Millennium Park Makes Its Debut

One of the most controversial civic art projects in recent U.S. history opened to the public this weekend, and Blair Kamin was bowled over. “Remember the dusty pit that sat for decades amid the beaux-arts splendor of Grant Park, Chicago’s front yard? Well, it’s gone, turned into a joyful park that’s sprinkled with smile-inducing sculpture and mind-bending ‘wow-chitecture.’ This is the miracle of Millennium Park, the $475 million fusion of old-fashioned world’s fair and newfangled cultural spectacle that opened Friday. Yes, there have been huge cost overruns and delays, and they have resulted in some less than ideal park spaces. But get real: Did anyone ever ask Eiffel whether he busted the bud-get on his tower? The park is found ground — a no place that is suddenly a someplace.”