Looptopia: Seeing What All The Buzz Is About

Marcus Riley, NBC5 Street Team (video)

So my role tonight as Looptopia has been to hang out in the media room and take calls from the various Street Team members and input them onto the blog. I guess you could say I am taking one for the team, but after hearing about all the great stuff going on, I had to participate. So I just left.

I decided to head toward Macys, which of all the blog postings I’ve seen seen so far tonight, it seemed like one of the most interesting spots — especially that 7th floor dance party.

I immediately encountered a mob of people on the sidewalk, but the energy was outstanding. People are generally in a good mood out here. Most of the crowd is young (high school, early 20s), but there is definitely a good mix of age ranges out here.

Spontaneity seems to be the order of the day. Groups of people freestyle rapping on the corner, a guy dressed in a Captain Morgan costume taking pictures with people.

When I finally reached Macys, I could not believe how packed it was. A security nightmare I would think, with all of the merchandise still displayed in plain view. I finally reached my destination — the 7th floor, and was pleasantly surprised by the scene in the Walnut Room. Mmmmm… Heinekin. On the other side, a DJ was pumping some old school house music and the dance floor was packed with gyrating bodies chanting “South Side! South Side!” and I joined in the fun by jumping in and chanting “South Loop! South Loop!” Ya.. Looptopia is good.