“New data from the Chicago Loop Alliance show that Downtown pedestrian traffic now exceeds pre-pandemic levels from 2019, with more visitors drawn by arts and culture and dining.
“The new numbers validate efforts to make the Loop a social destination and combat high retail and office vacancy rates that have plagued the area since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to .
“However, it’s arts and culture programming that’s ‘driving the bus at the moment,’ CLA President and CEO Michael Edwards said.
“On weekends, pedestrian traffic in the Loop is surpassing 2019 levels at 116%, according to the CLA’s latest State of the Loop report. That number is largely driven by arts and culture events attended by people who aren’t normally Downtown, Edwards said.
“‘If anybody hasn’t been Downtown lately, they really ought to come down and check it out, because it’s not what they hear on the national news,’ he told the Sun-Times recently. ‘We have more pedestrian volumes than we had in the past. People are using the district more as a social center than they are using it as a business.’
“Past CLA studies show that more people attend arts and culture events than the games of all of the city’s professional sports teams combined. Chicagoans are also attending cultural experiences — like Broadway shows and art exhibitions — at a cadence well above the national average, too.
“Several years after those studies, arts and culture attendance numbers continue to trend upward, according to the organization’s latest report.
“‘It’s a pretty compelling message about how important arts and culture [is],’ Edwards said.
“Late summer events in the Loop, such as Lollapalooza and the Chicago Triathlon, drove more than $514 million in direct economic impact in the third quarter, surpassing late 2024 numbers. In September, more than one million people visited the Loop for the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and Sundays on State events.
“Theater performances were another big driver of visitors to the Loop in the third quarter, up 11% from last year.” (Colón, Chicago Sun-Times, 10/15/25)