On view through April 21 2024 and included in the Museum Entry, this exhibit features paintings, drawings, fine art prints, sculpture, mixed-media, ceramics and photography by African Americans, including youth artists between the ages of 14 and 17.

The National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture is hosting “Caribbean Indigenous Resistance / Resistencia Indígena del Caribe ¡Taíno Vive!” until June 16, 2024. The exhibition from the Smithsonian presents the history of the Taínos, the Indigenous peoples of the northern Caribbean islands, and how their descendants are reaffirming their culture and identity today.

The Richard H. Driehaus Museum will present A Tale of Today Sif Itona Westerberg: Twin Flame, Double Ruin February 16-April 14, 2024 this spring. This is the first solo US museum exhibition of Copenhagen-based artist Sif Itona Westerberg, featuring recent bronze and concrete sculptures that draw from popular mythological narratives in dialogue with the museum’s richly-ornamented 1883 Nickerson Mansion.

Attractions:

Flyover opening 1 March 2024. This multi-sensory experience, which incorporates leading drone technologies along with impressive aerial shots and first-person narratives, will showcase the city from perspectives never seen before. From climbing skyscrapers 13,000 ft. high to diving straight down buildings, and skimming sidewalks, this experience will be the first of its kind to hit Chicago.

St. Patrick’s Day Clover Cruise 16th March 2024. Chicago’s First Lady Cruises are bringing back their popular St. Patrick’s Day Clover Cruise  offering arguably the best spot to witness the dyeing of the Chicago River green. This 21+ event includes a 2-hour cruise experience, live bagpipe performance, specialty Irish cocktails, corned beef sandwich box, and festive décor.

Inside Chicago Walking Tours

The World Within (I) – Let Inside Chicago Walking Tours guide you inside some of the most attractiveinterior spaces you’ll ever see — spaces you’d surely pass by without a second glance if you weren’t shown them by a seasoned, in-the-know tour guide. Chicago’s Loop, full of offices, courtrooms, retail spaces, and business, is truly an overlooked treasure in terms of interior spaces.

Open Your Eyes: Chicago’s Underground Pedway & Other Secrets of the Loop – Experience Chicago’s famous “Pedway” – the mysterious underground tunnels downtown that keeps us all warm & dry in bad weather. Walking in the Pedway, through hidden corridors of stained glass and even underground swimming pools, access interiors that seem to come up out of nowhere plus the hidden passages, rich symbolism, and quirky stories.

Kindling x Skydeck. Chicago Loop’s newest live-fire hotspot on the ground floor of Willis Tower under the helm of James Beard Award Winning Chef Jonathon Sawyer, is teaming up with the nation’s tallest observation deck, Skydeck, to offer the ultimate experiential family activity this winter. (Neighborhood: The Loop)

IPW 2025. Chicago has been selected as the host city for U.S. Travel Association’s IPW in 2025. The last time Chicago hosted the leading inbound travel trade show was 2014. The conference will be held June 27 – July 1, 2025, at McCormick Place. 

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