Market Days 2026, the annual Halsted Street happening that officially closes queer summer, rolled through Northalsted on August 7-9 in a blaze of glory and style.
As the traditional celebration of LGBTQ+ community, inclusiveness, camaraderie, sauciness and all-around good cheer in Chicago, Market Days could not be called a simple gay street festival but a signal of changing seasons and temperaments. All weekend, Halsted Street between Addison and Belmont was crammed tight with craft venders, drag queens, muscle bunnies, live music, dance music, food venders and an awful lot of happy people of all persuasions.
The usual activities were all here this time—Draglicious, Steamworks Twister, performances from the Chicago Spirit Brigade and The Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus, an EDM section—but there were new additions. A VIP Lounge provided fest-goers with a chance to relax and refresh, while a surprisingly eclectic music line up embraced different styles and cultures. To top that off this year’s line-up of talent was better than ever; headliners Jordy, Keri Hilson, Dawn Richard, Frankie Grande, Daya, and a host of lesser-known talent which routinely stole the thunder.
The only burp in the weekend was the heavy rains which soaked the festival early in the afternoon on Sunday. After the downpour shifted the talent line up the festival producers managed to get back on track with nary a hiccup (actually, there was one hiccup: Grant Knoche’s set got pushed off the line up).
Still, the biggest surprises of the festival came from unexpected places. On Friday, Broadway star, Reality TV veteran, dancer, model, and philanthropist Grande hit the stage with a blast of kinetic cheer, acknowledging his husband and mother in the crowd, and making a strong case for flashy pizazz. If his performance was not enough, he was joined onstage for an unofficial reunion with Ashley and Jason SlinaEsTitties from Big Brother which sent the crowd into a frenzy.
Daya, who played just after the Sunday drenching, won her Grammy in the ‘Best Dance Music’ category for “Don’t Let Me Down” in 2017, but her new music shifts her toward a direction of shimmering balladry. With only a drummer onstage with her, she sang with such tonal purity and naked sincerity that—despite her crowd being sopping wet—she came off like a siren seducing exhausted sailors.
Chicago South Sider Ric Wilson schooled North Halsted in vintage Chicago soul and funk, and his cheery disposition, embrace of his queerness and his tribute to Marsha P. Johnson (“Pay it No Mind”) made the crowd stand up and listen. Wilson’s band generated a cushy vibe and buffered groove far more luxuriant than typical EDM, which tends to be brittle, and the change was heartedly appreciated here.
Kameron Ross was one of the biggest surprises of the festival. Hailing from Dallas, his smoky croon was ungimmicky and honeyed, and his reading of Whitney Houston’s hit “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” was stunningly tender and delicate. Better still his “Kiss Me Slow” configured Latin music into his Texas twang in such a smooth alluring way it brought pure romance to Market Days, while “Crosswalk” addressed Trans and immigrant acceptance on a pointedly deep level.
Cain Culto, from Kentucky, pretty much turned the weekend on its head. Embracing his Columbian heritage as well as Bluegrass, Vallenato and Bullerenque, and placing it front and center with his spirituality and sexuality, he clearly had a great time cutting up and indulging in sassy ribald humor. Flying through some intriguing sartorial selections, he was never more at home ripping through “Sacrilege,” which details his Catholic guilt for his lust for a new boyfriend who resembles Jesus Christ, and whipping out his violin and pretty much destroying everything in sight.
