June 18, 2026
Throngs of guests were due to converge on a lakefront park in Chicago on Thursday to dedicate the Obama Presidential Center, a sprawling campus of granite, nature and art designed as a hub of civic life and culture honouring the 44th president of the United States.
Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama were expected to preside over the ceremonial opening of the center, an $850 million development that local historians say marks the greatest single investment in a century in the city's long-neglected South Side.
Money for the center, which opens to the public on Friday — the Juneteenth holiday celebrating the abolition of slavery in the US — was raised privately through the former first couple's Chicago-based nonprofit Obama Foundation.
Among the A-list recording artists slated to perform at Thursday's grand opening were Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, Common, Christina Aguilera, Eddie Vedder, Bono and the Roots.
