The Fountain in Grant Park After Dark: A Chicago Night Light Show

The show from dusk to 11pm

The fountain stands at Columbus Drive and Congress Parkway, in the middle of Grant Park. By day it is a fountain. After dusk the water displays are set to music and lit in colour, and that is the show most people come for. The water displays run on the hour and last about 20 minutes, so time your visit to the top of an hour.

The centre jet shoots up to about 150 feet. Stand on the lake side of the basin and you have the fountain with the skyline behind it. There is no ticket, no gate and no queue; you walk up. The other free things lit after dark are on Chicago Night attractions.

For photographs, you want the few minutes when the sky is still blue and the lights are on. That is the gap between sunset and full dark in the table below. Arrive just before a display starts, find your spot at the rail, and you will have the jets, the colour and the towers in one frame. A phone copes well; the spray is the thing to keep off your lens.

When the season runs

The city lists the show as running from spring through the end of fall. It does not give a first or last night we can print, so check before you plan an early-spring or a late-autumn visit around it. In winter the water is off.

"Dusk" moves a lot across the season. The table shows sunset and full dark for mid-month, from the U.S. Naval Observatory. The lit show is at its best from full dark on.

In June the lights come into their own only after 9pm. In October you have the lit show from before 7pm. Evening temperatures for each month are on Chicago weather at night.

What you are looking at

The fountain was dedicated on 26 August 1927. Kate Sturges Buckingham gave it to the city in memory of Clarence Buckingham, the donor's brother. The architect was Edward H. Bennett, and the sculptures are by the French sculptor Marcel F. Loyau. The design was inspired by the Latona Fountain at Versailles.

The fountain sits in the middle of Grant Park, the green space between Michigan Avenue and the lake, and it has been called the city's front door. The fountain stands for Lake Michigan. Four sets of sea horses, two in each, represent the four states that border the lake: Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. It is built of Georgia pink marble and pushes water through 193 jets.

It is bigger than it looks in photographs. The bottom pool is 280 feet across, and the lip of the upper basin sits 25 feet above the water below it. The fountain holds about 1.5 million gallons, and during a display more than 14,000 gallons a minute go through its jets. Stand at the rail on a breezy night and you will feel the spray before you see the lights.

Seeing it from the water

The river cruises do not pass it: the fountain is in Grant Park, south of the river's mouth. To see it from a boat you need a cruise that goes out onto the lake. On the night cruise from Michigan and Wacker, the guides point out Buckingham Fountain along with the Museum Campus and Navy Pier. The same First Lady cruise is also sold as the river and lake cruise after dark, for $50.

From the lake you see the fountain across the park with the towers behind it, not up close. If you want the spray and the music, go on foot as well. What happens on the way out, and why the boat may wait at the lock, is on what to expect on the night.

Fitting it round an evening cruise

• Cruise first, fountain after. Take the sunset cruise or an early sailing, then walk south through Grant Park for the lit show.
• Fountain first, cruise after. In October the show is lit before 7pm, so you can see it and still make a later sailing.
• Leave slack. A cruise can run long at the lock on a busy night, so do not tie the fountain to a tight window.
• Add the river front. The Chicago Riverwalk is open until 11pm and free, and the cruise docks are on it.

The two cruise docks sit at Michigan Avenue on opposite banks of the river; both are on the meeting-point map. Other ideas for the evening are on things to do at night.

An evening around the fountain

You can build a whole evening on this corner of the city without a ticket. In autumn, Art on theMART projects onto the river front from 7:30pm to 8pm, Thursday to Sunday, until 27 December 2026. You can watch that from the river, then walk south for the fountain once it is fully dark. If you want a view from high up, 360 Chicago stays open until 11pm, with last entry at 10pm.

If you add a cruise, put it first on a summer evening, when the fountain is at its best after 9pm. In October, see the fountain first, while it is lit early, and take the later sailing out onto the lake. Either way, you end the night on the river front, not in a queue. More free ideas are on things to do at night.

Cruises out to the lake, and a view from above

Chicago By Night River and Lake Cruise

First Lady's river and lake cruise after dark: 90 minutes with a live guide from the dock at Michigan and Wacker, up to 250 aboard, with an enclosed salon below the open deck.

From $50 per person

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Lake Michigan Sunset Cruise in Chicago

Ninety minutes from 400 N Michigan, timed to the sunset: the river first, then the lake as the lights come on. Light narration from the crew, not a guide; the bar takes cards only.

From $45 per person

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Chicago: Downtown Chicago Skyline Helicopter Tour

About seven minutes over the skyline on the 10-mile flight, from the vertiport at 1339 S. Wood St; longer flights cost more. Fly Heli sells sunset and evening slots.

From $129 per person

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