UpdatedThu, Apr 29, 2021 at 12:22 pm CT
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The Windy City Smokeout will be back this summer in Chicago. (Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images)
CHICAGO The city is loosening its Phase 4 COVID-19 restrictions, effective immediately. Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the change on Wednesday, citing a promising fall in positivity rates and a rise in the number of Chicagoans getting vaccinated.
This means some festivals can return, stadiums can loosen capacity restrictions, and conventions can restart, with restrictions.
Lightfoot said the reversal of last month s trend of rising numbers of new coronavirus trend, combined with accelerating vaccine distribution allowed the city to bring its regulations in line with the state s.
Windy City Smokeout returns as Chicago loosens COVID-19 restrictions
By FOX 32 Digital Staff
Published
(Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for Windy City Smokeout / Getty Images)
CHICAGO - The Windy City Smokeout will be one of the first big outdoor events to return to Chicago this summer following a year of cancellations due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Organizers announced on Thursday that the popular Near West Side music and barbecue festival will return to its home outside the United Center on July 8-11. We have worked closely with teams like the one at Windy City Smokeout to ensure these types of events are able to happen safely and are proud to continue to place arts and entertainment at the center of our city s recovery efforts, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said.
Windy City Smokeout in Chicago is Back
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Chicago s massive country music festival is a go! The Windy City Smokeout is scheduled for July 8th through the 11th at in the parking lot of the United Center, which is home to the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks. The lineup for this years Windy City Smokeout is loaded, Brett Eldredge headlines July 8th, Darius Rucker headlines July 9th, Dierks Bentley headlines July 10th, and Jon Pardi headlines on July 11th, over the course of the festival Cody Johnson, Riley Green, Ryan Hurd, Morgan Evans and so many others will also be performing.
The city of Chicago is loosening up its pandemic rules as part of a sweeping plan to reopen the economy to normal events, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Thursday.
Mark Humphrey/AP
Country music superstars Darius Rucker, Dierks Bentley and Jon Pardi, who were booked to play at the 2020 Windy City Smokeout until it was extinguished by COVID-19 concerns, are set to take the stage at this summer’s fest.
The music and barbecue extravaganza is scheduled to return July 8-11 outside the United Center, 1901 W. Madison St. At Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Thursday morning announcement of looser pandemic restrictions, she cited the Windy City Smokeout as one of the events soon to be feasible in Chicago.
This year the festival grows by a day, and headlining the new fourth night will be hitmaker Brett Eldredge, who recorded his most recent album, “Sunday Drive,” at Chicago’s Shirk Studios.