Embrace Chicago's Cold Shoulder With The Heavy Duty Winter Tour

By Jessica Mlinaric in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 7, 2014 5:30PM

Photo Credit: Jessica Mlinaric/Chicagoist

Winter is coming. Chicago winter. We won’t see some of you until that first 40 degree “shorts day” in March when you stagger out of a Netflix coma, the survivor of untold polar vortices. Some of you, however, will gear up in good Midwestern fashion and do your best to enjoy this stunning and severe Chicago chapter.

Chicago Elevated intends to help make the most of our longest season with their “Heavy Duty Winter Tour.”

Starting December 19, Chicago Elevated will offer this tour “for the badasses, the courageous, the adventurous!”

The Heavy Duty Winter Tour will begin at the Fairmont Hotel, with stops at the new Maggie Daley Park, the Cultural Center, Millennium Park, and Lake Michigan before ending up back at the Fairmont for a hot drink. You’ll cross a heated bridge along the way and stop at a few off the beaten path warm-up spots along the way.

“The past few years I've become really enamored [of] winter,” said Chicago Elevated founder, and tour guide, Margaret Hicks. “Winter has become a really pretty and quiet time for me ... and I've gotten really good at keeping myself warm, so I thought a winter tour would be really fun.”

Attendees should be prepared to dress for the cold, but each guest will get some added warmth sporting an M12™ Heated Jacket. The battery operated heated coat with heated pockets will go under or over your regular layers. Regarding the heated dream coats, Hicks said, “[Milwaukee Tool] are our Midwestern friends, they're for the "pros" you know? And we are pros in this town about winter.”

Even with a heated jacket, Chicago Elevated stresses dressing for the cold on the Heavy Duty Winter Tour, as there will be no turning back. As their website states, “it is important that you give a Chicago winter the respect it deserves.”

So why should someone brave the elements to join this intimidating trek? “Because the city is so amazing in the quiet of a cold day,” said Hicks. “We're seeing all this cool art and sculpture ... and it's about loving this city in all of its glory.”

Starting December 19, 2014. Tickets $35 available online; Fridays 3 - 5 p.m., Saturdays 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.; Sundays 8 - 10 a.m.