Blog

By Brent Hoffmann, Class of 2005

Wayne loves props. In the introduction to his river tour, he wears a cap with blue stripes and red stars. “My cap mimics the Chicago flag,” he says. “Two blue stripes for the north and south branches of the Chicago River. The stars stand for the four F’s of our history — Fort Dearborn, the Great Fire of 1971, and two world fairs of 1893 and 1933.” While on the south branch, next to the new 150 N. Riverside, he pulls out a half-full water bottle to illustrate water damping. Wayne explains, “The giant water filled tanks on the top of the building act just like the water in a bottle. When you tilt the bottle, the water remains level with the earth. So, on a grand scale, the volume of water in the building’s dampers wants to remain level with the earth, so it keeps the building from swaying.”

The Cow Exonerated

At the river turnaround near the site of the Great Fire of 1971, he doffs a “cow” cap. Wayne tells how the fire started when a cow supposedly kicked over Mrs. O’Leary’s lantern. To see how Wayne uses his prop to visualize the story, download the video here: WAYNE JOHNSON

Wayne’s been interacting with guests and tourists since he was 17, when he started working for Six Flags AstroWorld, near his boyhood home in Houston. “I started as a carnival barker in the ‘Country Fair’ section of the park. I touted games of chance for plush toys and, eventually, became a supervisor of the games and attractions department. Over my five years at AstroWorld, I promoted games, stocked booths, fixed skeeball machines, managed staff, and played tour guide to visiting VIPs,” he says. Later, in Austin, Wayne was a special events tour guide at the University of Texas, where he earned a B.S. in advertising and communications.

Upon graduation, Wayne was recruited by the Leo Burnett ad agency. He moved to the company’s headquarters in Chicago. After two years on the account management side, he shifted over to the creative side as an art director — creating print ads and TV commercials for a number of clients. His clients included Procter and Gamble’s Cheer detergent as well as McDonald’s, Pillsbury, Wilson Sporting Goods, Hewlett Packard, Allstate, and Heinz.

Wayne Johnson Design

In 1998, he left Burnett to start his own graphic and web design business. “I work out of my living room and basement wood shop in Uptown,” he explains. “I’ve designed websites for clients ranging from the legal field, TV production, executive recruitment, bars and restaurants, interior design, after-school programs, and retail organizations.” Local clients include the Hearty Boys Catering, New Hope Recover Center, D’Amato’s Bakery, and Roscoe’s Tavern. His client contact at VeganBurg, a restaurant in San Francisco, characterized Wayne as “one of the most forward-thinking and savvy business creative talents I have ever encountered. He was a true pioneer with the birth of the Internet and his understanding of technology, was years ahead of everyone with Flash, and is always on the cutting-edge of whatever is next.”

Domestic Diva

In 2004, he won the on-air “Domestic Diva” cooking and lifestyle contest on the NBC Today Show. He says, “The Today Show sponsored a contest to see who could be the next ‘Martha Stewart’. I became a finalist in the contest. For three days on live television in Rockefeller Plaza, I cooked, did floral arrangements, made craft projects, and answered a ton of questions from Katie Couric and Matt Lauer.” The win earned him a weekly food and lifestyle segment on WMAQ TV, NBC’s local affiliate in Chicago, doing more than 500 live segments over a 10 year period, within the morning and noon news broadcasts. The video segments covered food and recipes, restaurants, crafts, and interesting places to explore in the city. Since WMAQ, he continues to develop videos for his YouTube Channel. “I have tons of recipes that are well-tested and often requested,” he says. He’s also produced videos of his travels in the U.S. and Hawaii, as well as Amsterdam, Barcelona, Madrid, and Machu Picchu, Peru.

Wayne has been the master of ceremonies for the events of civic and charitable groups, including Equality Illinois, American Medical Association, Governors State University, Care for Real, PFLAG, the Gus Giordano Dance Company, Avon 39 Walk to Defeat Breast Cancer, and the Center on Halsted.

FLW Trust, Too

Wayne qualified as a CAC docent in 2016. “I love architecture. I love exploring new places and new things, and showing people around Chicago,” he says. In 2018, he led a private river tour for the senior managers of Apple along with Foster + Partners, the firm that designed Apple’s new store on the river.

In addition to the River Cruise, Wayne is certified to lead the Art Deco: Riverfront Favorites, and Chicago Architecture: A Walk Through Time tours. He’s a member of the docent council, serves on the marketing committee, and recently developed an AV presentation for river refresher-training. As a docent at the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust, he leads tours of Robie House on the University of Chicago campus.

Back at the boat… at the conclusion of his river tours, Wayne thanks every member of the crew by name. Then he reads off a list of the cities and countries of his tourees. “As they wait in line to board, I ask where they’re from. It’s a good wrap-up to my tour because it shows how diverse our guests at the CAC are. And it creates a nice sense of community on the boat. I love that people applaud themselves when I finish reading the list,” he concludes.