Anton Gridiron was unloading his vehicle before 9 a.m. Monday, hauling fishing reels, grills and food, to bask in the shady glory of trees near 31st Street Beach with his family on Memorial Day.
“Fishing, bike riding, dog walking, exercising … we’re doing all of it,” Gridiron said, flipping slider-size beef patties on a long grill and keeping an eye on the ribs cooking on the nearby 30-year-old circular grill his mother-in-law gave him.
His wife of 20 years, Shantelle, sat nearby with their pit bull, Blue, their son and their daughter, a recent graduate from the Rich Township High School District who’s looking to start a nursing career.
Other students in other districts may still still have some time left before the school year ends, but all along the lakefront Monday, it was clear that summer has arrived in Chicago.
For Gridiron and his family from south suburban Country Club Hills, it was their first time grilling out at the beach. They decided to venture into the city for a cookout instead of their backyard to “enjoy another space,” Gridiron said.
“This is our first time in this area, but we normally go to Starved Rock,” he said. “We love the outdoors.”
With temperatures in the 80s, the parking lots at South Side beaches were filling up during the breakfast rush, while the smell of charcoal wafted in the breeze.
Lovie Rainey ventured to 31st Street Beach from the Naperville area to spend time with her cousin. Her cousin was using three grills, all different sizes, to cook. Spices sat atop a table next to Rainey, who was listening to ’90s R&B and house music on a nearby speaker.
“This is something we used to do a lot when we were growing up — haven’t done it a lot since being an adult. We haven’t done it as often because all the older family members are gone now, who were the ones keeping it going,” Rainey said. “I don’t know how to grill, but I can hand my cousin the aluminum foil and be her assistant.”
Her cousin was cooking ribs, turkey legs, chicken and links for family. She arrived early to cook, with 10 to 15 more family members set to come by when the food was ready, Rainey said. “We’ll be out here pretty much all day. This is my type of weather.”
As the morning progressed and shady areas under trees and saplings were taken, mothers unloaded their babies from cars, carting bags upon bags of gear for their children, who donned swimsuits.
Beachgoers tossed flying discs on the sand, while others waded into the lake. Some couples traveled light, arriving with only backpacks carrying blankets and sunscreen before lounging in the sun. Friends in sun hats and wispy dresses stopped to take their shoes off before putting foot to sand to talk and walk the shoreline.
By 10 a.m., volleyball nets were being set up, solitary sunbathers were sharing their sunscreen, and geese were competing for space on the grass as tents and lawn chairs continued to crop up along the beach.
Matthew Corlieto, aka Turtle, was digging a hole so deep that at times only his lower body could be seen. His lime green metal detector sat unused as he dug. A closer look at the hole revealed the shell, head and three legs of a sea turtle he’d been shaping with his hands since 7 a.m.
“Any beach I come across in this world, I always build a turtle,” said the dreadlocked Hickory Hills resident, showing off the turtle tattoo on his left shoulder.
Fatina Smith, a West Sider-turned-South Sider, brought her sons and nephews to the beach for a change of pace and scenery from her Chatham neighborhood. Hot dogs and sandwiches were on her menu.
“Last year, our family had a couple of great losses — my brother, my father. He would be at home barbecuing. We wanted to get away from home, not be there without him, so I said, ‘Let’s go to the beach,'” she said. “We are playing until we get tired. Just waiting for my sister with the tent.”
Communing with nature was going just as strong on 63rd Street Beach closer to lunchtime. Reggie’s on the Beach was rocking music, juice smoothies were being sold next to the parking lot, and Monica Lara and Carrie Phillips were enjoying the sunny environment with their children — “the first beach day of the season,” they said.
Lara’s son, Benjamin, 3, was doing his best to dig to the center of the earth with his shovel and bucket, his dad, Alberto Reyes, helping with his hands. Lara and Phillips say they come with the family every year to this particular beach because it’s the best.
“It’s got parking, it’s got Reggie’s, a playground, lifeguards and clean restrooms,” Phillips said. The pair live and work in Hyde Park, so the distance to fun is negligible.
Their daughters attend University of Chicago Lab School and became friends, and subsequently, the moms did too. Lara was contemplating swinging by her parents’ home near Midway Airport for some barbecue, and Lara’s daughter Olivia Reyes, 10, was excited about the possibility.
After frolicking with a beach ball in the lake, Reyes said she preferred the 57th Street Beach with the rocks. She admits she likes a little danger with her beach time.
The moms are already thinking next summer steps: They already have tickets to the Obama Presidential Center, now they are thinking about a road trip. For now, it’s beach and then a nap. “We’ll venture out later, after that,” Lara said.
Zaya and Payton Overstreet were at 63rd Street Beach with their four children: Devontavia Williams, 15, Dezarianna Williams, 14, A’Kyng Overstreet, 7, and Wynter Overstreet, 2. Payton was busy setting up a massive family tent with his employer’s logo on it — The Kindness Campaign — while his family enjoyed the water. A’Kyng, wearing his “Fortnite” short set, was focused on stacking wet stand to start a castle, while Wynter was giving her sister, Dezarianna, a run for her money, running in and out the water to play with toys.
“We’ve been up since 6 a.m. barbecuing, brought some food to the beach,” Zaya said. She and her husband have been together for 11 years and spend a lot of time beachside.
“We come here for the Fourth (of July) and days like this, Memorial Day, because Wynter loves the beach. I’ve been coming here since I was a young girl. We feel comfortable here.”
Overstreet says outings like this center her and her family. With the world being chaotic, excursions to the beach helps turn the volume down on the outside noise for what’s important: family. “Diversity, everybody getting along, playing music at a respectable level so it doesn’t disturb other families. It’s always very nice here.”
Hyacinth Calloway, 19, and Meghan Head, 20, also headed to the beach to celebrate the start of their summer together after time away at college. The South Side residents said that when they want to spend time on the lakefront, they prefer to head north for the bigger crowds and party atmosphere.
As the warm, sunny holiday wore on they were among the crowd that stretched nearly uninterrupted from the south end of Oak Street Beach to the north end of North Avenue Beach, with only occasional patches of sand and concrete not covered by bodies or beach towels stretched out in the sun. While there were some families with kids and older beachgoers among the throng, it was a decidedly young adult assemblage.
Calloway and Head, who’ve been friends since kindergarten, came up with their plans for sun and sand only the day before.
They’d been spending the afternoon “just enjoying each other,” Calloway said, “because we, our friend group, kind of dispersed around the world, so this is our only time, really, to spend together.”
During the school year, she studies biochemistry at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Upstate New York, while Head is an art major at Temple University’s campus in Japan.
The pair hoped Monday would be the first of many beach days this summer.
Oak Park residents Wilson Kruse, Charlie Stowe and Nate Falbo likewise were enjoying being back together after time apart for school and sports, kicking around a soccer ball among the sunbathers on Oak Street Beach.
The friends try to come into the city to take advantage of the lakefront beaches “a few times a summer,” Kruse said.
“It’s a big thing for us to, like, take the train down here and have a nice beach,” he said.
They’ll also try to squeeze in a couple baseball games, though their time will be somewhat limited, with Falbo heading to the Netherlands to take some classes over the summer.
Sitting on a blanket with cases of plastics beads arrayed in front of her, Charlie Pamintuan was looking forward to reuniting this summer with friends who are coming to town the first weekend in June for Beyond Wonderland, an electronic dance music festival at Huntington Bank Pavilion on Northerly Island.
The Lakeview resident was soaking in the sun while making jewelry to coordinate with their “Alice in Wonderland”-themed festival attire. After moving from South Elgin in August, Pamintuan said she was looking forward to her first full summer in Chicago.
With a season full of street festivals and other events ahead, along with trips to visit friends out of town, she was making the most of the unofficial start of summer.
“We’re headed to a rooftop to go grab some drinks after this,” Pamintuan said. “Just excited to spend time outside.”
