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Navy Pier, Chicago

Navy Pier seen from Hancock Tower
Navy Pier seen from Hancock Tower
Chicago Navy Pier: The Ferris Wheel
Chicago Navy Pier: The Ferris Wheel
Chicago Navy Pier: view of the skyline
Chicago Navy Pier: view of the skyline

Navy Pier is free to the public and is Chicago’s most visited tourist attraction. The Pier features attractions such as a permanent 150-foot-high Ferris wheel, a musical carousel, an old-fashioned swing ride, remote control boats, daily musical and theatrical performances, and an 18-hole miniature golf course.

Navy Pier is also home to the Amazing Chicago Funhouse Maze, Chicago Children’s Museum, and IMAX Theater at Navy Pier. Wednesdays and Saturdays from Memorial Day through Labor Day, Navy Pier hosts a fireworks display that fills the sky over Lake Michigan.

Navy Pier has been serving small and midsized conventions and trade shows since its re-0pening in 1995 as a world class recreation and exposition center. Navy Pier’s Festival Hall offers more than 170,000 square feet of exhibit space, with 60 foot vaulted ceilings enhancing the exhibit areas.

Located on a mezzanine level overlooking the exhibition floor, nearly 48,000 square feet meeting rooms, divisible into as many as 36 separate meeting areas, surround Festival Hall.

In addition, a magnificent 18,150 square foot banquet, performance and special exhibit needs it’s purpose since 1916. Offering panoramic views of Lake Michigan, the Grand Ballroom also boats an exquisite 80 foot domed ceiling.

Another addition to Navy Pier is the magnificent Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

Modeled loosely after the Swan Theatre in Stratford upon Avon, the seven story theater complex launched it’s inaugural season of Shakespeare classics in the fall of 1999. Navy Pier also features a 1,500 seat, open air theater called Skyline Stage, which hosts concerts, plays, and other events throughout the summer season.
The theater’s steel frame and white Teflon coated fiberglass roof structure is a unique addition to the city’s skyline.

Navy Pier is also home to the Chicago Children’s Museum, a Family Pavilion with specialty shops, a 3D Imax Theater, several themed restaurants, the Crystal Gardens (a giant indoor botanical park ), a 15 story Ferris wheel, a musical carousel, the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows, and many cruise and sightseeing ships.

Since 2000, navy Pier attracts more than nine million visitors per year. It is within blocks of museums, parks, shops, corporate offices and more than 17,000 hotel rooms. The Pier is easily accessible by charter buses, taxis, public transit and automobiles, with enclosed on Pier parking available.

Location

E Grand Ave /corner Lake Shore Dr
Free trolley buses also operate between the Pier and State Street

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