1 MIN READ – Condé Nast Traveler announced the winners of its prestigious Readers’ Choice Awards — and Chicago has been voted the Best Big City in the U.S. for an unprecedented fifth year in a row.  For their 34th annual Readers’ Choice Awards survey, over 800,000 registered voters weighed in on their favorite cities in the United …

1 MIN READ – Condé Nast Traveler announced the winners of its prestigious Readers’ Choice Awards — and Chicago has been voted the Best Big City in the U.S. for an unprecedented fourth year in a row.

Chicago Loop Alliance wrapped up the popular new Sundays on State event series on September 12 and has compiled quantitative and qualitative data that shows the program accomplished its three primary goals: accelerating the economic recovery from COVID-19, uniting the community, and creating joy. Sundays on State was an open streets celebration of arts, culture, active recreation, food, drinks, shopping and more that was free and open to the public, running for eight select Sundays from July 11 through September 12.

2 MIN READ – Since July 2020, Chicago Loop Alliance (CLA) has released monthly reports on downtown activity using a variety of data sources to track operations during COVID-19, and today released its August report, which also includes data for Sundays on State. The report tracks COVID-19 positivity rates, pedestrian activity, parking volumes, hotel occupancy, number of office workers on-site and more. View the full August report here.

4 MIN READ – In July, pedestrian visitors to State Street in the Loop surpassed 1 million per week for the first time since the pandemic’s impact. Chicago Loop Alliance’s report on downtown activity shows Sundays on State foot traffic exceeding 2019 levels. View the full July report here…

2 MIN READ – Lollapalooza crowds once again created a bump in pedestrian activity on State Street, according to data from Chicago Loop Alliance’s pedestrian counters that were installed on the street in 2016. For the week of the festival, July 26 – August 1, the counters estimated 1,371,570 visitors on State Street between Ida B. Wells Drive and Lake Street—a 36 percent increase from the previous week and the highest week of the year. Pedestrian impressions on State Street during the week of the festival were 76 percent of the levels of 2019.