This May, Chicago will become the first American city other than Washington to host a North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit and the first city to host both the NATO and G8 economic summits. These events point not just to Chicago’s undeniable status as world-class meetings destination, but also highlight its identity as a truly global city.
Since the early 19th century, immigrants have flocked to Chicago from every nation, bringing their music, art, food and cultural values. Still today, Chicago is one of the largest Polish-speaking cities outside of Poland; the second-largest German-speaking city in the U.S.; and the fourth-largest American city for speakers of Arabic, Korean, Urdu and Spanish.
In fact, Chicago offers so many slices of authentic international culture that visiting groups can practically take a trip around the world without leaving the city limits.
“Chicago is home to more than 200 neighborhoods representing more than 100 countries,” says Meghan Risch, director of communications at the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau (CTB). “If you want to see the world without leaving the country, just visit Chicago.”
Neighborhood nuances
Chicago may be famous for its downtown, but in order to explore the city’s true nature as a great melting pot, planners holding events at downtown hotels might think outside The Loop for ethnically inspired off-site events, dining and activities. Chicago’s vibrant ethnic neighborhoods are alive with authentic restaurants, one-of-a-kind museums, specialty shopping and seasonal festivals and parades.
“From the North Side to the South Side, each neighborhood is an essential piece of a mosaic of Chicago’s diverse communities, filled with the voices, perspectives, cultural and arts organizations, restaurants, grocery stores and architectural styles that reflect the cultural heritage of the ethnic communities that have settled here,” explains Rebeccah Sanders, executive director of the Chicago Cultural Alliance. “Any individual neighborhood offers a rich opportunity to explore a different culture, but taken together they offer the possibility of exploring and understanding the world in Chicago.”
Greektown, on the city’s West Side, is the place to go for gyros as well as ancient history. Greeks began arriving in Chicago in the 1840s, mainly as sailors on the Mississippi and the Great Lakes. The National Hellenic Museum is the first major museum in the U.S. dedicated to Greek history and culture, from prehistory to today. It’s also one of the city’s newest attractions, having made its debut last December.
The Greektown museum can welcome groups as large as 700 in its Great Calamos Hall. There are also several smaller spaces, including a 3,600-square-foot rooftop terrace garden with skyline views. Guided tours are available to groups as large as 120.
Planning a Chicago event in August? Don’t miss a chance to take groups to the Taste of Greece festival.
Groups can also head to the South Side to meet the Far East. Chicago’s Chinatown, which just celebrated its centennial, is the second-oldest Chinese settlement in the U.S. Chinese first immigrated to the West Coast, but began journeying across the country in the 1870s in response to bitter persecution in California.
The Chinese American Museum of Chicago tells the story of Chinese-Americans in the Midwest. There is event space for groups as large as 80, and guided group tours are available for as many as 30.
Chinatown offers a number of splendid restaurants perfect for large-scale banquets. One such establishment is the Phoenix Restaurant, where authentic Hong Kong-style dim sum as well as the spicier Szechuan cuisine are predominant. The Phoenix can seat parties as large as 250.
The Mexican Revolutionary War sent immigrants north starting in the 1910s. The Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods are among Chicago’s Mexican communities, with the latter boasting more than 70 Mexican restaurants.
At the National Museum of Mexican Art (NMMA) in Pilsen, groups can feast their eyes on the paintings, photography, textiles and folk art of our large, diverse neighbor to the south. With a permanent collection of some 7,000 objects and unique focuses including ancient pre-Cuauhtemoc pieces from the Maya and Mezcala civilizations, among others, and ephemera of the Chicano movement, groups are sure to be intrigued. The NMMA can welcome receptions as large as 300.
Generations of Germans have emigrated to Chicago for more than 150 years, and German heritage is nearly ubiquitous in the city.
DANK Haus German American Cultural Center, a facility of the Deutsch Amerikanischer National Kongress, shares German culture with visitors via a museum, art gallery, language school and scores of events each year. Built in 1927 in Lincoln Square, DANK Haus features a number of event spaces, and its maximum capacity is 450.
The potato famine sent Irish workers abroad in droves, and by 1860 their labor was building Chicago’s canals and powering its stockyards, wharves and steel mills.
Chicago’s Irish American Heritage Center, one of the largest of its kind in the U.S., comprises a museum, a library and a school for Irish music, dance and language. This busy institution, located in Irving Park on the Northwest Side, presents frequent plays, concerts, festivals and poetry readings relating to Irish history and culture. The center can bid cead mile failte (a hundred thousand welcomes) to groups as large as 658 in its auditorium, or smaller groups in several other rooms, including its very own pub, the Fifth Province.
Polonia, as the Polish community in Chicago is called, is both tightly knit and deeply interwoven in the city’s history. The Polish Triangle at the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue, Division Street and Damen Avenue is one of the most famous Polish neighborhoods.
Established there 75 years ago, the Polish Museum of America is one of the oldest ethnic museums in the country. The institution preserves a wide variety of Polish cultural artifacts, including traditional dress and military uniforms; szopkas, or nativity scenes; and exhibits on famous Poles, such as Pope John Paul II. The museum offers space for groups as large as 400 but mandates that any event bear a connection to the Polish community or culture in some way. It’s a perfect opportunity to incorporate a lecture or live music concert.
Italians formed close communities over many waves of immigration beginning in the early 1900s, and Chicago’s Little Italy doesn’t disappoint.
At the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame, sports fans can revel in the feats of legendary athletes like Joe DiMaggio, Rocky Marciano, Vince Lombardi and Tommy Lasorda. Exhibits feature uniforms, Olympic medals, photographs and statues of the honorees. Its Grand Piazza Chicago room can host 450. The 225-seat Frank Sinatra Performing Arts Center is currently under construction.
These fascinating neighborhoods and institutions are just a snapshot of Chicago’s amazing trove of world cultures. To note a few more, there’s the Swedish American Museum, the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture and the small but impactful Cambodian American Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial, curated mainly by local Cambodian refugees. Additionally, Chicago’s Institute of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture is the nation’s first museum dedicated to Puerto Rican artforms.
Chicago Neighborhood Tours offer customized tours of numerous neighborhoods and cultural attractions. The minimum group size is 30. Groups of 40 or more can make reservations for the Underground Railroad tour offered by the Bronzeville Historical Society. Planners can also arrange a group scavenger hunt with the Indo-American Heritage Museum, wherein museum volunteers take visitors on a tour along Devon Avenue, a vibrant heart of the city’s Indian American community.
In the summer of 2012, Chicago Cultural Alliance will be launching an online portal for arranging tours at member museums and two social media games for smartphones. The games will take visitors on a virtual scavenger hunt through Chicago’s cultural treasures.
Global Eats
“The perfect way to experience Chicago’s ethnic neighborhoods is through food,” enthuses the Chicago CTB’s Risch. “Chicago boasts a variety of food tours that offer award-winning foods and explores the exciting history, culture, food and top chefs that make Chicago one of the world’s top culinary destinations.”
Man lives not just by art, music, history and sports alone. Besides bustling ethnic neighborhoods and cultural museums, Chicago is also home to great restaurants, many with generous banquet space. Even the most well-traveled palate is sure to find something mouthwatering.
With the long history of Italians emigrating to Chicago, it’s no wonder there are several fine group-friendly places to mangia in the city. The difficulty lies in choosing.
One standout Italian option is Merlo on Maple, focusing on Bolognese cuisine, which includes many cured pork dishes as well as beloved classics like lasagna and tortellini. Housed in a 19th century townhouse in the Gold Coast district, Merlo can welcome parties as large as 70.
Another option is Trattoria No.10 in The Loop, where groups of up to 215 can enjoy homemade ravioli and fresh risotto amid Tuscan decor.
Designed to transport guests into an exotic land, Alhambra Palace boasts chandeliers, tiles and other furnishings imported from the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The 24,000-square-foot West Loop establishment offers five different private dining spaces. Tastes of Morocco, Lebanon and Iran plus live music and dancing complete diners’ immersion into this fascinating part of the world.
Groups can also try the zesty Latin flavor of Carnivale and Mercat a la Planxa. Carnivale, in the West Loop, serves up Latin American cocktails like mojitos, margaritas and sangria, along with savory dishes from Mexico, the Philippines and other countries. It can host groups as large as 1,000 in a tropical party atmosphere.
At Mercat a la Planxa in the South Loop, famed Iron Chef winner Chef Jose Garces focuses on the cuisine of the Catalan region of Spain. Paella, tapas and Spanish wines are among the delights awaiting groups as large as 300.
A native of Illinois, Kelly Crumrin has studied three foreign languages and traveled to more than a dozen countries. Maybe it’s something in the water.
