Although the rink was budgeted for $5 million, it was constructed for only $3.2 million ($4 million in current dollar terms), making it one of the few Millennium Park attractions to cost less than was initially budgeted.[13] The rink was funded by and named for the McCormick Tribune Foundation,[3] which was established by former Chicago Tribune owner and publisher Robert R. McCormick. The McCormick Tribune Foundation is a supporter of the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum and the McCormick Tribune Campus Center at the Illinois Institute of Technology, both of which are also located in Chicago.[14][15]
McCormick Tribune Plaza Ice Rink and AT&T Plaza with the Cloud Gate
McCormick Tribune Plaza & Ice Rink was the first feature in Millennium Park to open. Its grand opening was celebrated on December 20, 2001,[16] a few weeks ahead of the Millennium Park underground parking garage. Mayor Daley, McCormick Tribune Foundation Chairman of the Board John W. Madigan, Millennium Park private donor group chief John Bryan, actress Bonnie Hunt and other local celebrities attended the event.[2] The new ice rink was seen as a replacement for "Skate on State", a public skating rink on State Street in the Loop[17][18] which closed in 2001.[19]
From June 21 to September 15, 2002, McCormick Tribune Plaza hosted the inaugural exhibit in Millennium Park,[20] Exelon Presents Earth From Above by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, a French aerial photographer. Arthus-Bertrand used planes and helicopters to photograph sites in over 60 countries on every continent,[21][22] and displayed more than 120 of these photographs in dozens of cities, starting in Paris and including Tokyo and Geneva.[23] In the summer of 2002, the book associated with the exhibit had sold over 1.5 million copies,[21] and the photographs were displayed in Brazil, Lebanon, Poland, Sweden, Germany, Britain, Norway, Hungary and along the banks of the Volga River in Russia.[23]
Chicago was the first American city to host the Earth From Above exhibition.[21][24][25] The exhibit featured 4-by-6-foot (1.2 × 1.8 m)
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