Burning City Neo-Vintage Festival Coming To Uptown

CHICAGO, IL — Starting July 25, Uptown will be awash in entertainment art — dozens of national and international performers are coming to the neighborhood for the Burning City Neo-Vintage Entertainment Festival. Steeped in history, the event will showcase puppeteers, circus artists, clowns, vaudeville entertainers, burlesque dancers and many other classic acts. People of all ages are encouraged to attend, organizers said.

"Drawing inspiration from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition, the five-day festival will focus on the styles of entertainment first seen in Chicago along the Midway Plaisance, but with a modern-day twist," Ald. James Cappleman said in a letter to constituents.

More than 26 million people flocked to Chicago's Columbian Exhibition in 1893 in the South Shore, Jackson Park Highlands, Hyde Park and Woodlawn. The fair not only celebrated the 400th anniversary of Europeans' discovery of the New World, but also served to prove that the city wasn't defeated by the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. The mile-long Midway Plaisance at the exhibition featured many of the same acts that the Burning City Festival will showcase next week.

The festival will be based at the Uptown Underground venue at 4707 N Broadway, and include eight main stage shows.

Individual show tickets are $30, and one-night passes range from $49 to $73. A three-night pass is $195.

For information on shows, classes, parking and other details visit the Burning City Festival website.

Top image courtesy of Burning Festival