It is not hard to find someone who has experienced love at our park, whether with the music, the magical atmosphere, or our beautiful grounds. The love between some Ravinia guests has continued outside and within the festival and is heartily blooming for years to come. Thank you to those who shared their special stories of love with us. We feel so honored to have been included in their romantic milestones.
Roberta & Mike Mitchell
Our love story began at the Jackson Browne concert on August 23, 1977. It was by chance that we met that night. Both Mike and I were at Ravinia with different groups of friends. It was a large party atmosphere on the Lawn, and it even rained at one point. We did not even talk to each other or know each other’s names until much later in the evening. What a night! We married the following year. Ravinia will always be a special place for us and our family. We will be celebrating our 46th wedding anniversary in mid-November.
Ron Goldman & Jamie Nierenberg
We met at a sold-out Steely Dan concert 10 years ago. Some friends and I were sitting on the fully packed Lawn when two young ladies walked by, looking for a space to sit. I looked up and asked, “We have some room here, would you like to join us?” I’ve been a supporter for 20 years, and we are still attending numerous shows together every year.
Shannon & Tim VanTassel
My husband always says he’s Yo-Yo Ma, and I’m more Yo Ma-ma. In August 2009, we were excited to see Yo-Yo Ma perform. We both love playing Scrabble and brought our travel game with us to play on the Lawn before the show. Each time I reached into the velvet bag for a letter tile, I thought I felt something, but ignored whatever it was. By about the fifth draw, I pulled out a small velvet bag. When I opened it, my engagement ring fell out! Tim leaned in and asked, “Will you marry me?” I was so excited, and although I had been beating him to that point, he quickly pulled ahead and won the game. I was the real winner that day, though. We continue to love attending Ravinia events and now excitedly bring our daughter to share in the magic that is Ravinia.
Alan & Wendy Robin
Our love story goes back to the summer of 1968. I was raised here along the North Shore and went to Ravinia regularly with my parents. As a teenager, I would ride my bike to Ravinia, lay on the grass, and listen to classical music. Entering my junior year at Yale, I was taking summer school classes at Northwestern, where my future wife went to college—we met across a biology lab table doing dissections. She was from upstate New York. Our first concert was sitting on the Lawn, hearing the jazz clarinetist Pete Fountain on June 28, 1968. This was a wonderful venue for a first date. We fell in love, and I proposed after three months. We were married exactly two years to the date later. We have taken both of our children to Ravinia and still go every summer, despite living on the East Coast. Ravinia was the perfect place to fall in love! This picture is from September 2, 2023, at Ravinia, over 55 years since our first date!
John & Diane Reid
Our story about Ravinia is a special one to us. We attended a Pat Metheny concert at Ravinia on our first date in 1993. It was his Secret Story Tour. We traveled from Champaign for that concert. Recently we moved to the area for work. One key draw for us was the opportunity to enjoy Ravinia.
Photos by Piero Pierrot
Jenn Greco & Tina Figueroa
I love Ravinia and have been attending shows for 20 years. I love the beauty, the atmosphere, the art, and the community. Tina had never been to Ravinia, but we—especially Tina—are big Brandi Carlile fans. We had been trying to find wedding venues, but nothing felt right. When we saw the Ravinia schedule, we saw it as an opportunity for a unique experience for our closest family and friends. The Brandi Carlile bubble is special, and we were wonderfully embraced by a queer and queer-friendly crowd who all seemed to celebrate our love with us.
Lisa Cole was an amazing resource and kept me grounded in the wedding chaos; she was on top of everything and made us feel so special. The Ravinia staff was incredibly helpful and friendly, the food was delicious, and having Brandi play at our wedding was better than any DJ. My wife and I are very grateful that Ravinia helped us create such a magical evening.
Alice and Chris Spahr on a romantic picnic date ca. 1987 while home from college
Alice & Chris Spahr
I met my husband Chris almost 40 years ago during the summer of 1984. We were high schoolers spending our summer working as ushers, enjoying the music in the Pavilion. Chris liked to work the busy gates with all of the action, so I would follow just to join him. Our wonderful boss, Maria Gac, helped facilitate the romance by making sure to assign us both to work Gate 5 or 6! We spent work breaks together at the carousel or strolling around the park. The romance grew, and we shared many picnic dates, enjoying CSO and pop concerts at the park. We went to our high school proms together and had a long-distance romance during college, but we always made it back to Ravinia in the summertime.
When we got married in the summer of 1992, Chris’s parents hosted our rehearsal dinner at the Freehling Room. Ravinia’s motto at the time was “Nothing Like it Under the Stars,” so the phrase “Nothing Like it For the Spahrs” was coined as a toast at our magical rehearsal dinner. We often go back to celebrate our anniversary with a picnic dinner at Ravinia, where our romance started. We went to the Lawn as a family with our children and their grandparents when they were growing up, and when our daughter Lucy was in high school, she followed the tradition of working as an usher in the Pavilion. We continue to enjoy packing picnics and riding our bikes to Ravinia to celebrate our meeting, as well as our summer birthdays and our July wedding anniversary.
Mary Ellen & Steve Modlin
Our first date was at Ravinia to see Benny Goodman in 1982. We had been friends for a few years in school, and we both loved music (and were musicians in school). When I asked our group of friends to go to the concert, Steve was the only one who was interested. We had never been to Ravinia and arrived very late. We walked to and from the Highland Park train station, not being familiar with the shuttles. That was the start of our romance. We have continued to love Ravinia. Our children have great memories of attending Jazz in June and many other entertainers and felt privileged to grow up at Ravinia. They now try to attend with us at least once or twice a season. We celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary last November.