Yesterday’s visit to the park offered some interesting scenes. The moment we entered the park a man approached us and offered us compliments and a copy of the onion. He then asked us if we had any change to spare to help the homeless. The man quickly walked away from us and proceeded towards ‘the bean.’ At the same time, I noticed that a guard near the Michigan Ave entrance we used was watching the man and reporting on his walkie-talkie. At the bean he approached a small group of visitors, presumably with the same purpose, and was then spooked by a security guard that he noticed was coming his way. The guard followed the man and when the man finally looked back the guard sternly informed him that there was no panhandling allowed in Millennium Park. They had gotten too far ahead of us for me to hear the man’s rebuttal, but he left the park immediately.

We also saw another man interact with the guards, and from what we could tell the man was being told to use the path and keep off the grassy slope just south of Crown Fountain.

Most patrons, however, were utilizing the tables along the promenades and taking pictures with the sculptures. I took pictures for the first time, so have a look see:

Complete pictures are at:  flickr.com/david_allen

This is the keep off the grass shot:

This is the man who asked us for money:

This is him  asking the group:

We were not bothered when we went into the stage area: