Empty Streets

Back when it was warmer (AKA the first weekend of October), Chicago held an event called "Open Street State Street" where they closed down State Street for about eight blocks in the Loop. Families were encouraged to do the opposite of what your mom always told you - come play outside in the street!

They had a mini skateboarding park. We saw some little kids pulling some pretty cool tricks.

It was weird being able to walk in the street! State Street is one of the busiest in the city.

They tried to teach kids how to break-dance... I'd say they were getting the hang of it.

Classic field day activity - sack potato races! I hated those... never good at them.

One of the Roller Derby teams demonstrated how the game works. (We still don't understand it.)

They had a couple of these "Chill Zones" at certain intersections. Fake turf and lawn chairs look pretty amusing on asphalt.

Sidewalk chalk was readily available and we made good use of it!

Another favorite outdoor game - foursquare! They had kid squares and adult squares.

Another popular activity was yoga.

The Puppet Bike is a (moving) Chicago landmark. I've seen it so many times, but never when the show was actually playing. This time we got lucky!