Where: Lake Michigan at Monroe Harbor When: Saturday, August 3, 2024 from 8:30 to 10:30PM (Tentative)
Almost every year since the event first began in 1958, Chicago has come together to celebrate and take in the amazing displays of Chicago Venetian Night lighted boat displays.
This year, the festivities tenatively kickoff on Saturday night, August 3, 2024 for a romantic boat parade under the stars beginning at just after dusk.
Recently the grand parade has moved from the Chicago River to Lake Michigan at Monroe Harbor. Visitors should expect the parade to get underway as night falls, with spectacularly decorated vessels wowing the crowds as they cruise by!
To top it all off, watch for live entertainment beginning at 10PM followed by an amazing fireworks display at Navy Pier.
Have fun!
All about Chicago Venetian Night
Originally, Venetian Night was just a part of the Chicago Lakefront festival that celebrated everything wet and wild about the city. With the Lakefront Festival eventually scrapped, the boat parade proved so popular that it lived on in Venetian Night as an established part of the Chicago festivities calendar, sponsored by the Chicago Yachting Association.
Today, Venetian Night in Chicago is the oldest event sponsored by the city. It is both named and modeled after the ever popular boat
parades in Venice which are typically a Christmas event in Venice, while the Chicago Venetian Night is a mid-summer festival.
In the Chicago version of the event, many grand boats, usually numbering 30 or more, outfit themselves in amazing light displays and various decorations to dazzle the spectators who come out to watch the impressive parade of boats go by.
The winner of Venetian Night's "People's Choice
Award"
in 2015 was the Robert Allan II with the theme from Frozen.
In all, the various festivities of Venetian Night attract people from Chicago and the surrounding area, making it a must-see Chicago summer attraction.
