This is why 2015 is officially the Summer of Chicago

In case you’ve never been, the oft-chilly—make that freezing—City of Big Shoulders is an urban paradise in the summer months. Unlike other metro areas where residents frequently ditch their concrete jungles in favor of a season-long beach escape, Chicagoans spend time biking and walking their 28 miles of lakefront, cracking open a beer and chilling at countless street fests, and slathering on suntan lotion and hitting up one of the city’s two dozen beaches. This year in particular is shaping up to be the summer of Chicago. Here’s why:

Related: 15 things you should never say to a Chicagoan

The 606 (aka Bloomingdale Trail)
You know the Highline in NYC? Chicago’s own abandoned elevated rail line-turned-park opens to the public on Saturday, June 6 and it promises to be a winner. This decade-long park project connects the nabes of Bucktown, Humboldt Park and Logan Square with a nearly three-mile-long elevated park and alternative transportation corridor that will be the largest of its kind in the country. Sorry (not sorry), New York.

Festival mania
Chicago is mad crazy for its street fairs and music festivals. The largest alt-rock fest, Lollapalooza, draws about 150,000 concertgoers to Grant Park over a three-day period. But there are plenty of others, all summer long. From the Taste of Chicago to Jazz Fest, Blues Fest, Pitchfork, Market Days and many more, if you dream it, this city will do it. This year sees the addition of a dozen new fests including Artfest Michigan Avenue, Chicago Food and Wine Festival, Chicago Ale Fest, Pilsen Food Truck Social, Lincoln Park Wine Festival and more. Plus, the final reunion shows for the Grateful Dead, at Soldier Field, making Chicago the no. 1 place in the country over July 4th weekend.

Related: 15 things never to say to a Deadhead

Maggie Daley Park
Grant Park, the city’s sprawling lakefront green space, which is already home to Buckingham Fountain and fabulous Millennium Park gets another boost with the addition of Maggie Daley Park (named for Mayor Daley’s late wife), now open to the public. The park features a one-quarter-mile-long ice skating ribbon, rock climbing walls, playground equipment and multiple lawn spaces.

The Riverwalk
Chicago likes to call its river the city’s second lakefront. That’s a tall claim, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel (that guy who almost didn’t get re-elected) is working to extend its pedestrian promenade an additional six blocks with some pretty cool features. Some of the project will be ready to go this summer, including new food vendors, boating and kayak rentals and an amphitheater. The rest opens in 2016.

Seven Lions
Alpana Singh, the city’s celebrity sommelier, former host of Check, Please! and owner of sexy River North restaurant Boarding House, strikes again with her new downtown digs Seven Lions. We love the restaurant’s clubby interior and reinvention of American classics, but its best feature is yet to come: A spectacular outdoor patio space that will afford frontrow views of Chicago’s beloved Art Institute.

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