Rob,
We'll be out and about for Venetian Night but it's a short hop over to Monroe Harbor for us (I'm in Diversey Harbor, just north of the city) depending on the weather and lake conditions. If you've never seen the Venetian Night fireworks, they (in my opinion) are by far the best fireworks show that Chicago puts on. The ground effects are something to see!
The boat parade starts at dusk but you won't be able to see many of the boats because the Coasties and the Chicago Police Department Marine Unit block off Monroe Harbor entrances and you'll have to drop anchor outside the harbor a safe distance from the breakwater walls. The walls are high enough that it's tough to see over them but you'll have a great view of the fireworks. Best place to drop anchor is between the north and south breakwater walls - you'll get a straight on view of Buckingham Fountain and the fireworks are staged on the waterfront (see picture).
If you do come up to the City, let me know and I'll PM you my cel number and maybe we can meet up either in Diversey Harbor (there are 3 empty slips near my slip that you can dock at if there aren't any transient boaters around) or out in the play pen. Just make sure that you have all your safety stuff (fire extinguishers, life jackets for each person on board, etc.) since the Coasties usually are out in force and often stop boaters for "safety checks". Usually, the Coastie Auxiliary and CPD boats set up a "no wake" zone for most of the Chicago lakefront at dusk so make sure you don't go speeding along - that's a sure fire way of getting unwanted attention!
One of the best things about the fireworks is watching the fireworks reflections from all the surrounding hi-rise buildings - most of the buildings have reflective windows and the fireworks reflections are really pretty cool looking. If you time it just right, the reflections make great pictures.
Here's a link to the NOAA charts for the Chicago lakefront:
http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/14928.shtmlSteve
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