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1893 World’s Fair Walking Tour with Bars

Chicago, IL , United States
3h
English

About Your Host

Our walking tours and bus tours of Chicago history and culture bring people to explore stories and places locals don't even know. We give tours of interior architecture, historic bars, jazz and blues, and Chicago neighborhoods. Chicago architecture, history and culture intrinsically connect on our walking tours and bus tours of Chicago. We are proud to be one of few Chicago tour companies with a solid five stars on both Yelp and TripAdvisor. Our passionate, knowledgeable tour guides go beyond trivia to get you thinking about our relation to cities, space, and buildings. We share ideas on how architecture affects us psychologically. We also take moments to simply indulge in the visual experience of architecture. Because of the cultural angle of our walking tours and bus tours, they are great for anyone from architecture experts to those new to Chicago architecture. All our tours use architecture to tell stories that reflect the human side of Chicago history. You will explore, learn and interact with multimedia, each other, and the city around us. We work with private groups, student groups and we also offer walking tours to the public six days a week. We hope you will join us on a Chicago architecture tour for an unforgettable cultural experience.

What we’ll do

1893 World’s Fair Tour Overview This very special walking tour digs into how and why the 1893 World’s Fair captures imaginations more than any other event in Chicago history. Unlike other World’s Fair tours and Devil in the White City tours, which likely revolve around facts and trivia, you’ll dig deeper on this downtown tour. You’ll visits some of the few remaining and spectacular buildings from the time of the World’s Fair, also known as the World’s Columbian Exposition. The fairgrounds themselves were south of downtown, but you can best see the impact of the fair in the Loop. Here the architecture and landscape still show the World’s Fair imprint even today, nearly 125 years later. And beyond just looking at buildings from outside, our mostly indoor walking tour sees the beauty of architectural details within. On this fun and insightful walking tour, you’ll venture into beautiful architectural spaces from the era. You will play a few thoughtfully designed games, like visual scavenger hunts. Along with guide commentary, your guide will show you photos and archival materials via shared iPads that illuminate this historic event of the 1893 World’s Fair. On this walking tour, you will eat a couple light snacks and we’ll play a few educational games with prizes for the winning team. Plus, you can opt to get drinks (on you), too! You can think of this 3-hour-long walking tour as being 5% outdoors, 95% indoors, 20% clue-based games and visual scavenger hunts, 10% drinking time, and 100% awesome historical tour time. We know the math doesn’t add up – we hope you get the idea! With just intermittent walks outside, the 1893 World’s Fair Tour makes for a great walking tour in all seasons. This tour makes the World’s Fair’s lasting impact come to life. We hope you’ll join us! Walking Tour Highlights Colorful mosaics in a hotel built for the 1893 World’s Fair The sweeping grand lobby of the Auditorium Building Ride one of the downtown’s last human-operated elevators A secret building hidden in an alley See the Monadnock Building, a landmark early skyscraper The opulent Chicago Athletic Association Hotel, once an exclusive men’s club Stories and Ideas The rapid changes in culture around the turn of the century The 1893 Fair’s array of foods and even food sculpture Parlor songs of the past The beginnings of consumer culture and advertising Amusements on the Midway at the 1893 World’s Fair 1893 World’s Fair Tour Includes: Professional tour guide commentary Shared iPads with historic photos Two small snacks Game prizes and gifts Walking Bar Tour DOES NOT INCLUDE * Drinks: At the tour meeting spot, we welcome you to get a drink at the bar before check-in. To streamline the tour, we take your order and cash for your second drink at check-in ($6 for beer, $8 for wine, includes gratuity). At the third drink stop, you may independently purchase a beer, wine, or cocktail of your choice. * Dietary restrictions: two small snacks are included. We may be able to accommodate vegetarians. If you are gluten-free, dairy-free, or have other allergies, we cannot make substitutions. * Tour guide gratuity.

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