Memorial Day Weekend in Chicago: Travelers Filling Roads, Airports, beaches, and Festivals in Full Swing!

CHICAGO (WLS) — Whether you’re flying, driving, or staying put this holiday weekend, there’s a lot to do from festivals to concerts.

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The tarmac at O’Hare Airport was a busy place Friday, one of the busiest travel days of the year.

With the start of Memorial Day weekend, many travelers got ready to head out of town and were excited.

The Chicago Department of Aviation anticipates Thursday to be the busiest day for O’Hare Airport, while Monday is expected to have the highest number of travelers at Midway Airport.

This weekend is predicted to see a surge in travel activity. AAA forecasts that over 45 million Americans will travel, surpassing the previous record established in 2005.

Tiffany Knauer is heading to visit her son in Florida, and she expected the airport to be more crowded.

“I was bracing for something worse,” Knauer commented. “But I was pleasantly surprised. The traffic flow outside was better than expected… I’m thrilled. I’m on my way to visit my 18-year-old son, so what could be better than that?”

O’Hare Airport was expecting to see more than 1.5 million travelers going through the terminals over the long weekend. That’s nearly a 7% increase over last years at this time.

American Airlines is expecting a big increase in the number of flights and travelers going through Chicago over this time last year.

“Planning for this weekend started months ago, back in October, as we figured out when we wanted to fly, where we wanted to fly and how we wanted to use our gate space,” said Ben Humphrey with American Airlines.

United Airlines said they’ll fly 67,000 seats on average a day out of O’Hare, with Friday being their busiest day.

This will also be the first holiday travel period with the new Real ID requirement at airports. Travelers were encouraged to arrive early to airports as TSA deals with the new requirements.

“We’re staffed up, trained up,” TSA spokesperson Jessica Mayle said. “We work with our airport partners to know down to the hour how many passengers we’re expecting so we can staff appropriately.”

With the Kennedy Expressway under construction, officials are urging people to take public transit to O’Hare.

On the roads, AAA says about 87% of travelers, or 39 million people, will be driving between Thursday and Monday, up 1 million over last year. They will enjoy lower gas prices than a year ago at this time, as well as slightly cheaper hotels and rental cars.

That’s good news for holiday travelers like Jen Richards, whose family has a full agenda planned for the weekend.

“We went to the Botanic gardens with the toddler, and now we are going to dinner and my mother has a sweatshirt with all the grandchildren’s pictures on it,” Richards said.

IDOT and Illinois State Police are ramping up efforts to pull over passengers not wearing their seat belt, part of their “click it or ticket campaign.”

For those staying in the Chicago area, there was no better way to kick off the holiday weekend than music in the streets.

Preparations were underway Friday for the start of The Belmont Sheffield Music Festival. The Lake View event is marking its 40th anniversary with live performances and vendors serving up food and other merchandise.

“Besides the sunshine, we have a great line-up of bands. We have a lot of local cuisine,” said Maureen Martino, Executive Director of the Lake View East Chamber of Commerce. “People come back to this neighborhood, who used to live here many, many years ago.”

Underneath the music is a history that has been beating in Lake View for decades.

“It’s going to be fun,” festival worker Sheber Mokua said. “There’s music. There’s food. There are clothes. There’s jewelry.”

It’s one of several events this weekend allowing people to bathe in the pre-summer fun.

“Exploring this whole area is just very lively,” festival-goer Alex Sauers said.

Another option for fun this weekend is to bathe in the waters of Lake Michigan.

The lakefront beaches were officially opened for the summer Friday, and people can take a swim, if it’s safe, between 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The Memorial Day weekend is also bringing the Sueños Music Festival back to Grant Park for Saturday and Sunday. Crews were setting up on Friday for pop star Shakira to take to the stage this weekend.

READ MORE | Sueños Music Festival coming to Grant Park this weekend

It’s weekend of celebration in Chicago no matter what the vibe is.

“And, we still are loving the vibe of being small enough to see your neighbors and talk,” Martino said. “But, it’s actually a big festival.”