Chicago's Millenium Park Finally Opens

Four years late, and over budget, Millenium Park finally opens.

"Millennium Park, which cost more than $475 million and spans 24.5 acres, is quintessential Chicago. This city -- that makes no small plans, that reversed the flow of its own river, that boasts the nation's tallest building, that forever labors to shed its "second city" status -- could never be sated by a run-of-the-mill greensward.

Add to the equation Mayor Richard M. Daley's well-documented affinity for flowering greenery, outdoor recreation, big statements and the physical definition of the urban moment, and the park, destined to become one of Daley's most significant legacies to his city, became a reality.

The much-delayed project, which opens to the public this weekend with a grand and free three-day festival, is anything but typical Chicago open space."