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AAA Editor Notes
Millennium Park is at N. Michigan Ave. and E. Randolph St.; a welcome center is at 201 E. Randolph St. in the Northwest Exelon Pavilion. Adjacent to Grant Park and Chicago's lakefront, this 25-acre park features sculptures, gardens, a tree-lined promenade, a theater and an outdoor music pavilion. The park's focal point is “Cloud Gate” a free-form sculpture made of mirrorlike stainless steel. Visitors can see their reflections as they pass through the arched space beneath this 33-foot high, 110-ton artwork designed by British artist, Anish Kapoor.
When the weather is warm, parents take their children to splash around in The Crown Fountain, which has two 50-foot-high, glass-brick video towers showing a rotating display of diverse faces contributed by a thousand Chicagoans. Streams of water periodically shoot from the towers, making it look like the images are spitting into a shallow basin.
Another park highlight is the Frank Gehry-designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion with its distinctive band shell framed by huge folded ribbons of stainless steel. An impressive trellis made of interlaced steel pipes supports the pavilion's state-of-the-art sound system, allowing 11,000 concertgoers to enjoy outdoor music performances. The Millennium Monument, a replica of a 1917 neoclassical peristyle that once stood at this location, dominates the park's Wrigley Square.
An ice rink at McCormick Tribune Plaza accommodates skaters in winter. The 1,500-seat Harris Theater for Music and Dance hosts productions by several performing arts organizations. Free 1-hour guided tours of the park depart from the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph St., in summer. Guided and self-guiding tours of Lurie Garden also are available seasonally.
Guided tours are available. Picnicking is permitted. Food is available.
When the weather is warm, parents take their children to splash around in The Crown Fountain, which has two 50-foot-high, glass-brick video towers showing a rotating display of diverse faces contributed by a thousand Chicagoans. Streams of water periodically shoot from the towers, making it look like the images are spitting into a shallow basin.
Another park highlight is the Frank Gehry-designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion with its distinctive band shell framed by huge folded ribbons of stainless steel. An impressive trellis made of interlaced steel pipes supports the pavilion's state-of-the-art sound system, allowing 11,000 concertgoers to enjoy outdoor music performances. The Millennium Monument, a replica of a 1917 neoclassical peristyle that once stood at this location, dominates the park's Wrigley Square.
An ice rink at McCormick Tribune Plaza accommodates skaters in winter. The 1,500-seat Harris Theater for Music and Dance hosts productions by several performing arts organizations. Free 1-hour guided tours of the park depart from the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph St., in summer. Guided and self-guiding tours of Lurie Garden also are available seasonally.
Guided tours are available. Picnicking is permitted. Food is available.
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