Amazing Chase Returns with Burnham Mystery, May 18
Posted on May 6, 2009 in categories Events, Exhibits
- Next news item:
- Burnham’s Backyard Open in Glencoe Features Burnham Designs, Skokie Lagoons (May 24, 2009)
- Previous:
- Winter 2009 Newsletter (Mar 21, 2009)
Last year, close to 100 people followed a scavenger hunt around Glencoe in the first annual Amazing Chase—and had great fun doing it. This year, the Glencoe Historical Society’s Amazing Chase returns May 18 with a live version of the famous board game “Clue,” where teams go forth seeking who committed the “crime” of killing Daniel Burnham and leaving his body in the Skokie Lagoons.
Those who know their history know Burnham wasn’t killed; the Lagoons hadn’t been dug when he died of natural causes in 1912 and few, if anyone, would have a motive to “off” Daniel, one of the best known and best loved architects of his time. But suspend your disbelief and join in. The Glencoe Clue game brings out the historic personages of Burnham’s time – Architect Louis Sullivan, Journalist William Stead, “Ladies of the Evening” Ada and Minna Everleigh—and works to find out who might have had a motive to kill him.
Teams will have a map of Glencoe locations where the familiar question “Was it X, in the Y location with Weapon Z?” will be asked of costumed players at 10 Glencoe sites. Using deductive logic and savvy path finding, the crime will be solved.
The Amazing Chase is being run in conjunction with the historical society’s newest exhibition, Burnham’s Backyard, a look at the development of the forest preserves, particularly the Skokie Lagoons, following the ideas contained in the Burnham and Bennett Plan of 1909 that called for green space around the City of Chicago. Included in the exhibit are ornaments from famous Burnham-designed buildings in Chicago, on loan from City of Chicago’s Cultural Historian Tim Samuelson. The exhibit runs through Sept. 15, 2009.