Pizza City Fest Chicago 2025: Live Music, My Pi’s Farewell, and the Ultimate Windy City Pizza Celebration

Chicago’s about to get louder, hotter, and cheesier — and not just because of August. Pizza City Fest Chicago is back for Year Three, rolling into River North August 22–24 with a brand-new format, a new venue at 430 N. Rush St., and a soundtrack cranked up courtesy of Q101 and Duff Entertainment. Think: a pizza-fueled block party one block off Michigan Avenue, where molten cheese meets live guitars.

The mastermind behind this carb-laden carnival is Emmy-winning, 13-time James Beard Award winner Steve Dolinsky — the city’s unofficial pizza ambassador and the guy who knows every crispy edge and gooey center from the South Side to Cary, Illinois. This year’s lineup? Fourteen pizza makers a day, each slinging their signature pies hot from industrial-sized Marra Forni ovens. No heat lamps. No freezers. Just fresh-baked glory in every slice.

Dolinsky’s mission isn’t just to fill your stomach — it’s to feed your pizza IQ. Sunday’s exclusive seminar series dives into the big questions: What is Chicago Style Pizza, really? and How do you make killer pizza at home without a wood-fired oven? Expect plenty of dough-stretching, cheese-pulling demos, and maybe a few secrets only locals know.

But the fest’s emotional crescendo might just be My Pi’s swan song. The legendary deep-dish joint shuttered in June, but owner Rich Aronson is firing up the ovens one last time — August 24 only — to honor the 54th anniversary of his father Larry’s first My Pi on Loyola’s campus. For Chicago pizza die-hards, it’s a one-day-only farewell you don’t want to miss.

And because pizza tastes better with a bassline, the weekend’s got a stacked live music roster: Sixteen Candles, Trippin’ Billies, Sunfallen, One for the Ditch, and more. Toss in Italian ice, gelato, games, sponsor swag, and enough pizza boxes to build a fort, and you’ve got the makings of Chicago’s ultimate late-summer binge.

General admission starts at $39.50, VIP at $125 (with unlimited food, two drinks, early access, and a private lounge). Sunday’s GA gets you into the seminars and even a pizza box folding competition — because folding cardboard with style is an art form, too.

Tickets? They’re already moving fast. Hit pizzacityfest.com before you’re stuck watching the cheese pull on Instagram instead of in your hands.

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