Crowds pack Chicago parks and lakefront to enjoy Memorial Day weekend

CHICAGO - Between the beaches reopening Friday and dozens of events taking place over Memorial Day weekend, ‘Summertime Chi’ is officially back!

To celebrate the unofficial start to summer, friends and families came together to make the most of the city’s parks, beaches and attractions.

"We went to Millennium Park and now we’re going to go to Navy Pier," said Carol Drake, who was hosting friends visiting from Portland.

Some enjoyed the beautiful weather from the water.

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"Spent the day on my boat. Took my nephew on my boat. We took a boat ride and just relaxed in the beautiful weather," said Scott Gordan.

Others hit the city's lakefront path to soak up the sun.

"We’re in the city for a while so we came over here to ride bikes," said Claudia Garcia, visiting from Los Angeles. "This is my first time coming to Chicago and it’s really pretty over here."

More than forty events were held in the city this weekend – including the Sueños Music Festival, the Crosstown Classic, and the Coldplay concert.

"This is a nice big city to come to, we don’t have to go all the way to the East Coast, and it’s beautiful here, we love Chicago," said Michael Noel, visiting from Denver with his wife and daughters.  

Between the food and fun, visitors from near and far said they were happy to be back out and about enjoying each other's company again.

"We did go on a food tour on Friday, that was really fun to see special food in the city," said Vienne Noel.

"Finally being able to go out, and feel the fresh air, feel the rays of sunlight without a mask in their face – I guess everybody is really enjoying themselves," said Alexander Cardenas.

If you are visiting from out of town and plan to hit the road to head home on Memorial Day – traffic will be most congested from 1-4 p.m., according to travel experts with AAA.