Northalsted Market Days 2026

About Northalsted Market Days 2026

Northalsted Market Days is the biggest street festival in Chicago's gay village and one of the largest in the Midwest, taking over a half-mile of North Halsted Street between Belmont and Addison on August 7, 8 and 9, 2026. Now in its fifth decade, the festival pulls hundreds of thousands of people into Northalsted (the neighborhood long known as Boystown) for a weekend of live music on four stages, drag, dance, more than 250 vendor and food booths, and the kind of open-street block-party energy the neighborhood does better than anywhere. The 2026 lineup is headlined by Keri Hilson, Daya, Northbrook's own JORDY, Dawn Richard, comedian Jessica Kirson, and Drag Race winner Myki Meeks. Gates run Friday from 5 to 10 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., with a suggested donation of $20 that goes straight back to performers, festival workers, and neighborhood programs like the Chicago Pride crosswalks. Come hungry, wear sunscreen, and take the Red Line to Belmont or Addison rather than fighting for parking — the whole point of Market Days is to spill out into the street with the rest of the city and stay a while. It is run by the Northalsted Business Alliance, the same nonprofit behind Chicago Pride Fest.