Looptopia: Winding It Down

Marcus Riley, NBC5 Street Team (video)

Any motto will do: When the going gets tough, the tough get going. It’s times like this that separates the men from the boys. Yes, yes y’all, it’s 3:30 a.m. and there’s only a couple of us left out here.

The media room closed at 2 a.m., so we were relegated to the street. I blogged earlier that I was aching to experience Looptopia instead of hanging out in the media room, so here is my chance. But things are different than when I first ventured out a few hours ago. That same spirit that was in the air has turned into something meaner — and drunker.

I’m starting to think that getting caught in the middle of a fight could be a real possibility, so we ducked into the Palmer House Hilton Hotel — and my spirits were rejuvenated. The DJ is playing an up-tempo house-style music. Actually, I couldn’t quite put my finger on the exact style, but whatever it was, it was perfect. I’m bouncing in place and taking in the scene. Actually, I think I’ve stumbled across a hippie compound, which is a good thing. Ever been to a hippie concert? All peace and love baby, no drama, nothing but a good time and gals who just like to dance and dance and dance.

In fact, everyone is grooving and there’s a literal circus atmosphere as performers walk around on stilts, jugglers juggle and others act out their own individual versions of performance art.

It took me minute to figure this one out, but there were magazines littered all over the floor, and people cutting out pictures and pasting them onto pieces of paper. Turns out, they could go to another table and make t-shirts with their designs. Very cool. I thought I could stick this out until 5 a.m. when the hide-and-seek game started in Millenium Park, but alas, they shut it down early.

But a true Looptopian doesn’t let that faze him. One more motto: where there’s a will, there’s a way.

(I ran into a fellow Street Teamer, Nicole, who came in to do the graveyard shift. Check out her video below)

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