If you were one of the 100,000 people who attended Open House Chicago earlier this month, congratulations! You were part of a record setting event.
Word out of the Chicago Architecture Foundation is that attendance for the city’s annual architecture festival reached six figures this year.
Coincidentally, regional chiropractors report a 14% increase in “looking up”-style neck strain, dentists saw a 16% increase is jaw-dropping injuries, and so many pictures were taken that Fotomat is considering going back in business. For you Millennials, Fotomat is like Instagram. In slow motion. In a parking lot.
The 100,000 figure ties the 2016 Open House Chicago attendance record. Attendance was down 5% in 2017, but that’s OK — 2017 was a rough year for a lot of us.
There were 280 sites to visit this year, and altogether the sites recorded 366,000 visits. Simple wrong math reveals that Chicago Architecture Foundation docents and volunteers each answered the question, “Where are the restrooms?” an average of 1,307 times.
2018 was also the first year for tweens Austin, Beverly, and Morgan from Park Forest to visit the Austin, Beverly, and Morgan Park neighborhoods. The neighborhoods made their OHC debut this year, and logged a combined 17,000 visits.
If you want to plan ahead for next year, the 2019 edition of Open House Chicago will happen October 19-20. Make your hotel reservations now, before the rates get jacked up. No, seriously. It happens.