On Wednesday, I attended the first live event organized by Chicago Architectural Foundation since before the pandemic. They told us that the last event happened on March 10, 2020). I purchased the tickets the first day I saw this announcement, which was when the infections numbers were still high, and it was hard to tell in which direction things would be evolving.
The event was dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire, and it was called “The Tales of the Night Chicago Burned.” The storyteller Scott Whitehair spent months researching the topic. In the Chicago History Museum archive, he searched for diaries, letters, and articles, which captured the lives of the ordinary people who lived in Chicago 150 years ago and witnessed that dramatic event.
The presentation was 75 minutes long. Whitehair chose the stories of five people and followed them through two days that two nights while the city was burning, and morning when the fire started to cease.
It was such a powerful and emotional presentation! Also, the author connected the Great Chicago Fire with the pandemic, and he talked about how the city will be rebuilt: not from the ashes as it was one-hundred-fifty years ago, but how it can come to life, and how we all can help.
The venue: Spertus Museum building
I am so glad that things are coming back :). Can’t have enough!
Hettie's Reflections 