Kei Lavonne and Niomi Collard were strangers until Saturday, when they spotted each other’s “gorgeous” outfits on their way to Pokémon GO Fest at Grant Park.
Lavonne, 35, came from South Bend, Indiana, and dressed as the Pokémon character Mimikyu, a ghost that disguises itself as the famous Pikachu because it desires more love. Collard, 34, flew from Tampa, Florida, for the fest and didn’t cosplay as a character but wore a glamorous purple and pink dress, along with a skirt piece with a Pokémon GO emblem.
“There’s the cognitive dissonance in my head of like I paid a couple hundred dollars to be here, but it’s also going to be a really good memory,” Collard said. “It’s a really fun experience, it’s a really fun time. I’m pretty sure we’re going to be talking for ages after this.”
Thousands of fans returned to Grant Park on Saturday for Day 2 of Pokémon GO Fest, but the festival was forced to scale back its gameplay on the Museum Campus late Saturday and for Sunday “in response to several overlapping events in the area,” organizers said. A music festival is happening nearby at Northerly Island.
Earlier Saturday, before that announcement, costumed Pokémon roamed Grant Park and inflatable creatures were planted throughout. Giant inflatable Pokémons, including a Pikachu, towered over the fields as players scanned their phones for rare finds.
Pokémon GO is an augmented reality game that requires players to explore the outdoors to search for virtual Pokémon.
The Pokémon franchise is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year in numerous ways, including the return of Pokémon GO Fest to Chicago as well as with the Pokémon Fossil Museum exhibit at the Field Museum, which opened last month and runs through April 2027.
Pokémon GO Fest’s return to Chicago, which hosted the event from 2017 to 2019, is a celebration of the game’s 10-year anniversary.
The festival is a unique way of bringing together fans in person who already can connect virtually through the game.
“It’s a very fun parasocial relationship you can develop with people that you have interactions with,” Collard said.
“It’s been very easy to just start a conversation with anyone because you can just walk up to them and ask them what they caught or what team they’re on,” added Lavonne.
Daniel Isabella and his partner, Tabby Dawson, made the two-and-a-half hour drive from Kalamazoo, Michigan, for this weekend’s festival. They wore matching Team Rocket outfits and clipped mini umbrellas — painted to look like a Poké Ball — to their phones to keep them from overheating in the sun.
Isabella, 26, said he was a big Pokémon fan as a child and played Pokémon GO when it first launched but drifted away from the game until just recently in anticipation for this weekend’s festival.
“It has been a ton of fun to just re-indulge into something that was a childhood hobby … and having a community around it instead of being a nerdy kid in elementary school who got bullied for liking Pokémon,” Isabella said.
“I’m at an international event with thousands of people and hanging out with my partner and making cool costumes and playing games. And now here, I’m getting made fun of for not liking Pokémon enough, so truly this couldn’t be anything better than it is.”
The festival is slated to return to Grant Park next year.
In October, the Chicago Park District Board approved a two-year permit for Pokémon GO Fest organizers to host the event in Grant Park. The festival was expected to welcome up to 40,000 people and generate $1 million in revenue to support the city’s parks.
Pokémon GO Fest organizers also agreed to refund 10% of the revenue from the festival to the park district for capital investment in Grant Park.