User:Dhartung/Ravinia Festival

The Ravinia Festival is the summer music program offered at Ravinia Park in Highland Park, Illinois. It has been the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1936.

The festival includes symphony concerts, often with guest soloists, as well as jazz, blues, folk, and rock performances, as well as ballet, drama, and educational programs which take place year-round. The permanent facilities on 36 acres of bucolic parkland include an open-air amphitheater, landscaped parkland, restaurant and concession stands, and buildings including a concert pavilion and a music education building. Picnicking in the park during the pre-concert is a longstanding Chicagoland tradition. Served by the Metra commuter railroad with special stops before and after concerts, Ravinia is a pedestrian destination for many. Attendance now often tops 600,000.

Originally developed in 1904 as an amusement park and destination point on the Chicago and Milwaukee Electric Railroad, the park was at risk on the railroad's bankruptcy, and in 1911 local residents (who were largely Chicago businessnmen) formed a corporation to purchase and operate the park. Music was a confirmed summer activity from then on except for a brief hiatus during the Depression.