“Growing up on Chicago’s North Side, Wendy Itzkowitz would go with her parents to meet her cousins at the Ravinia Festival…. They’d sit on chairs or blankets on the lawn, eat homemade desserts and listen to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,” writes Sheryl DeVore in Sunday’s (5/20) Chicago Tribune. “For many years, Ravinia, the 36-acre wooded park nestled in a Highland Park neighborhood, has been ‘our summer home,’ Wendy Itzkowitz said…. Whether it’s for one concert or 48 (the number the Itzkowitzes attended last summer), those who attend Ravinia come not only for the music but also for the experience, [Ravinia CEO and President Welz] Kauffman said…. This season’s performers run the gamut from Whoopi Goldberg to the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing music that celebrates the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein.… Ravinia also recently lowered prices for Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts…. Picnicking is part of the Ravinia experience…. ‘Some people make it into a giant party,’ [Ravinia Communications Director Nick] Pullia said…. Kauffman said he is excited about … the [new] Lawn Bar, which will offer alcohol, small plates, appetizers and entrees. ‘We think this will be the new social hub of the festival,’ Kauffman said.”
Posted May 23, 2018
Ravinia Festival photo by Russell Jenkins
