To mark the 30th anniversary of the cult teenage movie “Ferris Bueller's Day Off,” fans have organized a weekend festival in Chicago where visitors will be able to visit some of the iconic filming locations and take part in a recreation of the famous “Twist and Shout” parade sequence.
Over three days, visitors to Ferris Fest will relive key moments from the 1986 film, paying visit to sites like Glenbrook North High School, which doubled as Shermer High School; “Cameron's House,” where Bueller's best friend Cameron crashed his dad's 1961 Ferrari through the glass walls: and other iconic Chicago landmarks which were featured in the film such as Wrigley Field and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Likewise, fans will be able to visit Bueller's iconic bedroom, recreated in meticulous details by Toronto designer Sarah Keenlyside, which originally premiered at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto.
Fans will be transported back to 1986, with posters of retro artists like Simple Minds, Bryan Ferry lining the walls, a ghetto blaster in the corner, old IBM computer terminal and floppy disc providing the timestamp for the setting.
Some of the stars from the film, including Edie McClurg (who played Grace), Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward who played Bueller's parents will also attend the special film screenings scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at the John and Nancy Hughes Theater in Lake Forest, Illinois and include a Q & A.
One of the highlights of the three-day event will be the restaging of the “Twist and Shout” parade scene in downtown Chicago at the end of the film.
Originally released in theaters June 11, 1986, “Ferris Bueller's Day Off” was written and directed by the king of teenage coming-of-age films John Hughes, and would go on to become a cult classic, catapulting the acting career of Matthew Broderick and making a meme out of “Bueller? Bueller?”
Ferris Fest runs May 20 to 22.
