Hire costumed characters
in Chicago.
Trained character performers in screen-accurate costumes for retail openings, family days, brand activations, and corporate events with kid-facing components.
Chicago corporate character work runs heaviest at Mag Mile and Fulton Market retail openings (where a branded mascot or themed performer anchors the launch crowd), employer-brand family days produced by Loop and North Shore corporates, and themed performers for corporate murder mysteries and immersive offsites at private River North and West Loop venues. We staff custom mascots for trade-show booth activations at McCormick Place, themed performers (period, prohibition-era, sci-fi) for corporate immersive events, and IP-safe costumed characters for Navy Pier and Wrigley family-day brand activations. Captains brief on Chicago winter outdoor realities — rotation, layering, hand-warmer protocol. All staff are 100% W-2.
Showcraft serves Chicago and the surrounding IL area with 100% W-2 talent, full insurance, and senior captains on every event. Chicago is the trade-show capital of North America. McCormick Place runs IMTS, RSNA, NRA, the Auto Show, and IPPE — each a 50,000+ attendee week — and we staff exhibitor booths, lead-capture leads, and brand-activation crews across all four McCormick buildings. Beyond McCormick we cover Loop corporate events, Magnificent Mile retail openings, festival sampling along the lakefront (Lollapalooza, Taste of Chicago, Air & Water Show), and family days at Wrigley Field and Guaranteed Rate Field. Our Chicago captains know the McCormick freight elevator schedule, the union jurisdictions for booth setup, and how to actually get a 25-person crew through Loop-area load-in during commute hours.
- Costumed Characters dispatched anywhere in Chicago
- 100% W-2 staff, fully compliant
- Comprehensive GL + workers' comp on every event
- COI naming your venue and additional insureds
- Captain on-site for events with 6+ staff
Costumed Characters at Chicago venues we know.
Other character experiences we offer in Chicago.
Costumed Characters in nearby cities:
Questions Chicago buyers ask about costumed characters.
What kind of corporate events use costumed characters in Chicago?+
Retail grand openings, brand activations with family-day components, trade show booth attractors, sports promotions, company family days, and corporate holiday parties in Chicago. Costumed characters pull foot traffic, anchor photo moments, and add a memorable layer to brand-led events in Chicago.
What's the difference between a Showcraft character and a Characters.io character?+
Same talent roster, different lane. Showcraft handles the corporate side — brand activations, retail openings, trade show floors, and corporate family days in Chicago. Characters.io handles consumer and private events. The performers are W-2 employees of the same parent company, with the same vetting and training standards.
Are your Chicago character performers trained?+
Yes — every Showcraft character performer in Chicago is a working actor with character-performance training (movement, in-character voice work, photo-pose discipline, guest interaction). They're not random people in costume; they're vetted performers backed by Characters.io's 18-year track record.
Are your Chicago character performers W-2 and insured?+
Yes. Every character performer Showcraft deploys in Chicago is a W-2 employee with workers' comp and general liability coverage. We issue COIs naming the venue and additional insureds. In California, the payroll structure is fully AB-5 / AB-2257 compliant.
Hire costumed characters in Chicago today. on demand.
Tell us what you're putting on. Quote in minutes, talent on-site in days. No phone tree.