CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- New Year’s Eve will be very different this year - a fitting end to a very different year.
New Year’s Eve has always been a night of packed parties, overflowing ballrooms, and DJs building excitement until the midnight countdown.
“For as long as I’ve been DJing, every year that’s the number-one night for DJs. I’ve been booked every year for the past 35 years," said Chicago DJ Julian Jumpin Perez.
But this year, if you look online for New Year’s Eve activities in Chicago, it’s almost as if the night doesn’t exist.
Finally, you find one website that reads: “Celebrate New Year’s Eve," except when you read further it invites you to join those who “will be ringing in 2022 live from the Hilton Chicago VIP Grand Ballroom.”
Yes, they are already looking ahead an entire year to next New Year's Eve. It’s like this Dec. 31 is worth skipping.
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But some people haven’t forgotten.
“With the craziness that’s going on and how this year has gone, we decided to put together something that really hasn’t been done ever in Chicago. It’s a New Year’s Eve party - outdoors," said Chicago DJ Julian Jumpin Perez.
Julian Jumpin Perez is organizing a New Year’s Eve drive-in concert for 500 cars at Seatgeek Stadium in Bridgeview.
“I have promoters calling me from all over the country, asking me how I’m doing this," he said, adding the main concern he's gotten from this is just, "‘Oh, it’s gonna be cold.’ This is Chicago. We go out and watch the Bears lose on Sunday in sub-zero weather."
Perez said they are enforcing social distancing, and will have cars spaced 10 feet apart.
Added bonus: singing port-a-potties, provided by Service Sanitation Jingle Johns.
"Yes, we’ve made it as convenient as possible...It’s going to be a lot of fun," he said.