Chinatown’s marquee block party is back for year 46. Over the weekend, the Chinatown Summer Fair turned Wentworth Avenue into a two-day street festival, filling the stretch from Cermak Road to 24th Place with food stalls, cultural performances and a dedicated children’s area. Organizers say tens of thousands of visitors came through, lining up for Taiwanese snacks, lion-dance processions and live music. At the same time, neighborhood merchants enjoyed a rare mid-summer surge in foot traffic during what is usually a slow season.
More than 80 vendors and restaurants packed the route, creating long lines for sweets, boba and other snacks. The brown-sugar boba proved especially popular, organizers and sellers said. "The most popular one I would say would be the brown sugar Boba tea," Mai Tran of Hello Jasmine told ABC7 Chicago.
Schedule, performances and what's on stage
The block party kicked off with a lion-dance procession and a midday welcome on the main stage, then rolled into kung-fu demonstrations, traditional performances and sets from local cover bands. According to the Chicago Chinatown Community Foundation, Saturday’s schedule ran from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday’s from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., with featured acts that included Too Much Molly on Saturday. The foundation’s event page also notes that vendor materials were available and that all vendor spaces were sold out well ahead of the weekend.
"The favorite is just seeing the many people that come out," said Gene Lee, founder of the Chinatown Summer Fair, who added that visitors often discover bakery aromas and barbecue goods unique to the neighborhood. Volunteer TJ Moy told ABC7 Chicago the fair "brings exposure to the Chinatown community" and helps local businesses through difficult times.
Organizers estimate the two-day total tops 40,000 visitors, and the Chinese American Museum of Chicago lists the fair among its July events as part of Chinatown’s summer calendar. The community foundation and museum both keep schedules, vendor information and maps on their sites for anyone planning a future visit.
