The best things to do in Chicago today

Need a break from the monotonous sights of winter in Chicago? Head to the North Shore for the Chicago Botanic Garden's annual orchid show, where there are more than 10,000 vibrant blooms on display to brighten your day. This year's show is inspired by the '60s and '70s—marvel at floor-to-ceiling sunbeams made of cascading orchids and get lost in a 10-foot lava lamp aglow with colorful blooms. Swing by on Saturdays and Sundays to shop for orchids of your own in a pop-up marketplace, or stay late on select Thursday and Friday nights to have a cocktail and fried goat cheese during Orchids After Hours.

With soundstage-sized pieces like horned sculptures emitting soap bubbles, inflated spheres bedecked in abstract squiggles and surreal faceless figures hovering in space, “EmotionAir” reimagines the humble balloon as any other artistic medium—a conduit for creativity and emotion. 

Winter is almost over and the Garfield Park Conservatory is here to usher in warmer days with its annual Spring Flower Show. Make a reservation to explore this year's theme, "Showers of Flowers," which celebrates the vertical possibilities of plant life by way of 80+ aerial displays. You'll find spring favorites like tulips, cymbidium orchids, snapdragons, azaleas, hydrangea and more. The show only sticks around through Mother's Day weekend, so book your visit soon!

This weekly “live magazine” is a cavalcade of culture, politics and wit featuring journalists, actors, comedians and musicians offering idiosyncratic reports on the news of the day. Head to Uptown’s iconic Green Mill for drinks, hot takes and laughs; the longstanding Saturday afternoon edition tends to run about two and a half hours.

A spot on the pine bleachers at Drip Collective has become one of the most coveted seats in the city, thanks to the cafe's adventurous beverage menu (hello, mango sticky rice matcha latte!) and hyper-local event programming. Aside from piping hot coffee, Drip has been bringing a different kind of heat this summer with Hot Drip Sessions, a weekends-only DJ pop-up. Can't make it to West Loop? Drip Collective has been uploading past Hot Drip Sessions onto their YouTube channel. Dive into the archive here.   

Just when you thought the state's largest mall couldn't surprise you anymore, Woodfield Mall announces WONDRA, a sprawling new immersive experience. Inside, you’ll wander through enchanted meadows that respond to the sound of your voice, stumble across bioluminescent landscapes and drift into crystal caves and celestial gardens that blur the line between digital spectacle and raw wonder. Every corner is crafted to ignite curiosity and inspire a sense of awe we, whether you’re a kid seeing it all for the first time or an adult who forgot what it feels like to play.

How are some of the most iconic costumes of the past century made? Costume designer Paul Tazewell pulls back the curtain in this behind-the-scenes exhibition. Highlights include costumes from Wicked, Janelle Monáe’s MET Gala looks and Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story. Sketches, videos and narration reveal how imagination becomes wearable art.

The Museum of Contemporary Photography celebrates its 50th anniversary with a sweeping look at its collection. Each of the museum's five galleries will represent a decade of collecting, beginning with its most recent acquisitions (2016-2026) in the first gallery, then rewinding through time. The retrospective features rarely exhibited and newly acquired works by influential photographers including Dorothea Lange, Harry Callahan and Robert Frank.

Situated in the heart of downtown Chicago with the city's sweeping skyline as a backdrop, the Skating Ribbon at Maggie Daley Park is a winter attraction unlike any other. Skaters can lace up and wind around a winding ice-covered path that's twice the length of a lap around a traditional rink. Reservations for the popular ice rink should be made in advance, as they tend to fill up quickly. Admission to the Skating Ribbon is free Monday through Thursday and for 11am sessions Friday through Sunday (and $5 for other time slots Friday through Sunday, as well as holidays) if you bring your own skates. No skates? Entry is $17–23 if you need to rent a pair. The Ribbon stays open through March (weather permitting) and even offers hours on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

The North Side is bringing back its own Restaurant Week, offering exclusive deals during lunch and dinner. Enjoy three-course menus at places throughout Lincoln Square, Ravenswood, Albany Park, Edgewater, Irving Park, Northcenter, North Park, Rogers Park and Uptown. Participating spots include Maman Zari, Bistro Campagne, Khmai, Boonie's, Luella's, the Warbler and more. Find the full list of restaurants and menus here.

For five Saturdays, the Edgewater Indoor Market brightens the Chicago winter with a massive makers market at the Broadway Armory. Each event hosts more than 50 food vendors, artists and artisans. Come hungry—you’ll find an abundance of fresh baked goods, seasonal produce and locally made treats.

What do we talk about when we talk about the weather? We talk about the planet’s slow boil: the seasons that change without our consent, the arrow of time that pierces our lives regardless of our armors. Medical researcher John and his adult daughter Caitlyn talk about the weather constantly in In Birds of North America; nearly every scene of Anna Ouyang Moench’s one-act play touches on the subject. Set in suburban Maryland and unfolding over a decade, the play tracks their relationship like an ornithologist watching the sky: full of hope, yet braced for disappointment. Species of bird appear late, vanish early or never arrive at all. Their altered patterns mirror a filial relationship that keeps missing its own landing, circling ground without touching down. Birds of North America | Photograph: Evan Hanover, Courtesy A Red Orchid Theatre The play opens at the dawn of the Iraq War—a moral backdrop that weighs heavily on John, a lifelong liberal, eco-warrior and former doctor who sacrificed professional success to pursue a cure for Dengue fever. He catalogs the world with scientific precision, logging birds in his red palm-sized notebook while flattening human emotion with the same rigor. (He speaks of Caitlyn’s miscarriage as casually as he might note a species count in decline.) Caitlyn, meanwhile, works as a copy editor for a right-wing news site, a compromise she frames as a temporary shelter from the torment of capitalism rather than a personal conviction. She dreams...

Every two years, Chicago becomes a global hub of architecture and design during the Chicago Architecture Biennial. This edition’s theme is SHIFT: Architecture in Times of Radical Change, bringing together over 100 projects by architects, artists and designers from 30 countries—each piece engaging with the cultural, social and environmental fluxes transforming our world. Not sure where to start? Check out our first-timer's guide to the exhibition. Stay up-to-date by visiting the Chicago Architecture Biennial website.

Drag Race: The Experience has sashayed into Chicago for a one-month stint. But does it bring the requisite charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent? Well… yes and no. Produced by World of Wonder—the company behind Drag Race and the global DragCon conventions—the attraction casts visitors as the main character inside some of the show’s most iconic spaces. You can strut the Main Stage, snap a selfie in the Werk Room, film a confessional and flip through racks of costumes pulled straight from the runway. There’s never-before-seen footage playing across a glowing wall of retro TV screens, an abundance of photo ops and QR-guided prompts that politely boss you from room to room. Guests are given a unique QR code to use with the scanner in each room, enabling them to collect photos throughout their visit. The layout isn’t especially intuitive, but if you approach it as one giant, glittering selfie machine, the whole thing snaps into relative focus. There are costumes, clips and even a full Snatch Game set, ready for you and your friends to butcher celebrity impressions with enthusiasm if not accuracy. The experience ends in an atrium where you can retrieve your photos, sip a drink at the Gold Bar, shop exclusive merch (yes, including a “shantay” fan) and attempt a Best Friend Race-style scavenger hunt. During its run, Drag Race: The Experience will host screenings and premiere parties across the Drag Race universe. The space is also rentable for private events, which may be when...

The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center's newest exhibition, “Paris in Black” charts the journeys of Black artists, performers and intellectuals who found a safe haven and creative incubator in 20th century Paris. Experience the City of Lights through the eyes of visionaries like Langston Hughes, James Baldwin and Henry Ossawa Tanner, who lived and created in defiance of American racism. The exhibition houses over 100 objects, including magnificent paintings, historic photographs and multimedia elements—all telling the story of Black resilience and artistry.

You’ve probably seen a Shakespeare play before, but never like this. Five professional actors come together for each performance of Drunk Shakespeare. The twist? One of them has had five shots before the show and is trying to stay on track while the other four actors do their best to hold the performance together.

Visiting “The Land of Oz: Beyond the Page” at the Gold Coast’s Driehaus Museum feels a bit like opening a very elegant jewelry box: beautifully crafted, lovingly arranged and also...surprisingly compact. Tucked away into two rooms on the museum’s top floor, the film-inspired exhibit offers a curated peek behind the yellow brick road—costumes, concept art, early editions of L. Frank Baum’s original book and just enough memorabilia to spark a pleasant jolt of nostalgia. The exhibit's highlights include a replica of Dorothy’s slippers—one of only 20 editions worldwide—and a collection of “movie edition” Wizard of Oz books adjusted to better match the silver-screen adaptation. In the end, the Driehaus Museum’s Wizard of Oz exhibit doesn’t attempt to sweep you away in a tornado of spectacle so much as hand you a small, neatly labeled basket of curiosities. Its strength lies in details—like early drafts of the film’s script and a replica of the Cowardly Lion’s courage medal, which was a departure from the book’s bottle of courage the character drank. It’s these little factoids that make the exhibit worth a visit. While the exhibition may leave devoted Oz scholars wanting more, it offers casual visitors a gentle, concentrated dose of nostalgia within the museum’s ornate surroundings. You may not walk out feeling as though you’ve traveled all the way to the Emerald City, but you will have enjoyed a tidy, thoughtfully assembled layover somewhere between fantasy and reality.

The 27th annual Chicago Irish Film Festival is back to offer the best features, shorts and documentaries from The Land of Storytelling. This year’s festival will feature screenings at AMC NEWCITY from February 26–March 1, along with virtual programming between February 26–March 8. The lineup includes An Talamh Faoi Gheasa: The Enchanted Land, a Gaelic retelling of an Indian folktale that explores themes of identity and migration. The festival’s full schedule is available online.

This family-friendly exhibition explores six habitats—Desert, Ocean, Rainforest, Sky, Woods and City—through the eyes of modernist artist Charley Harper. Designed to foster appreciation for biodiversity and interdependence, the exhibit includes interactive games, a DIY soundscape station and multisensory interpretations of Harper’s beloved work.

For more than 30 years, the Neo-Futurists have been delighting late-night crowds with performances that pack 30 miniature plays into a 60-minute show. The company's signature show is more unpredictable than ever these days, with a handful of compact new plays premiering every week. Within the span of 10 minutes, you may be treated to a poignant monologue about everyday life or an irreverent diatribe delivered by a pantsless member of the cast—all inspired by the experiences of the performers on stage. Always changing and evolving, it's the rare show that truly offers something different everytime you show up to see it.

The newly renovated Intuit Art Museum is the perfect place to visit the exhibition, “Catalyst: Im/migration and Self-Taught Art in Chicago.” This exhibition is part of a citywide initiative highlighting Chicago's artistic heritage and creative communities. “Catalyst” focuses on the impact of immigration and migrant experiences within the self-taught artist community. The featured works investigate the inciting incidents for artists' displacement and subsequent settling in Chicago, offering a unique perspective on artistic practice as a personal narrative.

Known for his groundbreaking homes spanning across the United States and rejection of minimalist conventions, Bruce Goff—whose lifelong mentor was Frank Lloyd Wright—is one of the modern world's most celebrated architects. To celebrate his legacy, The Art Institute of Chicago will be hosting the first major exhibition of Goff’s work in 30 years. The show will feature more than 200 works celebrating every phase of Goff's creative practice, from elaborate architectural drawings and models to a selection of Goff's lesser-known artistic output in abstract painting.

Head to 360 Chicago on Saturdays for yoga with a killer view. Instructor Britta Eumann will lead an hour-long class on the 94th floor of 875 North Michigan Avenue (formerly the John Hancock Center) that’s suitable for all ages and skill levels—you just need to bring your own mat and arrived properly dressed. Registration is $55 and includes a cocktail or coffee, plus admission to the observation deck so you can stick around and snap some photos after you're done striking poses on the mat.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! Actually, this festival of revving engines takes place throughout the weekend. Colossal trucks slam, crush and perform stunts as cheesily entertaining as any wrestling match. The world’s best drivers tear up on the dirt as they battle for the Event Championship in four competitions: Racing, Skills, Donuts and Freestyle. Arrive early on Saturday or Sunday for the Monster Jam Pit Party, where families can get up close and personal with the massive trucks, snap a selfie, meet their favorite drivers and collect autographs.

“Mutuality” a group exhibition of new works created during the 11th year of the Hyde Park Art Center’s biennial Center Program, a professional development program designed to elevate emerging and mid-career artists. The exhibition defines mutuality as demonstrating mutual care and interest, encouraging artists to consider how their intentions, works and practice impact the world. Artworks in “Mutuality” represent over 20 artists practicing a multitude of disciplines, from painting and drawing to fiber and printmaking to performance and sound.

What happened to the sun? In a gray, sunless city, two stray cats named Kitty and Tom are about to find out. When a trade for some “magic” beans leads to a magnificent beanstalk, these siblings must climb to new heights to confront a sun-stealing giant. Join the Lifeline Theatre for this world premiere musical adventure—a magical experience for kids 4+ and the families who love them.

Multimedia artist Yoonshin Park challenges conventional ideas of what books are—and what they can be. Prompt and Prompted presents new and ongoing works that reimagine artist books as spatial, symbolic and participatory sites, engaging ideas of memory, marginality, translation and transformation.

This annual tradition challenges participants to jog a chilly mile through Wrigleyville in their skivvies—all in the name of raising money for neurofibromatosis research—before retiring to Slugger's for some scantily clad drinking and dancing. Those who don’t want to run can donate to the cause instead. Cheers to that!

“Living with Modernism: Kelli Connell” presents two series of photographic works by the Chicago artist. The exhibition's first body of work, “Pictures for Charis” finds Connell responding to iconic Edward Weston photographs through a queer, feminist lens. The second major work, “Double Life,” spurs a dialogue with the Mies van der Rohe-designed McCormick House while charting the evolution of nature, identity and relationships. This exhibition marks the largest presentation of Connell’s work in Chicagoland, placing queerness, power structures and shifting ecologies to the forefront.

Round up your gals pals and your pal gals: Kellie and Kitty are taking to the Second City stage for a Galentines Day-themed event. This shindig isn't just a crowd-pleaser for the gals; it's for anyone who's ever been in a relationship. As you laugh the night away, get ready to dive into romance, hot gossip and whatever else the audience can imagine.

As part of Andersonville’s annual Säg Hej Health & Wellness celebration, all are invited to Explore & Restore: a district-wide open house dedicated to healthy living. Stroll through the neighborhood to discover a diverse array of wellness-focused businesses—covering everything from physical and mental health to home design and financial well-being. Throughout the day, enjoy interactive experiences including short demos, mini-workshops, professional consultations and hands-on activities.