Daley Plaza dance party celebrates 40 years of house music in Chicago, music fest planned for June 2

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A lunchtime dance party in Daley Plaza celebrated 40 years of Chicago's most famous music genre, house.

A live DJ spun the same tunes Chicagoans have been dancing to for decades.

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"When I hear house music, it just hits my soul," said Nicole Jackson.

Jackson said she's been a fan since the beginning.

House music first took shape 40 years ago in the legendary Warehouse nightclub.

"Our baby keeps growing," said DJ Farley Jackmaster Funk, one of the genre's pioneers. "And we're proud of our baby, and we're always gonna put our baby in front of you and say 'look at my baby.' That's what house music is."

Mayor Brandon Johnson read a proclamation on behalf of the city to celebrate 40 years of the music genre that was born in Chicago and has spread across the world, and he also paid tribute to other house music icons who are no longer living. Several are having streets signs named for them, including Warehouse DJ Paul Johnson.

"I think it's wonderful. I've seen people out here from 16 to 60 just out in the crowd feeling the music," said Tracey Johnson Siler, Johnson's sister.

Tuesday served as the kickoff to several events sponsored by the city highlighting house music's 40th anniversary. There will be free seminars and performances at the end of the month, with the House Music Festival taking place in Millennium Park on June 2.