Northalsted Market Days is all about names, names, names. Over its 41-year history, the stages of the Midwest’s largest street festival, hosted in Chicago’s Boystown, have featured the likes of Aaron Carter, Belinda Carlisle, Big Freedia, Darren Criss, David Cassidy, Gloria Gaynor, Icona Pop, Margaret Cho, The Pointer Sisters and Todrick Hall.
This year Betty Who, Crystal Waters, Shea Couleé, Kylie Sonique Love, DRAMA, Boyfriend, KC Ortiz and Moscow-based protest and performance art group Pussy Riot, along with DJs Dan Slater and Danny Verde, will be whipping hundreds of thousands of people into a frenzy the weekend of August 12 and 13.
“It attracts people nationally and internationally, it’s really quite amazing,” says Mark Liberson, chairperson of the festival. “People come in from Europe, Australia, Asia. There’s so much late-night going on across the city as well as the street party. There’s so many talented performers and DJs and local acts, there’s something for everything.”
Part of the event’s special sauce—aside from being much less political than the city’s Pride Parade and Pride Fest—is that the “unofficial” ticket parties like Circuit Mom, BRUT Chicago, Furball from NYC and MEAT from NYC are as big a draw as the half-mile (800-metre, if you’re going to be that way) street party, which has the nice price of a suggested donation of $20.
“What also has made Market Days a draw is that we really grew the dance-party element within the festival as we’ve grown the dance-party element at venues outside the festival, including some of the biggest venues in the city,” says Liberson.
Liberson knows of which he speaks. As well as being lead organizer at Pride Fest, which takes place in June, he’s the owner of late-night dance destination Hydrate Nightclub, as well as Lakeview’s Replay Beer and Bourbon. DJs are his thing.
“The dance party aspect really began because Hydrate had a small dance stage we began 20 years ago, the continuation of what was the Manhole stage at that corner,” he says. “We grew that from a tiny platform stage into a giant stage with LED screens and international DJs and people were loving it. It was really unique to Chicago and something that you normally would have to go to the East or West Coast to experience and at a much higher price tag.”
This year they’ve added a stage for entertainers from the local bar scene, including DJs and drag queens. There will also be a series of drag shows through both afternoons.
Back in 1981, the event was originally created as—you guessed it—a market, and there are still stalls for shopping over the course of the weekend.
Travel tip: Remember that Chicago sprawls. The closest hotel to the action, and also a perennial favourite, is probably the Best Western PLUS Hawthorne Terrace, but the Majestic Hotel has more charm.
