CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Chicagohenge is well known to locals. It comes each year with the spring and fall equinox, when the rising and setting sun lines up perfectly with Chicago's east-west streets.
“Well, the nice thing about the Chicago grid system is it lines up perfectly with the equinox,” said famed Chicago photographer Barry Butler.
The result is a photographer's paradise, one that Butler has been capturing for at least 10 years.
“It was before it was kind of a thing,” he said. “What’s interesting is, really, when my Instagram kicked in is when it started getting popular, which might have been about 2018. Prior to that, I’d be out there by myself, so it’d be very quiet. Now, it’s a party.”
Social media has helped make Chicagohenge immensely popular among photographers, Butler said.
“We’re always looking for something good about social media: I guess this is it,” he said. “It’s turned into an event at least twice a year. It’s amazing the number of people who congregate on these streets.”
Butler said the view of Chicagohenge from downtown — with the city’s skyscrapers creating a canyon — is “free entertainment.” But he added that any east-west street will make for a memorable shot.
“Honestly, you don’t have to be downtown to do this, as long as you have an east-west street,” he said. “Maybe there’s a tunnel, maybe there [are] some huge trees. You can kind of create your own Chicagohenge because the whole idea is the concept of Stonehenge.”
Chicagohenge will be visible to the west shortly before sunset for about one week before and after the equinox.
“As long as you can see the horizon on a westbound street, enjoy the view,” Butler said.
If you miss it, it'll happen again beginning Sept. 23.
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