""Lollapalooza is an enormous affair: various stages, tents everywhere, merchandise everywhere, people camping out," Allison says. "All these events are packed with the same people who share your interests and are excited to see the same things you are. It attracts people from all over the world." Last year, more than 200,000 people attended the event, with bands performing on more than eight stages.
Grant Park is also the site of Taste of Chicago, the world's largest outdoor food festival that combines food with music and annually attracts more than three million people worldwide. Big names such as Stevie Wonder, Plain White T's and Joss Stone will perform at this year's 28th annual event from June 27 to July 6. Popular local food vendors at Taste serve up deep-dish pizza, hot dogs, ribs, cheesecake, Italian Beef sandwiches and more. Feeling more adventurous? Not-so-common food choices from the past included goat meat and alcapurria (pork-filled banana dumplings).
For a different genre of music and people, there's the Pitchfork Music Festival July 18-20 in Union Park. Bands performing include Public Enemy, Sebadoh and Mission of Burma. The festival will again feature a "Don't Look Back" stage, where one band plays its albums in entirety. Compared to Lollapalooza, Pitchfork is a much smaller event. Last year's festival, headlined by Yoko Ono, sold out to 48,000 attendees. "At Pitchfork, it's a more indie and cultish underground, but still with respected bands," Allison says. Whatever your preferred scene, make sure you get downtown at least once this summer to one of Chicago's famous festivals and experience summer in the city for yourself.