What’s Out There® Weekend Chicago Oct. 4-5 Features More Than Two Dozen Free, Expert-Led tours of Parks, Gardens, & Open Spaces
Media Contact: Nord Wennerstrom | T: 202.483.0553 | M: 202.255.7076 | E: nord@tclf.org
Part of a nationwide program that reveals the stories of places that are part of our daily lives
Washington, D.C. (August 19, 2025) – The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF), a Washington, D.C.-based education and advocacy non-profit, announces What’s Out There Weekend Chicago, October 4-5, 2025, featuring more than two dozen free, expert-led tours of parks, gardens, and open spaces in the City of Big Shoulders. These tours enable people to discover the design history of places they may pass every day but don’t necessarily know about. Expert guides provide rich stories, personal anecdotes, and keen observations about each site, landscape architecture, city shaping, and garden design (all tours are free, but attendance is limited and registration is required). Chicago’s landscape legacy features myriad parks, cultural institutions, and historic sites and neighborhoods, including: the roof garden of the Old Chicago Post Office; Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool; Art Institute of Chicago, South Garden; Jackson Park; and many others.
In addition to the tours, TCLF will produce a printed What’s Out There Chicago guidebook that includes all of the tour sites (available for purchase and free as a downloadable PDF), and has added to the more expansive and ever-growing digital What’s Out There Cultural Landscapes Guide to Chicago. The digital guide currently includes an illustrated history of the city’s cultural landscape heritage, 70 individual site entries, and 60 biographies of designers who collectively shaped the landscapes that people in Chicago move through every day.
All What’s Out There Weekend Chicago tours are free, but attendance is limited and registration is required.
Saturday, Oct. 4
• Cascade Park | 10:00 am–11:00 am | Led by Thomas Kerwin, FAIA, LEED AP (bKL Architecture)
• Lathrop Homes | 10:00 am–11:00 am | Led by Adam Natenshon (Preservation Chicago) and Douglas A. Williams, Ph.D., ASALH, ASLA, NOMA
• Millennium Park | 10:00 am–11:00 am | Led by Terry Guen, SITES AP, FASLA (Terry Guen Design Associates)
• The 606 | 10:00 am–11:30 am | Led by Terry Warriner Ryan, FASLA, PLA (JRA Landscape Architecture) and Christopher Gent, PLA, ASLA (Urban Landscape Collaborative)
• Lurie Garden | 11:00 am–12:00 pm | Led by Terry Guen, SITES AP, FASLA (Terry Guen Design Associates)
• Graceland Cemetery | 11:00 am–12:30 pm | Led by Shawn Weidner, PLA (Hoerr Schaudt)
• Illinois Institute of Technology | 11:30 am–1:00 pm | Led by Ron Henderson, FASLA (Lirio Landscape Architecture)
• Ping Tom Memorial Park | 12:00 pm–1:30 pm | Led by Site Design Group
• Humboldt Park | 1:00 pm–2:00 pm | Led by Julia Bachrach (Julia Bachrach Consulting)
• The Wild Mile | 1:00 pm–2:30 pm | Led by Meg Schroeder (Greenprint Partners) and Nick Wesley (Urban Rivers)
• Kenwood Gardens | 2:30 pm–3:30 pm | Led by Chris Abraham (Chicago-based Garden Designer)
• Columbus Park | 10:30 am–12:30 pm | Led by Robert Grese, FASLA, FCELA, Professor Emeritus (School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan)
• Garfield Park Conservatory | Time TBD | Led by Robert Grese, FASLA, FCELA, Professor Emeritus (School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan)
Sunday, Oct. 5
• Washington Park | 10:00 am–11:30 am | Led by Brian J. McCammack (Lake Forest College, Environmental Studies) and Douglas A. Williams, Ph.D., ASALH, ASLA, NOMA
• Logan Square Boulevards Historic District | 10:00 am–12:00 pm | Led by Andrew Schneider (Chicago Park District), Nilay Mistry, PLA, ASLA (Illinois Institute of Technology), Rogelio Cadena (Illinois Institute of Technology)
• Chicago Riverwalk | 11:00 am–12:30 pm | Led by Gina Ford, FASLA (Agency Landscape + Planning), Terry Warriner Ryan, FASLA, PLA (JRA Landscape Architecture PLLC) and Michelle Woods (Public Sphere Projects)
• Lincoln Park | 11:00 am–12:30 pm | Led by Martha Frish Okabe (SOI-Qualified Architectural Historian)
• Midway Plaisance | 11:30 am–12:30 pm | Led by Diane Dillon, PhD (Newberry Library)
• Chicago Women’s Park and Gardens | 12:00 pm–1:00 | Led by Mimi McKay, FASLA, PLA (McKay Landscape Architects)
• University of Chicago | 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm | Led by Christopher A. Skrable and Katie Martin Peck, PLA, LEED AP (The University of Chicago)
• Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool | 1:00 pm–2:00 pm | Led by Joel Baldin, ASLA (Hitchcock Design Group)
• Grant Park | 1:00 pm–3:00 pm | Led by Julia Bachrach (Julia Bachrach Consulting)
• Promontory Point | 1:00 pm–2:30 pm | Led by Jack Spicer (Promontory Point Conservancy) and William Swislow (William Swislow & Associates)
• West Woodlawn/Emmett & Mamie Till-Mobley House Museum |1:00 pm–2:30 pm | Led by David Yocca, FASLA (Blacks in Green)
• Bronzeville—Black Metropolis National Heritage Area | 2:00 pm–3:30 PM | Led by Laurie Petersen (Society of Architectural Historians) and Adam De Foor-White, PLA, ASLA, LEED Green Associate (Greenprint Partners)
• Jackson Park | 2:30 pm–4:00 pm | Led by Rebecca S. Graff, PhD, RPA (Lake Forest College, Sociology and Anthropology)
• Art Institute of Chicago, South Garden | 3:00 pm–4:00 pm | Led by Julia Bachrach (Julia Bachrach Consulting)
• Lake Point Tower, Skyline Park | 3:00 pm–4:00 pm | Led by Joel Baldin, ASLA (Hitchcock Design Group)
• Jackson Park, Osaka Garden | 3:00 pm–4:30 pm | Led by Saira Chambers (Chicago Park District)
"The Illinois ASLA is delighted to once again partner with TCLF for What’s Out There Weekend Chicago. Illinois overflows with opportunities that draw landscape architects from near and far, inspired by our state’s natural beauty and rich history of design,” said Susan Ragaishis, Executive Director, ILASLA. “With Chicago proudly carrying the motto Urbs in Horto—'City in a Garden’—our landscapes are as diverse as they are breathtaking. From the sweeping lawns of Grant Park to the riverfront oasis of Ping Tom Memorial Park, the historic Graceland Cemetery, and the innovative ecology of The Wild Mile—Illinois is a living showcase of outdoor inspiration. This event will shine a spotlight on these and many other treasures, offering residents and visitors a rare, behind-the-scenes glimpse into the artistry and vision that shape our shared spaces."
“By making the people and stories behind these landscapes visible and bringing to life their unique value and civic contributions for all, we can better understand where we’ve come from as a community and where we are going,” said Charles A. Birnbaum, TCLF’s President and CEO.
What’s Out There Weekend Chicago dovetails with TCLF’s web-based What’s Out There, the nation’s most comprehensive searchable database of historic designed landscapes. The database currently features more than 2,700 sites, 14,000 images, and 1,400 designer profiles. What’s Out There is optimized for iPhones and similar handheld devices, and includes What’s Nearby, a GPS-enabled feature that locates all landscapes within a given distance, customizable by mileage or walking time. The database is a go-to resource for everyone from schoolchildren to scholars seeking trustworthy online information.
What’s Out There Weekend Chicago is made possible by Lead Sponsor, Driehaus Foundation; Presenting Sponsors ASLA Illinois, Blacks in Green, Eiserman & Associates, GameTime, Hoerr Schaudt, Hollander design Landscape Architects, landscapeforms, Preservation Chicago, and Vermont Quarries Corp.; along with many Supporting Sponsors and Friends.
About the Illinois Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)
Since the days of Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape architects have been adding value to outdoor space. Today, over 500 members of the Illinois Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects continue to design and redefine the way we use outdoor space.
About The Cultural Landscape Foundation
The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 1998 with a mission of “connecting people to places.” TCLF educates and engages the public to make our shared landscape heritage more visible, identify its value, and empower its stewards. Through its website, publishing, lectures, and other events, TCLF broadens support and understanding for cultural landscapes. TCLF is also home to the Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize.
Editors: Click here for hi-res images.