Navy Pier's Brand New Lakeside Performance Venues Opens Monday

By Stephen Gossett in News on Jul 10, 2017 6:50PM

From an abundance of classic-rock memorabilia to light-up seesaws, big things have been popping over at Navy Pier as of late—sometimes quite literally. The latest addition is a new performance lawn, which—by if only by dint of geography—will probably be a crowd magnet.

The 13-acre Polk Brothers Park also includes Performance Lawns that stretch along the south end, between the pier and Lake Michigan. Opening on Monday, the Lawns function as a two-pronged performance spot: the City Stage, which holds 1,700 lawn-goers, and the more intimately sized Lake Stage Both will have cultural programming throughout the summer and into the fall, ranging from dance to theater to public art.

One might use "cultural" advisedly for the Lawn's debut event: a free outdoor movie series, dubbed Water Flicks, kicks off tonight with a screening of the deliberately dire Sharknado, at 7 p.m. on the Lake Stage. If there's one thing we've learned living in this city, it's that Chicagoans love nothing more than a free outdoor movie screening in the summer. Popcorn is free, also, but first-come-first-served.

Here's the rest of the Water Flicks calendar, which comes presented in partnership with the Chicago International Film Festival:
Overboard (7/17)
Moana (7/24)
Splash (7/31)
Pirate Radio (8/7)
Beach Blanket Bingo (8/14)
Finding Nemo (8/21)
Jaws (8/28)

You can find a full slate of Navy Pier events here, including those on the new Lawns.