Overview Kentucky Derby Parties Chicago is a citywide set of Kentucky Derby watch parties produced by Green Curtain Events, the Chicago company behind Tacos y Tamales Festival and the Great American Lobster Fest. On the first Saturday of May, rooftops, lounges and sports bars in the Loop, River North, Old Town, Lincoln Park and Wicker Park each host a ticketed party built around the live race. A guest buys a ticket to one venue, and tables are sold as an optional upgrade. On site The lineup on sale has six venues. ROOF on theWit sits 27 stories above State Street under a retractable roof. Joy District opens its River North rooftop, and The J. Parker looks out over Lake Michigan from the top of Hotel Lincoln. Utopian Tailgate is a rooftop above Second City in Old Town. Parlay in Lincoln Park has a retractable patio roof and screens wall to wall, and Paradise Park fills its Wicker Park patio with disco balls and neon. Every room shows the race on several screens with the sound up. Bars pour mint juleps and Derby specials, and most tickets include a drink. Audience Guests dress up. Think wide-brimmed hats, fascinators, floral sundresses and pastel suits with bow ties. They arrive as groups of friends and couples, often hold a table for the afternoon, and crowd the screens for the two minutes of the race. Green Curtain Events calls its crowd socially active young professionals who go looking for new experiences. Talent and Influencers No performer headlines. The race is the main event and the outfits are the second one. Event photographers shoot each room, and Green Curtain Events posts the looks and group shots to its Chicago nightlife following on Instagram and TikTok, where the parties are promoted in the weeks before race day. Track record Green Curtain Events has produced events in Chicago for more than 15 years and runs a calendar of seasonal parties around St. Patrick's Day, Halloween and New Year's Eve. Earlier Derby lineups ran as large as nine bars, among them Bounce, Whiskey Business, Hopsmith, Fatpour, The Reveler, Rebel and Rye, Homeslice and Paradise Park. Paradise Park is back this time. Brand presence White Claw has presented the parties across every venue, and general admission has included a White Claw for each guest. Sponsors show up where guests order and look: featured drinks on the bar menu, signage at each venue entrance, logos and video on the in-room screens, and sampling tables. Promotion runs ahead of race day through the Derby Parties Chicago site, the Green Curtain Events email list and its social channels. A VIP table lets a brand host clients at one rooftop.