{"id":784430,"date":"2026-05-09T14:37:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T14:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/784430\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T14:37:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T14:37:14","slug":"buckingham-fountain-chicago-switch-on-summer-2026-event-happening-saturday-in-grant-park-including-buckingham-fountain-turn-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/784430\/","title":{"rendered":"Buckingham Fountain Chicago: Switch on Summer 2026 event happening Saturday in Grant Park, including Buckingham Fountain turn on"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">CHICAGO (WLS) &#8212; A Grant Park landmark will finally turn on for the summer season on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Buckingham Fountain is one of the most iconic fountains in Chicago.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7chicago.com\/watch\/live\/11064984\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24\/7. Click here to watch<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">When it is switched on, the fountain produces a 20-minute display that shoots water 150 feet high.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The annual tradition means we are getting closer to summer. The event is a partnership between the Chicago Park District and ComEd.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The guest of honor, who will activate the fountain, is Zach Gray, from Logan Square. Gray was the lucky Illinois resident who won ComEd&#8217;s sweepstakes contest earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Switch on Summer starts at 11:30 a.m. The free event includes performances and activities for children.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Buckingham Fountain will be officially switched on around noon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">It also marks the start of Chicago Park District&#8217;s Night Out in the Parks. The series provides free programming at parks across the city that includes live music, dance, and cultural performances.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">The fountain ceremony starts at 11:55 a.m. followed by a countdown to switch on the fountain around noon.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2026 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO (WLS) &#8212; A Grant Park landmark will finally turn on for the summer season on Saturday. Buckingham&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":784431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[320847,33809,320843,320845,320842,320844,960,205913,5462,12633,102651,59143,320841,31468,73385,5386,1818,320846,304429,320839,320840],"class_list":{"0":"post-784430","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-320847","9":"tag-buckingham-fountain","10":"tag-buckingham-fountain-chicago","11":"tag-buckingham-fountain-opening-2026","12":"tag-buckingham-fountain-schedule","13":"tag-buckingham-fountain-turn-on","14":"tag-chicago","15":"tag-chicago-events","16":"tag-chicago-news","17":"tag-chicago-park-district","18":"tag-chicago-summer","19":"tag-comed","20":"tag-comed-chicago","21":"tag-grant-park","22":"tag-grant-park-chicago","23":"tag-il","24":"tag-illinois","25":"tag-is-buckingham-fountain-open","26":"tag-summer-2026","27":"tag-switch-on-summer","28":"tag-switch-on-summer-chicago"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=784430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/784431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=784430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=784430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=784430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}