As the calendar year turned to 2021, the Illinois Chapter (ILASLA) maintained a steady stream of webinars and virtual events to help keep members engaged and connected. This included a number of exciting webinars resulting from a partnership with the American Planning Association.

 
In April, ILASLA celebrated Earth Day with a lakefront clean-up event that allowed chapter members to gather safely while helping to keep Chicago clean.
While our virtual events remained a success, the Illinois Chapter (ILASLA) was very excited to bring back in-person social events in 2021. In May, the Chapter hosted both city and suburb editions of Junk in the Trunk, two fun and unique events where vendors and partners were able to showcase new product rollouts directly out of the trunks of their cars.
ILASLA was very proud to announce a new partnership with the Millennium Park Foundation to engage the landscape architecture, garden design, art, and allied communities to design, advocate, educate, install, and maintain four vignette gardens for Millennium Park and into the community. These gardens will showcase the intersection among urbanism, opportunities for community & neighborhood engagement, and artistic, risk-taking design among emerging and future professionals. The first event took place at the Merrill Community Garden in Chicago.
In September, the Chapter welcomed back our Celebration+ event after a year of absence in 2020. Both 2020 and 2021 award winners were celebrated after a day of field sessions. The event was true to its name, as it was absolutely a celebratory event as many members reconnected in person for the first time in over 18 months.
Any recap of 2021 would have to pay tribute the Chapter's extensive efforts to restore the Illinois Title Act, which unexpectedly sunset in January of 2020. In August, the Landscape Architecture Registration Act was signed into law and the reinstatement process was officially put into motion.