The Chicagoist will be launching later but in the meantime please enjoy our archives.

The Friday Flashback: The Milly

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Oct 22, 2010 9:00PM

We used to run a series called "The Friday Flashback." Figured now is as good a time to resurrect that, 'cause it was a lot of fun to write. Today, we're going back a decade to a time when Michael Jordan had only retired twice, Sammy Sosa was beloved, fiberglass cows were on parade throughout the city, Brian Urlacher was a wide-eyed young linebacker who could form complete sentences, Miegs Field still existed and parking meters were owned by the city.

Mayor Daley, like him or no, is a great cheerleader for Chicago. Millennium Park was two years into its construction and he wasn't going to wait for it to be completed to herald in the 21st Century. Basking in the afterglow of the Cows on Parade exhibit, the Department of Cultural Affairs commissioned a cultural celebration for the new millennium, inspired by the then dying-a-quick-death Macarena dance craze. The city commissioned noted choreographer Harrison McEldowney, who worked with every major dance company in town over the years and choreographed the closing ceremonies for the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics. A group called "The Millie Makers" wrote a song called "Do the Milly." We can't find an MP3 of the song (and believe us, we tried). But you can read the lyrics here.

Daley unveiled the Milly at a press conference attended by McEldowney, dancers doing the steps and singer Kurt Elling, who sang the song in what has to be one of the jazz great's lowest professional moments. The steps through the dance were painted everywhere on downtown sidewalks, like some twisted version of hopscotch. Needless to say, the Milly probably posed a greater threat to the city than fears of the Y2K virus.