THE WORLD'S LONGEST-RUNNING HOUSE MUSIC FESTIVAL TURNS 36


THE WORLD'S LONGEST-RUNNING HOUSE MUSIC FESTIVAL TURNS 36

CHOSEN FEW PICNIC & MUSIC FESTIVAL BRINGS GLOBAL ICONS AND HOMETOWN LEGENDS BACK TO THE BIRTHPLACE OF HOUSE MUSIC

 

Barbara Tucker, Christine Wiltshire, Curtis "Move Your Body" McClain, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Boolu Master, and DJ Slugo Join the Legendary Chosen Few DJs at Jackson Park, 

Saturday, July 11, 2026


CHICAGO, IL - When the world's greatest House music festivals assemble their lineups, they fly to Ibiza, Berlin, Amsterdam, or Miami. But there is only one city where House music was born, and only one festival that has been honoring that legacy, without interruption, for 36 consecutive years. On Saturday, July 11, 2026, the 36th Annual Chosen Few Picnic & Music Festival returns to Chicago's iconic Jackson Park, where it all began, and for the record, where it still reigns supreme as the most culturally significant House music gathering on the planet.

 

While Amsterdam's ADE draws industry tastemakers, Berlin's Berghain commands cult reverence, and Miami's Ultra floods the waterfront with pyrotechnics, none of those festivals can claim what the Chosen Few Picnic possesses: authentic, unbroken lineage to the birth of a genre. House music was born on Chicago's South Side in the early 1980s, in the sweat and soul of clubs like the Warehouse and the Music Box. The Chosen Few DJs were there at the very beginning — and for 36 years, rain or shine, they have returned to the park where their community gathers, honoring the genre's purest spirit: music as liberation, community as church, and the dancefloor as home.

"Every year, people fly in from London, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Paris, and São Paulo for this picnic," said Wayne Williams, founder of the Chosen Few DJs. "Because no matter how big the world gets, everyone knows there is only one place where House music truly lives… right here in Chicago."

A LINEUP FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS

This year's festival features a headlining roster anchored by the legendary Chosen Few DJs - founder Wayne Williams, Alan King, Jesse Saunders, Tony Hatchett, Andre Hatchett, Terry Hunter, and Mike Dunn, three guest DJs, alongside three live performers whose voices and stories are inseparable from the music itself.

 

BARBARA TUCKER

CHRISTINE WILTSHIRE

CURTIS "MOVE YOUR BODY" McCLAIN


FEATURED GUEST DJS

DJ JAZZY JEFF

BOOLU MASTER

DJ SLUGO


MORE THAN A FESTIVAL, THIS IS A CULTURAL HOMECOMING

To understand what makes the Chosen Few Picnic fundamentally different from every other festival in the world, you must understand what Jackson Park means to Chicago, and what House music means to the people who created it.

 

No other event can claim the organic, community-rooted power of a Chicago summer sojourn to Jackson Park, where the stage is like an altar and the crowd is the congregation. The crowd -expected to exceed 40,000 attendees from across the globe, gathers at the same park, under the same trees, generation after generation, because the music still heals. Because the DJs still remember why they started. Because in an era of algorithm-curated playlists and streaming-first culture, this festival is 100% real, 100% live, and 100% rooted in the South Side of Chicago.

It is not an exaggeration to say that every House music DJ performing at every festival on every continent during this weekend is, in some direct way, a descendant of what the Chosen Few DJs started here. For 36 years, they have shown up. And for 36 years, the world has come to watch.

 

CHOSEN FEW PICNIC & FESTIVAL EVENT DETAILS

WHAT:  36th Annual Chosen Few Picnic & Music Festival

WHEN:  Saturday, July 11, 2026

WHERE:  Jackson Park, Chicago, IL

TICKETS & INFO:  General Admission, VIP, and Reserved Tent Space packages are available at chosenfewdjs.com. The event takes place rain or shine.

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