As Chicago prepares to host the Democratic National Convention later this month, Choose Chicago, the city’s official tourism site, hosted a pep rally for the city on Friday.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and the 2024 DNC Host Committee joined Choose Chicago at the event.
“This is the greatest city in the world, and we can show it to the world,” Pritzker said. “Chicago not only has the best convention space, hotels and restaurants to welcome people from all over the country, but we’re also the city with the biggest heart.”
Rich Gamble, interim president and CEO of Choose Chicago, said such conventions can historically generate up to $200 million in economic impact for a host city.
Gamble said the group is working to ensure vendors in Chicago neighborhoods feel that benefit.
“One of the ways this project is inclusive is through the creation of vendor and venue portals,” Gamble said. “We selected vendors and venues from across the city, not only geographically, but also based on the ownership of those venues.”
Delegates will be able to access the portal to search for businesses by location and who owns them here.
Street closures begin next week.
