(Above) Redmoon Theater tests a Great Chicago Fire Festival barge at a former boat yard on the south branch of the Chicago River on September 16.

September 28, 2014 – Performance barges will be hitting their marks on Monday in preparation for the Great Chicago Fire Festival.

Three 24 x 48-foot barges will start out from South Halsted Street at 9:30 a.m. and arrive between State Street and Columbus Drive by 12:30 p.m.

16 bridges will have to be raised to accommodate the barges. The times are later than previously announced because Chicago Department of Transportation wants to minimize impact on rush hour traffic.

“We may be doing some slow maneuvering in tight spaces when we get downtown,” said Rebecca Rugg, producer of the festival, on Saturday.

The barges will be moored on the south bank of the Chicago River, one east of State Street near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, another east of Wabash Avenue near O’Brien’s Riverwalk Café, and the third east of the DuSable Bridge at Michigan Avenue.

The barges will remain there through the performance on Saturday, October 4, then move back to the south side of the river and stay there until the next scheduled bridge lift on October 8.

Each barge will have marine lights and a live attendant guarding it around the clock.

The barge east of Wabash, said to have large moving parts, may have to be tested by moving it to the middle of the channel. If Redmoon Theater decides to do that, it will happen on Wednesday, October 1, at 6 a.m., with the barge returned to the south bank by 10 a.m.

Currently, the three barges, centerpieces of the festival’s “Grand Spectacle,” are being constructed at the former location of Crowley’s Yacht Yard on South Halsted Street.

The Grand Spectacle will start at 8 p.m. on October 4 and last about 90 minutes.

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