I'm happy to share that our collaborative project to celebrate the anniversary of Chicago's founding is activated for our third annual Chicago's Birthday Party !

On March 4, 2026, we'll again gather at the center of the city to sing Happy Birthday to Chicago in multiple languages and celebrate with our neighborhood and friends. We held our first planning meeting on Saturday, October 18, to get the ball rolling, and we made fantastic progress.

Notably, we're adopting a committees structure to share the workload among the many groups and individuals working on the event. I am very excited that Bill Drew, chief of staff for the 12th Ward , is jumping into the role of Executive Producer for Chicago's Birthday Party, lending his expertise, leadership and dedication to provide top-down project management for our community collaboration.

Many others have jumped in to help out, including the following to spearhead individual committees:

• Site Host - John Hughes/ St. Andrew Lutheran Church
• Fiduciary - Chris Bania/ McKinley Park Civic Association
• Development (fund-raising) - Justin Kerr/ McKinley Park News
• Communications - Mimi Tsang/ Midwest Asian Health Association (MAHA)

Note that we're still looking for a committee lead for Event Production - helping to manage our talent, day-of vendors and the run of show, prospectively with the assistance of a paid, freelance stage manager as in 2025.

If you or your group has experience/interest in "putting on a show," we could use your help with Event Production! Reach out by sending email to bill@the12thward.org or reply here, and I'll connect you.

Many others have already jumped in to support the event, whether by providing performers and volunteers, donating in-kind materials, consumables and services, and promoting the event to their constituencies.

So far, in addition to the above organizations (including the 12th Ward), our collaboration includes Omega Delta Youth Baseball & Softball , Tu Casa Guanajuato en Chicago , the Coalition for a Better Chinese-American Community (CBCAC) , Rio Event Studios , Horizon Science Academy - McKinley Park , and the Chinese American Service League .

Earlier this year, for the celebration of Chicago's 188th birthday , we had dozens of local groups and enterprises supporting our event and joining the party, bringing together an amazing swath of different parts of our community to collaborate on a fantastic, free event.

Would you and your group like to join and help celebrate Chicago's Birthday? The next Chicago's Birthday Party Planning Meeting is set for 10 a.m. on Saturday, November 8, at St. Andrew Lutheran Church, 3658 S. Honore St., Chicago. 

We look forward to celebrating Chicago's next birthday with you!