Despite its incredibly blues musical heritage, Chicago has failed to use that heritage to promote tourism, losing out to New Orleans, Memphis, and St. Louis. And now, even Fargo, North Dakota is getting in on the act.
As Crain’s Chicago Business recently pointed out, “[Chicago blues] remains Chicago’s most famous global cultural export.”
However, “Chicago has largely been indifferent to its blues heritage. You’ll find no museums here. No statues, no official tours, no markers of the vital clubs where the music gestated on the South and West sides.”
Last week I escorted my daughter to an ice skating competition in North Dakota (the things we do for our kids). Sitting in the Fargo airport waiting for our flight home, I was confronted by a billboard touting Fargo as a destination for the blues. Who knew?
