Best Chicago Photos Of 2013: 50 Shots Of Our Stunning City

2013 was an eventful year in Chicago. As we look to 2014, we wanted to take this opportunity to look back on the year that was, including some of the incredible stories that helped make this year, for better or worse, so special. We reached out to some of the city's most respected trendsetters and influencers in music, food and drink and more to share some of their "year's best" picks, in addition to weighing in ourselves. We'll be rolling them out on the daily through New Year's Day.

Because sometimes words just aren't necessary, we again this year reached out to our readers and some of our favorite photographers around town to submit some of their best shots taken of Chicago in 2013.

We selected 50 of our favorite shots for the final cut below. We hope you enjoy this view of our fair city. Here's to 2014!

Getty Images

A truck is covered in ice as firefighters help to extinguish a massive blaze at a vacant warehouse on January 23, 2013 in Chicago. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Gabriel X. Michael

Flickr:jlodder

Hyde Park Boulevard on a snowy Saturday.

Father Michael Pfleger , left, consoles Cleopatra Pendleton during a news conference seeking help from the public in solving the murder of Pendleton's daughter Hadiya Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

One-year-old Yasmina Rahman, of Atlanta, listens as the Minister Louis Farrakhan speaks during the Saviours' Day annual convention at the U.I.C. Pavilion in Chicago, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

Flickr:Jamie In Bytown

"L" Train in motion.

Barry Butler

Sunrise.

Flickr:player_pleasure

Gabriel X. Michael

NIck Ulivieri

Seeking shelter under Cloud Gate on March 5.

Eric Siegel

The horse statue outside the Field Museum.

Gabrielle White

The Loop.

Gabrielle White

A wavy Lake Michigan.

Gabrielle White

Mike Barcal

"This lil guy was on the side of my house in late September."

Flickr:nitram242

The Pink Line.

NIck Ulivieri

A horizontal bolt of lighting illuminates a dramatic sky behind the Chicago skyline on May 28.

Getty Images

Demonstrators, including union members, reporters, and photographers march outside the offices of the Chicago Sun-Times protesting the newspapers decision to eliminate its 28-member photography staff on June 6, 2013 in Chicago. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Flickr:peddhapati

The Chicago Harbor lighthouse.

A rainbow appears over Chicago after a quick rain shower, Monday, June 17, 2013. (AP Photo/Scott Eisen)

Lucy Riner prompts her son Luka Riner, 4, to raise his hands next to a sign outside at Trumbull Elementary School on the last day of school, Monday, June 24, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Martha Irvine)

Rex Brink

A celebratory Stanley Cup wheatpaste from Nstj72 at Randolph and Peoria in August.

Fans celebrate on the street in Chicago, Monday, June 24, 2013, after the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Boston Bruins 3-2 in Boston to win the Stanley Cup hockey final. (AP Photo/Armando L. Sanchez)

Joshua Mellin

Grant Park for the Blackhawks victory rally.

Joshua Mellin

Patrick Kane holds the Stanley Cup in Grant Park.

Joshua Mellin

Chicago's skyline, all lit up in celebration of the Blackhawks' win.

Barry Butler

Tulips in the Loop.

Flickr:peddhapati

Wave swinger at Navy Pier.

Justin Barbin

At the Pride Parade in Boystown.

Rob Lennox

Summer storm.

Matt Lohmus

Rex Brink

One of the Bucket Boys wrapping it up for the day in the Loop in August.

Dwane Lindsey

Lightning strike during the Pearl Jam concert at Wrigley Field.

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Whole Foods Market employee Matthew Camp (C) protests with other employees and union activists outside a Whole Foods Market store on July 31, 2013 in Chicago. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Justin Barbin

Lollapalooza.

Runners and cyclists move along the bike path as the surf crashes along the shore of Lake Michigan Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

Chicago Mayor's Office/Facebook/Patrick Pyszka

CPS' first day of school on Aug. 26.

In this Aug. 27, 2013, photo, rapper JQ, aka Jefrrey Qaiyum, fires up the crowd during a hip hop adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello, titled "Othello: The Remix" at the Cook County Jail in Chicago. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

Justin Barbin

North Coast Music Festival.

Rex Brink

Three anti-fascists walking in front of a squad car on Jackson during SlutWalk in September.

In this Thursday, Sept. 19, 2013, photo, a women becomes emotional near the scene of a shooting at Cornell Square Park in Chicago's Back of the Yard neighborhood that left multiple victims including a 3-year-old boy. (AP Photo/Sun-Times Media, Chandler West)

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A friend of 25-year-old Rubin Austin stands outside her home next to memorial placed on the spot where she found Austin dying from a gunshot wound early in the morning in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on September 20, 2013. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Runners participate in the Chicago Marathon in Chicago, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Getty Images

Tony Garcia lets his 11-month-old daughter Yaretzi Garcia see herself in a bunny Halloween costume at Fantasy Costumes on October 30, 2013 in Chicago. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

NIck Ulivieri

The colors of fall in Chicago on Nov. 4.

Lifelong partners Jim Darby, left, and Patrick Bova kiss before Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act into law, making Illinois the 16th state in the nation to embrace full marriage equality for same sex couples, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

Elaine Lopez

Wicker Park in the snow.

Gabrielle White

The Chicago River covered in ice planks.

In this photo taken Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2013, in Chicago, a lone cyclist navigates Dearborn St. between street traffic and pedestrians is a special bike lane in Chicago's famed Loop. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)