Millennium Park

Downtown Chicago --Randolph and Michigan
Chicago, IL

Submitted by: Joellen Sbrissa

Millennium Park is Chicago's newest showcase.

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05/25/05 Grace Sbrissa said:

Millennium Park is awesome! One of my favorite Chicago places! Concerts in the park, interactive art, people from all walks of life and ages, all for the enjoyment of the folks who are fortunate enough to be there! Don't miss this Chicago landmark on Lake Michigan, right along Chicago's lakefront!

06/22/05 Katie Salay said:

I found Millennium Park to be a mix of very active areas and completely dead spaces. On a beautiful weekend afternoon in June, the park was fairly crowded with visitors, but I realized that most of the people were simply through the paths and looking at the various design features, rather than actually doing anything. I thought that many of the visitors were probably like me – visiting the park for the first time, there to see if it was worth all the fuss and the big budget. Millennium Park needs more destinations and activities to draw these people back after they’ve taken a look around.

The Crown Fountain is by far the most exciting place in the park. While some areas of the park were practically empty, the fountain was teeming with people and energy. I saw an incredible mix of people enjoying the water, and sitting back to watch the activity. At the same time, the Great Lawn at the music pavilion was nearly empty. I was expecting to find a scene similar to the Sheep’s Meadow, an open lawn in NYC’s Central Park that is usually packed with people on picnic blankets, playing catch or Frisbee, strumming guitars, etc.

I also found that the distinct sections of the park were not at all integrated with one another. For example, the Lurie Garden is very beautifully landscaped, but completely disconnected from the rest of the park. Two of the garden’s perimeters are comprised of a barricade of trees that prevent you from looking in, or seeing out. The trees are oddly enclosed in a fence that, at first glance, made me think to myself, they’ve put the trees in jail! Rather than this creating a calm feeling of being in a garden oasis, I instead felt isolated.

There is a food and dining area that was very busy, but again, the activity in this area was completely confined in one small section of the park, rather than integrated with other uses.

I was thrilled to come across a sign directing me towards bicycle rentals. Riding a bike along the lakefront path was the highlight of my day.

10/31/05 Daniel Makagon said:

I think the Bean is a wonderful piece of public art and the video installation/waterfall is great for kids. But the park on the whole is not user-friendly beyond these two projects. Millennium Park is a space for spectation rather than participation. Bike riders are told not to ride in the park, kids on scooters are told not to ride. The lawns are often closed. There are few trees to provide shade during the summer. It feels like a place that we should look at rather than *use*. But perhaps we have become accustomed to such approaches given the mallization of the United States.