After a six-year hiatus, Chicago’s Senior Fest returned to Millennium Park to the joy of seniors who came out Thursday for food, fun and fellowship.
From a line dance and double Dutch tent, to live music, vendors and a wellness clinic, thousands of upbeat seniors frolicked at the free event.
Irma Lou Dobson, 65, came for the line dancing, which she loves to do at one of the city’s 21 satellite senior centers. But first, she found herself dancing along to a Tina Turner tribute performance by Dorothy Roberson at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion.
“It’s so good with all these people that are out here and just enjoying, oh my lord, my cup runneth over,” Lou Dobson said. “I’m so, so happy. … You can see all the people smiling and just enjoying themselves. It’s not just the food; it’s the fellowship and everything.”
The Chicago Department of Family and Support Services hosted the event after a six-year hiatus, mostly due to the pandemic. It wasn’t clear why the festival was canceled in 2019.
“We really wanted to make coming to Millennium Park accessible,” Commissioner Brandie Knazze told the Sun-Times. “It’s about bringing everybody together and having a great party. It’s like a senior takeover.”
Knazze said one of her department’s key goals of the festival is to prevent social isolation.
“We know that when older adults don’t have friends, don’t have families to take care of them and check on them, those social connections really deteriorate, and that really then spills over to their health outcomes,” Knazze said. “And we want to make sure that people feel supported, that they have friends, that they have great relationships, they stay active and healthy.”
Lajune Hollywood was doing her best to stay active at the line dance and double Dutch tent. The 64-year-old from Ashburn tapped her feet to the beat of “Poison” by Bell Biv DeVoe, as she broke out her best dance moves right when the song started playing.
“I’m a dancing machine. I love to dance,” Hollywood said.
Moments earlier, Hollywood was jumping double Dutch to the tune of other old-school hip-hop and house songs. She’s a member of the 40+ Double Dutch Club, a nationwide group of women over 40 years old who share a passion for jumping rope.
“As a little girl, I started at like 10. I’m 64, so 54 years, I’ve been jumping. It’s a great form of exercise,” Hollywood said.
Mayor Brandon Johnson also made an appearance onstage at the Pritzker Pavilion, at one moment jokingly looking for babysitters for his three children so he and his wife could go on a date.
“You know as seniors, you are our most valuable group of people, not just here in Chicago, but around the world,” Johnson said. “…You are truly woven into the fabric of our city and it’s really up to us to show you how much we appreciate and respect and value you.”
David Holston, who stumbled upon the festival with his wife, Christi, said he was most grateful “to see seniors being recognized and treated well.”
The couple from Monee initially planned to visit the Art Institute of Chicago, but overheard music and saw a crowd gathered at Millennium Park.
“I think we just got off the train and we saw a party, and everybody’s here,” Christi Holston, 70, said. “And the weird thing is we’re walking around going, ‘Yeah, we’re actually technically seniors, but it doesn’t feel like it,’ and I bet you nobody here feels like they’re seniors.”
