Washington Square Park
901 N Clark St
312.742.7895
This event has passed.
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Studs Terkel at the 1989 Bughouse Square Debates, Courtesy Newberry Public Library
- When
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Saturday July 26, 2008 (noon–4pm)
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From the '20s to the '60s, Chicago's Washington Square Park was a hotbed of rhetoric, as poets, preachers, left-wing agitators, and crackpots waxed radical before curious spectators. The park, popularly known as Bughouse Square ("bughouse" being slang for an insane asylum), eventually fell into disuse, but in the '80s, its reputation as a mecca of free speech and public discussion was revived with the annual Bughouse Square Debates. This year's event features an open-mic segment, poetry reading, speeches from McCain and Obama campaign representatives, and speakers who address a wide range of hot-button issues like health-care reform, Chicago's smoking ban, gun rights, and sex education. Prizes go to the best soapboxers and loudest hecklers.
