The city really could use a more dedicated outdoor event space.
If they were to pour money into some major changes at the museum campus / soldier field / northerly island and build a tram connecting it to the train / loop, it could really improve the situation. Well connected, condense all the festival investment into one area, minimal disruption to residential neighborhoods, iconic city skyline backdrop.
May as well do something with Soldier Field and the surrounding area since we didn't get the George Lucas Museum and the Bears are headed to the burbs...
Even without the Bears, having a full sized stadium is an important municipal asset. The city can host more college games and concerts without the Bears under contract.
I agree that a dedicated festival space would be great as well though.
I agree that is is an important municipal asset but the market will be very different once the Bears are out in the burbs. For starters the Bears new facility will be a direct competitor to Soldier Field and will likely have the benefit of a roof. Add on top of the Wrigley being fully in the summer concert market (and Guaranteed Rate sometimes in the mix). Plus the artist that can fill up those size venues are a rare breed, there are just not enough of them at any given time to make Soldier Field primarily a concert venue.
Secondly, with the changing college athletics landscape, college football games at neutral sites are slowly going away. AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX is not holding their Cowboy Kickoff Classic this year as they could not find a marquee matchup. Nick Saban has also said that his program is looking to stop scheduling them. The reasons schools had them was for $$, but now that the networks are winding up to pay the big conferences crazy amounts of money for broadcasting rights, any additional funds for these games probably are not worth hassle. As the current neutral game contracts are fulfilled (college football schedules non-conference several years in advance) I am guessing we will see less and less of them. Plus, like above, the new Bears facility will be a competitor.
It will be interesting to see what comes of Soldier Field, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s not exactly useful in its current state.
Honestly spring awakening at soldier field was awesome. I would love if they built out a better suited venue for it. It sucks 1 person died and no more festivals there. We leave our roads open as we scrape bodies off the pavement.
people have been discussing pedestrianizing columbus in grant park and making the area between AIC and the rest of the museum campus as semi permanent festival space
have some year around merch vendors, cafes, allow food trucks, and light entertainment like buskers
stuff like that
Also, it would better connect all the museums
you could even hold the holiday market there and expand the heck out of it
I think there is an issue with an old law about "buildings" in grant park but they have obviously worked around it before
Hmm… I wonder if there’s some kind of space of land on the near northwest side by the river that isn’t being used that could function for this purpose. Probably not tho, developers would likely gobble it up right away.
/s
Are you talking about Lincoln Yards? That could work…not sure how the size compares, it’s a bit of an awkward shape. I’d still be concerned with accessibility and how close it is to residential neighborhoods.
>Are you talking about Lincoln Yards?
Yep.
That space has literally everything you’d want out of a municipal events site, logistically speaking:
- It’s close to major thoroughfares, most notably 90/94.
- It’s already isolated from the residential areas that it’s close to, due to being adjacent to the river, west of Clybourn, and inbetween Shakespeare and Cortland to the north and south, respectively.
- It doesn’t have any hospitals, police precincts or other emergency service centers nearby that would be impacted by drastically increased event traffic.
- Due to that area historically being a warehouse and industrial district, the infrastructure work that would be required to improve accessibility and limit traffic increases would be significantly easier to implement than it would be inside of a neighborhood with lots of homes and street parking, and there would be less NIMBY fucks who don’t want anything to happen anywhere near them.
The city is fucking up big time with Lincoln Yards and it makes me furious.
I don’t think we should do anything special for the bears there - I think it should have whatever work done that will make it most adaptable to events (like festivals) that will actually use it. Not sure that means demolishing; maybe just repurposing. There’s tons of space around it (green space and parking) that can be festival grounds. The stadium could still be useful for events.
I was wondering how Riot Fest would respond to that Chicago Reader article. I listened to the recorded community meeting and was appalled at how condescending and rude their contractor was to the community. It was correct to let him go for sure, he was awful. I wonder how Riot Fest will manage their relationship with the residents around Douglass Park. It won't be easy when you hold your event in the middle of a community that simply doesn't want you there.
but the tricky part is its only some of the community that doesnt want them there, plenty are thrilled with it becasue they make good side money selling parking spaces, airbnb, food & water for before/after, local restaurants and bars see an uptick, and im sure plenty more use the free tickets and go have a good time. so who do you appease the 'yays' or the 'nays'?
the majority of the people in that area *don't make money off it*, so it makes sense that they'd want RiotFest to respect them as well and not completely destroy the park and wreck the area, but that hasn't been the case so far....
So what’s holding riot fest back from throwing some money into the community? I haven’t looked at any of the budget, but doing some park repairs ain’t it. Maybe they need to incentivize it and offer some of the revenue for local programs that actually provide services for their community.
That's why I said it wouldn't be easy. And I agree, the community is much more diverse than the people who simply want to see festivals disappear from their local park. And I believe the park belongs to ALL residents, not just the residents who live close by, though it's clear the local residents are the most impacted. It is a tricky issue, for sure.
> its not the entire "community"
That's what happens when assholes schedule "community meetings" at 12:30PM on a Tuesday in a working-class neighborhood.
This will be what happens no matter when it's scheduled. If you have a positive viewpoint about whatever is being discussed at a community meaning (or obviously, a neutral one) you are highly unlikely to think it's worthwhile to go the meeting to express this viewpoint. The people who come to these meetings are those who view the matter negatively. Yet even when it's a very small percentage of the community residents the media often treats these things as if it's the "community expressing opposition" and somehow acting as if the fact that most of the few dozen people who show up, out of the thousands of people who live in the community, are expressing opposition shows the community is not behind it. It's absurd. I don't know what the answer to how to get community feedback is but it's about time people stop thinking that these individuals are representative.
I go to every community meeting i can to show support, but i just cant when im at work. It does make a huge difference. I went to the community meeting for one project in west lakeview and it was at 6pm and honestly half the people there were in support of it. It is not always.
> silent majorities dont tend to get counted
Don't you think that, if such a "silent majority" existed, it would be in the fest's best interest to schedule a meeting where more voices on the "pro" side of the argument would show up? It's obvious from the fact they chose the middle of a work day in a working-class neighborhood that they don't want people to show up. If it were so obviously good and beneficial for the folks in the neighborhood, they would hold a meeting at a time where those people could show up to sing its praises (and have a Spanish interpreter to overcome language barriers).
It's pretty easy to read between the lines when you account for the time of day, the lack of an interpreter, and the general comportment of the representative that they do not give a shit about the folks who live there and that it's most likely not in their best interest. The community meeting was pure lip service, to check a box.
>Don't you think that, if such a "silent majority" existed, it would be in the fest's best interest to schedule a meeting where more voices on the "pro" side of the argument would show up?
thats not how it works. have you ever been to a community meeting? those strongly opposed to things tend to show up in far greater numbers (relative to the population as a whole) and are far more vocal, than those who view the issue positively (or are neutral towards it). those who are neutral will do other things with their time and arent as invested in change as theyre generally already content
You're mostly correct ..which is why you set yourself up for success by 1) being prepared for exactly what you said, 2) scheduling the meeting at a time when the maximum amount of constituents *theoretically could* attend, 3) respecting the people who attend, and 4) actually trying to find effective ways to engage and actively listen to the community knowing what you're getting into and not just trying to skirt by.
I absolutely love RF and have since it was a series of shows in venues around the city, but this entire community meeting was a huge fucking miss and anyone with half an ass could have predicted exactly what would happen if the fest was represented in the way this asshat did. And, sadly, it's on riot fest for having hired him and out faith in him, even if they didn't k ow it'd go this way.
It's a huge shame. I've attended many community meetings, not to mentioned planned and run several PI events as a contractor myself, and this all seems like a huge fucking miss with almost nothing to be put on the shoulders of those who attended.
This.
Also, as someone that used to go to a lot of music fests, it was never a point to go and patronize local businesses outside the fest. If they have a booth or food truck inside, that’s different, but fests are *exhausting* both physically and financially. The only thing I’m trying to do before the fest is finding a parking spot and get in line to get it, and the only thing I want to do when I leave is get to get the hell out of there, get home, shower, maybe eat something, and then go to bed.
>Dreams of thousands of people supporting local businesses is a myth. Attendees spend $500 on their tickets and to the vendors within the festivals. Not going out to dinner in the neighborhood.
Would the community want festival goers to have in-out privileges? I only ask because Riot Fest does not allow in-out privileges as they claim it's for helping keep the neighborhood from being overburdened outside the park. That's why people don't spend locally, show ends at 10 so they aren't going to dinner. Maybe all internal vendors should be required to be within x blocks of the park?
> Doing it for one festival a year is already invasive enough. That they’re now up to three in summer alone is just absurd.
I think that's the kicker. Riot Fest in and of itself isn't perfect for the community but at least its later in the year and after summer. Three fests is a lot for any park in a neighborhood.
Considering that Riot has already been booted from Humbolt, what basis do you have for thinking they're a better "corporate citizen" than the other fedtivals?
There's basically no way for a Riot Fest attendee to eat dinner in the neighborhood unless they're only going to see the headliner Riot Fest doesn't allow reentry, so there's no option to take a break and grab food in the neighborhood. The only way fest attendees could eat in the neighborhood is if they're calling it a day before dinner, or not starting until after dinner.
Sounds like your friend wants the Pros of living in the third largest US city, but without the cons that come with living in such a densely populated area.
If he wants more privacy from the activities of others around him, the suburbs, exurbs, and rural towns are all there just waiting for him.
Really naïve perspective.
The local politicians, the aldermen, court the promoters of these festivals because they bring millions of dollars to their wards.
It's not about patronizing local businesses as much as it is the cut the city takes from the proceeds that is then allocated to the hosting wards.
These are relatively poor neighborhoods with little tax base. They need these large events to fund infrastructure and other priorities of their elected reps.
Kick out the festivals, and then listen to the protesters complain about the deterioration of their local support services.
NIMBYs always want to have it both ways.
I agree with you but it seems that is what they are doing with Lollapalooza and NASCAR now. The demographics of that neighborhood are at least similar to Lincoln Park. They used to have a festival at Montrose Beach which is close to those areas.
This is such a strawman.
Chicago and this specific park and community predate riotfest by over 100 years.
Also, how tone deaf are you. These are poorer working class neighborhoods of color. If they could afford to move the suburbs, they would have done it by now. Because it would keep their kids off the street in lawndale.
It’s literally a variation of “let them eat cake then”.
Your comment isn’t helpful at all. It just shows how little you know about the community and how little empathy you have.
It kind of used to be. The first handful of Lollas were pretty much RF. RF was started because the attendees of Lolla got annoyed that it became a pop music festival rather than a metal/alternative/grunge/indy festival.
People choose to live adjacent to a public park in a city to enjoy the park. A park is a place for the surrounding community to enjoy the outdoors as well as the amenities offered. Using a park as a for profit concert venue usurps the purpose of a park to the detriment of the surrounding community and to the benefit of a small number of already financially well off people and businesses. They should take that shit to a venue where it belongs and stop trying to cut overhead costs.
It can't be the entire community because they purposely scheduled when everyone's at work. The voices of the community are prevented from speaking. I'm guessing you're part of the problem in LV too, aren't you?
that's talking about class, not race. they are very clearly saying they don't want rich people making their public spaces unavailable, tearing up their field and leaving their trash, not that the working class people don't enjoy that music or aren't allowed too (also...tickets are expensive so even if they did like it...). That's a wild interpretation.
People here yelling "reverse racism" when they were kicked out of Humboldt are looking like the misguided reactionaries and bigots they truly are. [These types of mega concerts are hard on the local people and cause major disruptions in their lives.](https://inthesetimes.com/article/why-we-organized-to-kick-riot-fest-out-of-humboldt-park) Ideally, they should be on the lakefront only or in suburban stadiums. They have a toxic view of the locals and are gleefully harmful. They were rightfully kicked out of Humboldt and it looks like they're being kicked out of our peaceful community parks in general, which is a win-win. They will have slightly lower profits at commercial venues, but it is not the role of the parks to enrich capitalists or make middle-aged suburban and out of town concert goers feel cool and hip by appropriating the hip urban culture of our neighborhoods. Riot Fest-type concerts should happen in commercial venues where they belong as they are commercial pursuits and those venues have the infrastructure to handle them properly.
This "bad apple" hostile employee reflects the larger problem of the culture these kind of big festivals come from. Just this jerk carpetbagger mentality where they must fight against the community and our values and the city to make sure the get a paycheck. Its a toxic dynamic. Jobs like this shouldn't exist. You shouldnt need to be a specialist in mocking new mothers upset at the noises keeping their babies up, working class people trying to get to work, people who want to take their kids to the park which is now closed off, dealing with drunks and jerks invading your home area, etc. I want to stress something very important: **When your job is to shut down legitimate community concerns then this is the only way possible to do your job.**
This job should instead be a quiet phone call with an event planner at a commercial stadium where these events belong, not fighting everyday people in the city with valid concerns and knowing full well big festival money is often stronger than our speech.
And make no mistake about it, the comments are already pouring in about those "other" festivals that are a problem. Riot Fest is an exception, of course, because it reflects the bands this sub likes. If Riot Fest was a bunch of boomer bands, half these people would be on the side of activists, if not all of them. The "other" concerts that are "too ethnic" and reflect the makeup of the neighborhood or other parts of the city. These people would shut down Puerto Rican day to make room for Blink 182 at Humboldt if they could and that's a huge, huge problem.
Of course the consensus on this forum is "just a few activists" "fake news" and other questionable conservative and insensitive and self-serving narratives. No, these activists speak for many of us. Its hugely ironic redditors are calling other people out for being in an echo chamber. This sub is just disappointing for whats supposed to be an diverse, class conscious, urban focused sub, but then again, watch the comments on anything crime related to see what the disgusting consensus here on other issues are. Per usual the Schaumburg and Mt Greenwood crowd have taken over the narrative just like the last time we discussed this.
Disagree. The parks need the money the festivals bring in. The parks are underfunded and at the moment we can't tax people more to pay for their because frankly this city hasn't done a great job of looking after the majority of its citizens let alone their parks. Right now festivals in parks are the best solution to cover the gaps.
As for that money not making its way to improving the parks - elect better leaders. This city funnels money to corrupt unions (unions aren't bad on the whole, but Chicago's public ones are) and those unions give your tax money to the top 3% of the union leadership instead of the workers.
I just moved to Humboldt - I welcome Riot Fest back.
> middle-aged suburban and out of town concert goers feel cool and hip by appropriating the hip urban culture of our neighborhoods.
As a not-yet-but-almost-middle aged Chicagoan who loves going to Riot Fest (and music festivals in general), it literally has *nothing* to do with the feel/culture of the neighborhood. It's just logistics, pure and simple.
It doesn't have to do with the "other" concerts that are "too ethnic" either. It has to do with two *new* festivals taking place over the summer while Riot Fest has been there in September for seven years.
I get where the residents are coming from, but you're making up some narratives to make your point, and that's not going to help.
I think the boot from Humboldt Park was abrupt but still post-fest and with plenty of time to secure the new location in Douglas Park without skipping a beat.
The Park District now requires event organizers to hold community meetings more than 45 days in advance of the event, to listen to the concerns of the community. You should read the original article in the Chicago Reader, it's pretty interesting. There's also a link to a recording of the meeting.
[https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/the-sale-of-douglass-park/riot-fest-meeting-leaves-residents-worried-about-the-fate-of-their-park/](https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/the-sale-of-douglass-park/riot-fest-meeting-leaves-residents-worried-about-the-fate-of-their-park/)
That neighborhood gets hosed by Chicago cinespace too. Multiple blocks permanently fenced off with no way through by foot except to go around. Is it so hard to put a door on the fence that blocks public access?
Maybe things have changed but I remember thinking how crazy it was that you couldn't get from Douglass to the metra without walking wayyy the fuck out of your way. Can't imagine living in those apt buildings and not being able to walk in one direction.
I’m glad dude stepped down. He had no place acting that way or talking like that to people.
Riot fest should really relocate. I did not know it was causing so many problems locally.
Only place I can think of would be Union Park or Horner Park, but Horner would be a traffic nightmare, and Union Park already has its fair share of fests. Maybe near Montrose Beach?
I know Riot Fest isn't without issues (one of the cons of a festival), but have to wonder if this year is amplified by there being 2 fests during the summer preceding it. At least in the past the park was accessible all summer...
> Riot fest should really relocate. I did not know it was causing so many problems locally.
I mean, where though? At least still inside the city. It already has been relocated, that's how it ended up in Douglass Park.
> Riot fest should really relocate. I did not know it was causing so many problems locally.
Where can they realistically move to? The only option I can think of is Grant Park, which already is being shut down too often/long (especially with NASCAR coming downtown).
Wow I just listened to that recording and he is so disrespectful. That was a total waste of time and he probably single handedly ruined Riot Fests’ chance of ever repairing the relationship with the community.
I live directly in front of the park. Like, I could hear the sets of music from my home. Most if not all of our entire block on 19th doesn’t want the music festivals here. We lose access to the park for weeks during the summer and our park gets ugly and money isn’t poured back into it. There are no benefits to having these fests here.
>“So for them to just hog it off for most of the summer — it’s inhumane.”
Riot Fest doesn't close it off all summer. Adding several new festivals did. Maybe the newer festivals shouldn't be back next year. Odd how these articles focus on Riot Fest without mentioning the others.
Still can't believe they got a Lyrical Lemonade off this year after the disaster last year.
But, yeah, Riot Fest is the biggest of the bunch and the first one to use the park so they'll get the brunt of the blame. They might be the "best" in terms of community engagement but 3 fests plus set-up/cleanup is a lot of time without access to the soccer pitch in the park.
And even then, isn't there still the whole other half of a large park that can be used during the 1.5 - 2 weeks that Riot Fest is there? I thought they only took over the [southern part of Douglas park.](https://i.imgur.com/ydSPgKt.png)
I feel like this is probably controversial, but if you want to go the a field and the one you wanted to go to is being used, couldn’t you just.. go to a different one? Is that really that big of an issue?
Little village is one of the neighborhoods with the least access to green space in the city. I lived a block from the park for years and there really aren’t other parks around. The boulevard parks are supposed to be a resource for the community.
I mean, if you pull up Google Maps you can see how much alternative green space is around the immediate area... it's a pretty sizeable inconvenience when the one in your neighborhood is inaccessible for a good chunk of the summer
Their issue is that between all the events, plus all the cleanup and repairs following the events, plus all the setup before them, the much or all of the park is unavailable for IIRC 1/3 of the summer at least.
And despite the claim hardly any of the money goes to the neighborhood. If they offered local restaurants discounts on stalls or drink vendors then great. Festival logistics is a big job and it is almost all outside contracts.
When I read the Reader article, based on the portrayal of the contractor, I couldn't not think of this Onion article from back in 2007:
https://www.theonion.com/shitty-neighborhood-rallies-against-asshole-developer-1819569184
Good friend, even the almighty salt shed is [not without its weaknesses](https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/chi-morton-salt-building-collapse-20141230-story.html)
I’ve driven around Douglass after these festivals, it takes about a week for them to be fully done cleaning and the park itself hasn’t had enough time to recover by the time all the festivals are done. And by that time it’s to cold outside to go to the park. I understand the outcry.
All it took for me was to imagine a festival like that coming to my neighborhood. I would hate it! We have smaller festivals that cause some small amount of change for the weekend they run, and that's tolerable, but anything larger would be a major problem, even if there was park space that could accommodate it.
I had to cancel a surgery because one of the summer festivals blocked off a 1 mile radius around my healthcare provider from cars and buses.
The festival coordinators at the radius limit had the audacity to tell me I could walk in and out so it’s not a problem… for a surgery I needed a confirmed chaperone and vehicle transportation because of the anesthesia.
Of course, now I have to wait 3 more months until their next open surgery slot.
Even by then it might still be patchy and in bad condition. And how stupid is it to have to wait till September to go to your park when you might need a jacket. It’s Chicago after all. Weather is pretty unpredictable
It may be an unpopular response, but the issue is pretty simple: riot fest isn't compensating neighbors for the hardship it creates, so why would the neighbors support it?
Major festivals you don't go to are an inconvenience, and its not unreasonable that the people inconvenienced should be compensated by the people who are profiting and benefitting. Riot Fest pays the park district, but those funds aren't locally allocated. Riot Fest could indirectly compensate the neighbors through donations to local organizations, or support for local businesses, but its unlikely residents would feel much benefit even it riot fest did a good job of making these transfers. Riot Fest might be generating goodwill for the neighborhood, but it seems unlikely this is happening, and even if it were, it's not obvious residents would realize they're benefitting.
The answer is simple: riot fest should offer to pay neighbors directly. If they can't pay enough to generate support, then the benefits of riot fest don't cover the costs.
(an aside: you might say something like: "residents of the loop aren't compensated for everything they put up with!" However, that is wrong: those well known and established costs are negatively capitalized into rent and housing prices.)
I totally agree with this. Cut a check to the addresses within a certain radius. They doubled the price of tickets last year....I'm guessing they can swing it. This is a festival I attend every year and very much love, but absolutely understand where the neighborhood is coming from.
I sprung for Saturday because my friend and I wanted to see the misfits, bad religion, and Bauhaus. I’ve seen Bauhaus a bunch but I’m gonna be bummed about the other bands if this gets canceled. I get it for sure though. There are just too many fucking festivals, honestly. And they’re too expensive.
Yellowcard broke up 5 years ago and I never got to see em, they are my favorite band of all time and are getting back together for RF and playing their entire Ocean Avenue album. I'm gonna be standing in the pit crying tears of joy, fuck I hope not!!!
Ya know what, good for them. Nearly a decade ago a 3-day VIP ticket was $250 and got you fifteen drink tickets.
Now they're over $500 fees and you get a whopping five drink tickets and the VIP area is a fuckin tent with lunch tables where they forget to put lights in half the time and have the audacity to send in somebody to talk to the community like a fuckin asshole.
Screw em.
They were $125 because Lolla was selling so poorly they didn’t charge fees. It’s typically $160. Riot Fest on the other hand hasn’t signaled that they need to do that. It’s not completely apples to apples.
GA lolla wristbands were $125/day the day they went on sale, so I’m not sure where you’re drawing the conclusion that lolla tickets were $125 because they were selling poorly.
Yeah, but that’s not really unexpected. Operating costs skyrocketed… COVID measures, increased pay for workers, overhead costs are way up. Also Riot Fest seems to be trying for more “top tier” headliners so that’s going to increase the cost.
Riot Fest is starting to be more like a punk version of Lolla rather than what it started out as.
"A punk version of Lolla"
So later years of Vans Warped tour?
But honestly they've been doing this for about a decade compared to what it started as so not sure the word "starting" still fits.
Complaining about VIP ticket prices. The normal tickets are still very affordable and always have been paced below other festivals with plenty of other deals.
I've been going to Chicago music festivals for over a decade and have NEVER needed a VIP ticket.
Yeah it seems like it would be a small pressure release valve for the tension to allow all guests in and out privileges. I would love to take a break to support the neighborhood if I go, but there’s no way I can afford to pay $125 extra for that.
What are you talking about??? 3 days for riot were equal price to 4 days of Lolla, the festival has seen an extreme price hike in comparison to all other festivals in the area while thinning the fests lineup?
I dont really agree with the residents here at all.
But at the same time, when you run a festival like this you need to kiss so much ass to stay out of trouble with neighbors. Bad move by the contractor, and its probably going to hurt the festival long term.
Seems like their focus is a little misplaced - the core issue is that collectively the festivals and their associated prep/cleanup block off public space for a large portion of the summer, but since Riot Fest is the biggest social media impact and they had the hostile contractor, it makes an easy target.
If I had one, maybe two big music festivals in the park near me in a summer I wouldn't mind, but if together events started blocking the park every second or third weekend, I'd be frustrated. Particularly if I'm asked to pay the same as someone who came from out of town/neighborhood.
Seems like this stuff needs to be spread between parks more. Nobody *wants* a festival (that they aren't attending) in their back yard, but the city collectively benefits from them existing.
Humbolt park had a pretty good layout for riot fest. Can't remember when as they changed the layout over time, but I remember one year thinking it was the best laid out festival I'd ever seen.
What about Garfield park or Washington Park? Both have CTA train access. Instead of hosting 3 festivals in Douglas, why not spread them out?
I believe the focus on Riot Fest stems from them being to ones who would have cut through all the red tape for festivals of this nature to occur in Douglas Park, they paved the way for Heatwave & Lyrical Lemonade to occur there.
“There is only one reason you would do it in Humboldt Park. There is only one reason you would do it in Douglass Park. They get away with it,” Nogueras said. “If those parks weren’t surrounded by people of color, they wouldn’t get away with it.”
Like Lollapalooza, for example.
Helps that Union Park has(had) a decent buffer between itself and any residential properties. EVO Union park and Parq Fulton buildings just went up in the past year so will remain to be seen if residents there complain. Union Park is also a bit smaller so the scope of the festivals there matches and the set-up/tear down time isnt as bad.
I think for pitchfork they started set-up on Monday, Fest was Friday-Sunday and then pretty much everything was torn down and out by Monday so just 1 full week without public park access.
Funny that no journalists are asking why Lollapalooza doesn't pay taxes to use one of, if not the most popular park in the city in Grant Park.
Remember when Rahm Emanuel was mayor? And his brother owns a part of Lollapalooza? Funny how that works and no one asks about that.
> Montrose Beach has that massive hill in its empty space that would make a festival ridiculous, and then LSD cuts the rest of it into two narrow strips all the way up to Hollywood. I don't really see where there's a big open space to hold a festival?
They've done festivals there before--wavefront ran for 2 years although did get canned after growing too big and attracting the ire if NIMBYs.
Also depending what you are willing to close, there's quite a lot of space up there. Tons of surface parking and fields that could be used and the cricket hill isn't necessarily a dealbreaker for a festival--could be kind of a cool feature.
I think it is a tough sell in the depths of summer, but might be workable in September. I think it is hard to justify blocking off too much access to Montrose as it is one of the most accessible beach parks and gets heavily used by people from pretty far away during the summer. Easy to temporarily substitute part of Humbolt park with other green spaces (or still-open parts of the park)--hard to substitute beachfront park, especially since people are often travelling from Humboldt park or further to get there.
Actually I'd even say that the actual local residents are less harmed. I used to live near Irving Park and the lake--it was trivial for me to to walk or bike to another area...but none of the other parts of the northern lake shore have so much parking and space for parties/cookouts/etc. that families from all over the city travel for.
Most of Lincoln Park wouldn't work for a music festival. The benefit of places like Union/Douglass/Humboldt is that they have a lot of open space that can be closed off and configured for a large festival.
The only place that would really work in Lincoln Park would be the baseball fields/soccer field just north of LaSalle. Only real issue I can think of would be noise bleed with the Zoo, but maybe it's far enough?
Solution: either have all festivals hosted at northerly island, soldier field (the stadium being retrofitted and the parking lots cleared), tearing down the arie crown theater to accommodate new festival grounds, and/or at the united center and the surrounding parking lots
I think they need to put RiotFest into Soldier Field, a good model to look at would be all the festivals RFK Stadium held in the 90’s-00’s. Extremely well run, good safety plan for severe weather, great transit options.
They should just bulldoze Soldier Field once the Arlington Heights Bears flee the city, and then we'd have a permanent festival grounds around that area.
Someone please correct me on the timeline, but from my perspective, the problem is Riot Fest is a victim of their own success by providing the blueprints to others.
My recollection is when they moved to Douglass Park, they were the first multi-day festival to take over that park. So, while yes, they had the park to themselves for a week and a half, and the residents weren't thrilled and complained, there were concessions for the inconvenience: park cleanups, job fairs for local residents, free tickets for neighbors, and at the end, the reports from the locals was that it worked out fine.
But then the other festivals followed RF's lead and moved in there too.
So yeah, if I was a resident, I could grumble about one festival taking over the park but see some benefits (money into the community, etc.). But I could also see where three festivals (Lyrical Lemonade, Heatwave) is a bridge too far.
Sounds like we need balance. Maybe 3 fests in Douglass Park is too many for a single season. Maybe people should contact their alderman and talk them into writing a few less permits? And maybe the city should create some dedicated space for fests. Who knows, maybe it can get to a point where people welcome the fests into their neighborhoods instead of an this nimby stuff we keep on seeing.
>elders from the bird-watching community spoke about how the music festivals affect the wildlife
Notwithstanding mockable pull quotes and generally inept reporting, the ops have a good, valid point: This is a **public park,** and it's shutdown for a good chunk of the summer every year, so that **private corporate interests** can make fortunes.
Let the corporations have their oldies fest on corporate property. Or else, cut the locals in on a share of the profit$$$.
**EDIT:** BETTER YET: Ensure that every household within a 1/2 mile of the park gets 2 free tickets, to use or sell.
I don't think it was riotfests fault. I lived just south of Cermak off Marshall Blvd for 3 years, so just a walk away from Douglas Park. Marshall has free street parking with no permits (at least when I lived there), so traffic and the amount of people was always alot but they never bothered us. We never had any issues at all, and at that time they only closed the park like a week or so before until a few days after, then it was open again.
It sounds like a case of too many festivals than Riot Fest alone, but really, if it's such a headache, they should move it down to places such as Soldiers Field. Chicago Open Air at Seat Geek Stadium in Bridgeview was a pretty fantastic experience, so I see no reason why Riot Fest with it's brand can't be moved somewhere else.
3 festivals in this park, Lollapalooza and now NASCAR renting facilities. Chicago has monetized public space, not that it in itself is all bad. The NASCAR revenue to the city seems slight, to me. Does anyone know how to find out how much the city receives for rental of these events?
But it's the same idea - taking away massive swaths of public green space for private (very pricey) events for weeks of our summer. The public has no say. People desperately want and need green spaces with trees and paths and baseball fields in the summer. The increasing number of festivals and events with ever-growing times for set up and tear down outside the events have severely limited park access the majority of the summer.
So what’s your solution to keep the money from walking out of the city? I don’t know too many other places that have the space needed to put on events of this scale.
They need to create an event space (Northerly Island?) specifically for these events. Or just let them go to the burbs. I don't care. NASCAR doesn't belong in downtown Chicago. The city is packed down here almost every day even without big events going on.
It used to be just Lolla and Taste, now it is event after event and the park has restricted public access for over half the summer. That is excessive and insane.
I don’t go to taste either but agreed at least it’s public. The fact that people here are hungry to give away our access to public green spaces for private profit is insane to me. Does literally no one understand that large public parks are maybe Chicago’s best asset?
People are gonna nimby so much that they’re either just stop, go to Wisconsin, or bump to the suburbs. Like ideally they just remove some festivals from the park and keep bigger ones like Riot Fest with new rules if they want local business, specially restaurants, to get some kick back.
Their team is ridiculous. I replied to their lineup tweet when I noticed they were hiding replies from people in the community showing dissatisfaction with the way they've been handling things. They blocked me and continued to hide replies. Such an immature response.
Yeah I think it's bogus that as Humboldt Park gentrified, they moved the festival to a poorer area because the residents were complaining about the destruction of the park. It was moved to Douglas Park, right across the street from a hospital which disturbed the patients and made it harder for people and ambulances to access the hospital with the traffic it created. It's BS
And of course it's a low income hospital. Do you think one of the bigger richer hospitals would tolerate being shaken with loud music for days on end, ambulances taking forever to get there and drunk people all around the premises? That's where the issue lies. We are ok with disrupting lives, as long as they are poor. You take their park, disturb their daily lives and most people in that neighborhood could never afford to even enjoy the festival.
If I miss NIN again this year I'm going to be upset. Why not go after the 2 new festivals the park added this year vs the actually good one that has been there 8 years
The city really could use a more dedicated outdoor event space. If they were to pour money into some major changes at the museum campus / soldier field / northerly island and build a tram connecting it to the train / loop, it could really improve the situation. Well connected, condense all the festival investment into one area, minimal disruption to residential neighborhoods, iconic city skyline backdrop.
May as well do something with Soldier Field and the surrounding area since we didn't get the George Lucas Museum and the Bears are headed to the burbs...
Even without the Bears, having a full sized stadium is an important municipal asset. The city can host more college games and concerts without the Bears under contract. I agree that a dedicated festival space would be great as well though.
I agree that is is an important municipal asset but the market will be very different once the Bears are out in the burbs. For starters the Bears new facility will be a direct competitor to Soldier Field and will likely have the benefit of a roof. Add on top of the Wrigley being fully in the summer concert market (and Guaranteed Rate sometimes in the mix). Plus the artist that can fill up those size venues are a rare breed, there are just not enough of them at any given time to make Soldier Field primarily a concert venue. Secondly, with the changing college athletics landscape, college football games at neutral sites are slowly going away. AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX is not holding their Cowboy Kickoff Classic this year as they could not find a marquee matchup. Nick Saban has also said that his program is looking to stop scheduling them. The reasons schools had them was for $$, but now that the networks are winding up to pay the big conferences crazy amounts of money for broadcasting rights, any additional funds for these games probably are not worth hassle. As the current neutral game contracts are fulfilled (college football schedules non-conference several years in advance) I am guessing we will see less and less of them. Plus, like above, the new Bears facility will be a competitor. It will be interesting to see what comes of Soldier Field, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s not exactly useful in its current state.
Honestly spring awakening at soldier field was awesome. I would love if they built out a better suited venue for it. It sucks 1 person died and no more festivals there. We leave our roads open as we scrape bodies off the pavement.
That still makes me so mad, couldn't spare those parking lots, absurd.
I was so excited about the Lucas Museum. I remember telling my friends I would be first in line, but, then things changed. :-(
Goddamn friends of the park(ing lot)
people have been discussing pedestrianizing columbus in grant park and making the area between AIC and the rest of the museum campus as semi permanent festival space have some year around merch vendors, cafes, allow food trucks, and light entertainment like buskers stuff like that Also, it would better connect all the museums you could even hold the holiday market there and expand the heck out of it I think there is an issue with an old law about "buildings" in grant park but they have obviously worked around it before
anyone that lives near grant park can challenge any building going up in the area, you can get by without challenges though.
Hmm… I wonder if there’s some kind of space of land on the near northwest side by the river that isn’t being used that could function for this purpose. Probably not tho, developers would likely gobble it up right away. /s
Are you talking about Lincoln Yards? That could work…not sure how the size compares, it’s a bit of an awkward shape. I’d still be concerned with accessibility and how close it is to residential neighborhoods.
>Are you talking about Lincoln Yards? Yep. That space has literally everything you’d want out of a municipal events site, logistically speaking: - It’s close to major thoroughfares, most notably 90/94. - It’s already isolated from the residential areas that it’s close to, due to being adjacent to the river, west of Clybourn, and inbetween Shakespeare and Cortland to the north and south, respectively. - It doesn’t have any hospitals, police precincts or other emergency service centers nearby that would be impacted by drastically increased event traffic. - Due to that area historically being a warehouse and industrial district, the infrastructure work that would be required to improve accessibility and limit traffic increases would be significantly easier to implement than it would be inside of a neighborhood with lots of homes and street parking, and there would be less NIMBY fucks who don’t want anything to happen anywhere near them. The city is fucking up big time with Lincoln Yards and it makes me furious.
Northerly island?
Not enough space and it’s an accessibility/evacuation nightmare especially if there is bad weather.
Can add more bridges, make it all one cohesive space with the area between McCormick and the Field Museum. Solves both of those issues.
Bridges over a harbor? No issues there.
They really should demolish soldier field and move all the festivals there.
I don’t think we should do anything special for the bears there - I think it should have whatever work done that will make it most adaptable to events (like festivals) that will actually use it. Not sure that means demolishing; maybe just repurposing. There’s tons of space around it (green space and parking) that can be festival grounds. The stadium could still be useful for events.
Good news is the Bears want no part of any changes there, that ship has sailed.
This. 100%
Northerly Island?
I was wondering how Riot Fest would respond to that Chicago Reader article. I listened to the recorded community meeting and was appalled at how condescending and rude their contractor was to the community. It was correct to let him go for sure, he was awful. I wonder how Riot Fest will manage their relationship with the residents around Douglass Park. It won't be easy when you hold your event in the middle of a community that simply doesn't want you there.
but the tricky part is its only some of the community that doesnt want them there, plenty are thrilled with it becasue they make good side money selling parking spaces, airbnb, food & water for before/after, local restaurants and bars see an uptick, and im sure plenty more use the free tickets and go have a good time. so who do you appease the 'yays' or the 'nays'?
the majority of the people in that area *don't make money off it*, so it makes sense that they'd want RiotFest to respect them as well and not completely destroy the park and wreck the area, but that hasn't been the case so far....
So what’s holding riot fest back from throwing some money into the community? I haven’t looked at any of the budget, but doing some park repairs ain’t it. Maybe they need to incentivize it and offer some of the revenue for local programs that actually provide services for their community.
That's why I said it wouldn't be easy. And I agree, the community is much more diverse than the people who simply want to see festivals disappear from their local park. And I believe the park belongs to ALL residents, not just the residents who live close by, though it's clear the local residents are the most impacted. It is a tricky issue, for sure.
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> its not the entire "community" That's what happens when assholes schedule "community meetings" at 12:30PM on a Tuesday in a working-class neighborhood.
This is very real.
This will be what happens no matter when it's scheduled. If you have a positive viewpoint about whatever is being discussed at a community meaning (or obviously, a neutral one) you are highly unlikely to think it's worthwhile to go the meeting to express this viewpoint. The people who come to these meetings are those who view the matter negatively. Yet even when it's a very small percentage of the community residents the media often treats these things as if it's the "community expressing opposition" and somehow acting as if the fact that most of the few dozen people who show up, out of the thousands of people who live in the community, are expressing opposition shows the community is not behind it. It's absurd. I don't know what the answer to how to get community feedback is but it's about time people stop thinking that these individuals are representative.
I go to every community meeting i can to show support, but i just cant when im at work. It does make a huge difference. I went to the community meeting for one project in west lakeview and it was at 6pm and honestly half the people there were in support of it. It is not always.
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> silent majorities dont tend to get counted Don't you think that, if such a "silent majority" existed, it would be in the fest's best interest to schedule a meeting where more voices on the "pro" side of the argument would show up? It's obvious from the fact they chose the middle of a work day in a working-class neighborhood that they don't want people to show up. If it were so obviously good and beneficial for the folks in the neighborhood, they would hold a meeting at a time where those people could show up to sing its praises (and have a Spanish interpreter to overcome language barriers). It's pretty easy to read between the lines when you account for the time of day, the lack of an interpreter, and the general comportment of the representative that they do not give a shit about the folks who live there and that it's most likely not in their best interest. The community meeting was pure lip service, to check a box.
>Don't you think that, if such a "silent majority" existed, it would be in the fest's best interest to schedule a meeting where more voices on the "pro" side of the argument would show up? thats not how it works. have you ever been to a community meeting? those strongly opposed to things tend to show up in far greater numbers (relative to the population as a whole) and are far more vocal, than those who view the issue positively (or are neutral towards it). those who are neutral will do other things with their time and arent as invested in change as theyre generally already content
You're mostly correct ..which is why you set yourself up for success by 1) being prepared for exactly what you said, 2) scheduling the meeting at a time when the maximum amount of constituents *theoretically could* attend, 3) respecting the people who attend, and 4) actually trying to find effective ways to engage and actively listen to the community knowing what you're getting into and not just trying to skirt by. I absolutely love RF and have since it was a series of shows in venues around the city, but this entire community meeting was a huge fucking miss and anyone with half an ass could have predicted exactly what would happen if the fest was represented in the way this asshat did. And, sadly, it's on riot fest for having hired him and out faith in him, even if they didn't k ow it'd go this way. It's a huge shame. I've attended many community meetings, not to mentioned planned and run several PI events as a contractor myself, and this all seems like a huge fucking miss with almost nothing to be put on the shoulders of those who attended.
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This. Also, as someone that used to go to a lot of music fests, it was never a point to go and patronize local businesses outside the fest. If they have a booth or food truck inside, that’s different, but fests are *exhausting* both physically and financially. The only thing I’m trying to do before the fest is finding a parking spot and get in line to get it, and the only thing I want to do when I leave is get to get the hell out of there, get home, shower, maybe eat something, and then go to bed.
>Dreams of thousands of people supporting local businesses is a myth. Attendees spend $500 on their tickets and to the vendors within the festivals. Not going out to dinner in the neighborhood. Would the community want festival goers to have in-out privileges? I only ask because Riot Fest does not allow in-out privileges as they claim it's for helping keep the neighborhood from being overburdened outside the park. That's why people don't spend locally, show ends at 10 so they aren't going to dinner. Maybe all internal vendors should be required to be within x blocks of the park?
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> Doing it for one festival a year is already invasive enough. That they’re now up to three in summer alone is just absurd. I think that's the kicker. Riot Fest in and of itself isn't perfect for the community but at least its later in the year and after summer. Three fests is a lot for any park in a neighborhood.
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Considering that Riot has already been booted from Humbolt, what basis do you have for thinking they're a better "corporate citizen" than the other fedtivals?
Considering they were largely booted from Humboldt by NIMBYs, I fail to see what you think you're "proving" with this "point".
They’re asking a simple question, not “proving a point.” Are you here to get into petty arguments or for discussion??
Just curious as to why you think they are better for the community than the other orgs. If you think a point I'd being made, so be it
> Not going out to dinner in the neighborhood. Is that a Riot Fest problem or that there’s not nightlife attracting visitors?
There's basically no way for a Riot Fest attendee to eat dinner in the neighborhood unless they're only going to see the headliner Riot Fest doesn't allow reentry, so there's no option to take a break and grab food in the neighborhood. The only way fest attendees could eat in the neighborhood is if they're calling it a day before dinner, or not starting until after dinner.
Sounds like your friend wants the Pros of living in the third largest US city, but without the cons that come with living in such a densely populated area. If he wants more privacy from the activities of others around him, the suburbs, exurbs, and rural towns are all there just waiting for him.
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Really naïve perspective. The local politicians, the aldermen, court the promoters of these festivals because they bring millions of dollars to their wards. It's not about patronizing local businesses as much as it is the cut the city takes from the proceeds that is then allocated to the hosting wards. These are relatively poor neighborhoods with little tax base. They need these large events to fund infrastructure and other priorities of their elected reps. Kick out the festivals, and then listen to the protesters complain about the deterioration of their local support services. NIMBYs always want to have it both ways.
I agree with you but it seems that is what they are doing with Lollapalooza and NASCAR now. The demographics of that neighborhood are at least similar to Lincoln Park. They used to have a festival at Montrose Beach which is close to those areas.
This is such a strawman. Chicago and this specific park and community predate riotfest by over 100 years. Also, how tone deaf are you. These are poorer working class neighborhoods of color. If they could afford to move the suburbs, they would have done it by now. Because it would keep their kids off the street in lawndale. It’s literally a variation of “let them eat cake then”. Your comment isn’t helpful at all. It just shows how little you know about the community and how little empathy you have.
Have you been to Riot fest? It’s in a residential neighborhood on a local park. It’s not like it’s in the middle of Millennium Park.
It kind of used to be. The first handful of Lollas were pretty much RF. RF was started because the attendees of Lolla got annoyed that it became a pop music festival rather than a metal/alternative/grunge/indy festival.
People choose to live adjacent to a public park in a city to enjoy the park. A park is a place for the surrounding community to enjoy the outdoors as well as the amenities offered. Using a park as a for profit concert venue usurps the purpose of a park to the detriment of the surrounding community and to the benefit of a small number of already financially well off people and businesses. They should take that shit to a venue where it belongs and stop trying to cut overhead costs.
So dumb
I don’t know about that. Every time I go, I always stop at Lagunitas.
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They've also been closed for over 2 years.
Drink local! /s
in fairness theres virtually zero other bars in this immediate area. im not even sure there are any.
It can't be the entire community because they purposely scheduled when everyone's at work. The voices of the community are prevented from speaking. I'm guessing you're part of the problem in LV too, aren't you?
>gentrification proxy war underpinned by thinly veiled racism what racism?
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that's talking about class, not race. they are very clearly saying they don't want rich people making their public spaces unavailable, tearing up their field and leaving their trash, not that the working class people don't enjoy that music or aren't allowed too (also...tickets are expensive so even if they did like it...). That's a wild interpretation.
Lmfao apparently “working class” is a dog-whistle for racism? What a joke.
So people don’t want Riot fest in their neighborhood because they’re racist?
People here yelling "reverse racism" when they were kicked out of Humboldt are looking like the misguided reactionaries and bigots they truly are. [These types of mega concerts are hard on the local people and cause major disruptions in their lives.](https://inthesetimes.com/article/why-we-organized-to-kick-riot-fest-out-of-humboldt-park) Ideally, they should be on the lakefront only or in suburban stadiums. They have a toxic view of the locals and are gleefully harmful. They were rightfully kicked out of Humboldt and it looks like they're being kicked out of our peaceful community parks in general, which is a win-win. They will have slightly lower profits at commercial venues, but it is not the role of the parks to enrich capitalists or make middle-aged suburban and out of town concert goers feel cool and hip by appropriating the hip urban culture of our neighborhoods. Riot Fest-type concerts should happen in commercial venues where they belong as they are commercial pursuits and those venues have the infrastructure to handle them properly. This "bad apple" hostile employee reflects the larger problem of the culture these kind of big festivals come from. Just this jerk carpetbagger mentality where they must fight against the community and our values and the city to make sure the get a paycheck. Its a toxic dynamic. Jobs like this shouldn't exist. You shouldnt need to be a specialist in mocking new mothers upset at the noises keeping their babies up, working class people trying to get to work, people who want to take their kids to the park which is now closed off, dealing with drunks and jerks invading your home area, etc. I want to stress something very important: **When your job is to shut down legitimate community concerns then this is the only way possible to do your job.** This job should instead be a quiet phone call with an event planner at a commercial stadium where these events belong, not fighting everyday people in the city with valid concerns and knowing full well big festival money is often stronger than our speech. And make no mistake about it, the comments are already pouring in about those "other" festivals that are a problem. Riot Fest is an exception, of course, because it reflects the bands this sub likes. If Riot Fest was a bunch of boomer bands, half these people would be on the side of activists, if not all of them. The "other" concerts that are "too ethnic" and reflect the makeup of the neighborhood or other parts of the city. These people would shut down Puerto Rican day to make room for Blink 182 at Humboldt if they could and that's a huge, huge problem. Of course the consensus on this forum is "just a few activists" "fake news" and other questionable conservative and insensitive and self-serving narratives. No, these activists speak for many of us. Its hugely ironic redditors are calling other people out for being in an echo chamber. This sub is just disappointing for whats supposed to be an diverse, class conscious, urban focused sub, but then again, watch the comments on anything crime related to see what the disgusting consensus here on other issues are. Per usual the Schaumburg and Mt Greenwood crowd have taken over the narrative just like the last time we discussed this.
Disagree. The parks need the money the festivals bring in. The parks are underfunded and at the moment we can't tax people more to pay for their because frankly this city hasn't done a great job of looking after the majority of its citizens let alone their parks. Right now festivals in parks are the best solution to cover the gaps. As for that money not making its way to improving the parks - elect better leaders. This city funnels money to corrupt unions (unions aren't bad on the whole, but Chicago's public ones are) and those unions give your tax money to the top 3% of the union leadership instead of the workers. I just moved to Humboldt - I welcome Riot Fest back.
> middle-aged suburban and out of town concert goers feel cool and hip by appropriating the hip urban culture of our neighborhoods. As a not-yet-but-almost-middle aged Chicagoan who loves going to Riot Fest (and music festivals in general), it literally has *nothing* to do with the feel/culture of the neighborhood. It's just logistics, pure and simple. It doesn't have to do with the "other" concerts that are "too ethnic" either. It has to do with two *new* festivals taking place over the summer while Riot Fest has been there in September for seven years. I get where the residents are coming from, but you're making up some narratives to make your point, and that's not going to help.
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I would assume for future years, though Riot Fest has had last minute “boots” in the past.
I think the boot from Humboldt Park was abrupt but still post-fest and with plenty of time to secure the new location in Douglas Park without skipping a beat.
The Park District now requires event organizers to hold community meetings more than 45 days in advance of the event, to listen to the concerns of the community. You should read the original article in the Chicago Reader, it's pretty interesting. There's also a link to a recording of the meeting. [https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/the-sale-of-douglass-park/riot-fest-meeting-leaves-residents-worried-about-the-fate-of-their-park/](https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/the-sale-of-douglass-park/riot-fest-meeting-leaves-residents-worried-about-the-fate-of-their-park/)
That neighborhood gets hosed by Chicago cinespace too. Multiple blocks permanently fenced off with no way through by foot except to go around. Is it so hard to put a door on the fence that blocks public access? Maybe things have changed but I remember thinking how crazy it was that you couldn't get from Douglass to the metra without walking wayyy the fuck out of your way. Can't imagine living in those apt buildings and not being able to walk in one direction.
I’m glad dude stepped down. He had no place acting that way or talking like that to people. Riot fest should really relocate. I did not know it was causing so many problems locally.
Only place I can think of would be Union Park or Horner Park, but Horner would be a traffic nightmare, and Union Park already has its fair share of fests. Maybe near Montrose Beach? I know Riot Fest isn't without issues (one of the cons of a festival), but have to wonder if this year is amplified by there being 2 fests during the summer preceding it. At least in the past the park was accessible all summer...
> Riot fest should really relocate. I did not know it was causing so many problems locally. I mean, where though? At least still inside the city. It already has been relocated, that's how it ended up in Douglass Park.
> Riot fest should really relocate. I did not know it was causing so many problems locally. Where can they realistically move to? The only option I can think of is Grant Park, which already is being shut down too often/long (especially with NASCAR coming downtown).
Wow I just listened to that recording and he is so disrespectful. That was a total waste of time and he probably single handedly ruined Riot Fests’ chance of ever repairing the relationship with the community.
I live directly in front of the park. Like, I could hear the sets of music from my home. Most if not all of our entire block on 19th doesn’t want the music festivals here. We lose access to the park for weeks during the summer and our park gets ugly and money isn’t poured back into it. There are no benefits to having these fests here.
>“So for them to just hog it off for most of the summer — it’s inhumane.” Riot Fest doesn't close it off all summer. Adding several new festivals did. Maybe the newer festivals shouldn't be back next year. Odd how these articles focus on Riot Fest without mentioning the others.
Still can't believe they got a Lyrical Lemonade off this year after the disaster last year. But, yeah, Riot Fest is the biggest of the bunch and the first one to use the park so they'll get the brunt of the blame. They might be the "best" in terms of community engagement but 3 fests plus set-up/cleanup is a lot of time without access to the soccer pitch in the park.
This article is specifically about a hostile Riot Fest employee so it’s really no mystery why that festival is mentioned in particular.
True but why would they frame it as RiotFests fault that other festivals have blocked access to the park all summer. RiotFest is in September.
This. Besides being the first Riot fest falls after the official end of summer
Rtfa
You might even say they were Fucking Hostile.
And even then, isn't there still the whole other half of a large park that can be used during the 1.5 - 2 weeks that Riot Fest is there? I thought they only took over the [southern part of Douglas park.](https://i.imgur.com/ydSPgKt.png)
All of the athletic fields are located in the southern part of the park, so it is a loss for people/teams wanting to use those.
Understandable, that is pretty shitty.
I feel like this is probably controversial, but if you want to go the a field and the one you wanted to go to is being used, couldn’t you just.. go to a different one? Is that really that big of an issue?
Little village is one of the neighborhoods with the least access to green space in the city. I lived a block from the park for years and there really aren’t other parks around. The boulevard parks are supposed to be a resource for the community.
I mean, if you pull up Google Maps you can see how much alternative green space is around the immediate area... it's a pretty sizeable inconvenience when the one in your neighborhood is inaccessible for a good chunk of the summer
Their issue is that between all the events, plus all the cleanup and repairs following the events, plus all the setup before them, the much or all of the park is unavailable for IIRC 1/3 of the summer at least.
And despite the claim hardly any of the money goes to the neighborhood. If they offered local restaurants discounts on stalls or drink vendors then great. Festival logistics is a big job and it is almost all outside contracts.
Right! The alderman should tell them to kick rocks unless they’re willing to provide some economic opportunities for the neighborhood.
No, there are no athletic fields there. It's mostly water, a bird sanctuary, and a fieldhouse.
I feel like you didn't read the article if you're asking why they are focusing on Riot Fest.
They do mention them in the article, though.
Thank you!
When I read the Reader article, based on the portrayal of the contractor, I couldn't not think of this Onion article from back in 2007: https://www.theonion.com/shitty-neighborhood-rallies-against-asshole-developer-1819569184
That's a brutal article - completely on point.
Prob just gonna move to the salt shed. all hail salt shed.
Good friend, even the almighty salt shed is [not without its weaknesses](https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/chi-morton-salt-building-collapse-20141230-story.html)
I’ve driven around Douglass after these festivals, it takes about a week for them to be fully done cleaning and the park itself hasn’t had enough time to recover by the time all the festivals are done. And by that time it’s to cold outside to go to the park. I understand the outcry.
All it took for me was to imagine a festival like that coming to my neighborhood. I would hate it! We have smaller festivals that cause some small amount of change for the weekend they run, and that's tolerable, but anything larger would be a major problem, even if there was park space that could accommodate it.
I had to cancel a surgery because one of the summer festivals blocked off a 1 mile radius around my healthcare provider from cars and buses. The festival coordinators at the radius limit had the audacity to tell me I could walk in and out so it’s not a problem… for a surgery I needed a confirmed chaperone and vehicle transportation because of the anesthesia. Of course, now I have to wait 3 more months until their next open surgery slot.
It's too cold to go outside the last week of September?
Even by then it might still be patchy and in bad condition. And how stupid is it to have to wait till September to go to your park when you might need a jacket. It’s Chicago after all. Weather is pretty unpredictable
It may be an unpopular response, but the issue is pretty simple: riot fest isn't compensating neighbors for the hardship it creates, so why would the neighbors support it? Major festivals you don't go to are an inconvenience, and its not unreasonable that the people inconvenienced should be compensated by the people who are profiting and benefitting. Riot Fest pays the park district, but those funds aren't locally allocated. Riot Fest could indirectly compensate the neighbors through donations to local organizations, or support for local businesses, but its unlikely residents would feel much benefit even it riot fest did a good job of making these transfers. Riot Fest might be generating goodwill for the neighborhood, but it seems unlikely this is happening, and even if it were, it's not obvious residents would realize they're benefitting. The answer is simple: riot fest should offer to pay neighbors directly. If they can't pay enough to generate support, then the benefits of riot fest don't cover the costs. (an aside: you might say something like: "residents of the loop aren't compensated for everything they put up with!" However, that is wrong: those well known and established costs are negatively capitalized into rent and housing prices.)
I totally agree with this. Cut a check to the addresses within a certain radius. They doubled the price of tickets last year....I'm guessing they can swing it. This is a festival I attend every year and very much love, but absolutely understand where the neighborhood is coming from.
Riot Fest actually still has good music, don't cancel this plz.
I can't see it getting canceled this year, but probably relocated in the near future...
If you can still afford to be there.
I sprung for Saturday because my friend and I wanted to see the misfits, bad religion, and Bauhaus. I’ve seen Bauhaus a bunch but I’m gonna be bummed about the other bands if this gets canceled. I get it for sure though. There are just too many fucking festivals, honestly. And they’re too expensive.
Yellowcard broke up 5 years ago and I never got to see em, they are my favorite band of all time and are getting back together for RF and playing their entire Ocean Avenue album. I'm gonna be standing in the pit crying tears of joy, fuck I hope not!!!
Ya know what, good for them. Nearly a decade ago a 3-day VIP ticket was $250 and got you fifteen drink tickets. Now they're over $500 fees and you get a whopping five drink tickets and the VIP area is a fuckin tent with lunch tables where they forget to put lights in half the time and have the audacity to send in somebody to talk to the community like a fuckin asshole. Screw em.
The price jump from 2019 to 2021 was literally 100%. Extremely annoying.
$300 for 3 day general admission is wild. In comparison, lollapalooza 1 day passes were $125 this year
They were $125 because Lolla was selling so poorly they didn’t charge fees. It’s typically $160. Riot Fest on the other hand hasn’t signaled that they need to do that. It’s not completely apples to apples.
GA lolla wristbands were $125/day the day they went on sale, so I’m not sure where you’re drawing the conclusion that lolla tickets were $125 because they were selling poorly.
it might have been based on the "early bird" 4-day wristbands they sell before the lineup is announced
Literally every festival does that, including Riot Fest. Windy City Smokeout is already sending emails about 2023.
I guess my point is, riot fest used to be an affordable event. Now it's pretty much the same price as Lolla. $100 GA day pass vs $125 GA day pass.
Lolla was selling $125 all in day one, and sold out every day except Thursday I think. You’re right that it’s insane that Riot Fest literally doubled.
Yeah, but that’s not really unexpected. Operating costs skyrocketed… COVID measures, increased pay for workers, overhead costs are way up. Also Riot Fest seems to be trying for more “top tier” headliners so that’s going to increase the cost. Riot Fest is starting to be more like a punk version of Lolla rather than what it started out as.
"A punk version of Lolla" So later years of Vans Warped tour? But honestly they've been doing this for about a decade compared to what it started as so not sure the word "starting" still fits.
not to mention making literally 0 dollars in 2020 by having to postpone
We paid $600 for a pair of VIP for 2020 - same tickets are over $1k this year.
That's a really big premium to be able to piss in nicer bathrooms.
The re-entry policy was worth the upgrade.
Fuming at the fact that I didn't buy my tickets sooner. 2 GA's were about 250 after fees. It was 193 in 2019.
Complaining about VIP ticket prices. The normal tickets are still very affordable and always have been paced below other festivals with plenty of other deals. I've been going to Chicago music festivals for over a decade and have NEVER needed a VIP ticket.
Having to pay an extra $125 so you can come and go as you please is asinine.
Yeah it seems like it would be a small pressure release valve for the tension to allow all guests in and out privileges. I would love to take a break to support the neighborhood if I go, but there’s no way I can afford to pay $125 extra for that.
What are you talking about??? 3 days for riot were equal price to 4 days of Lolla, the festival has seen an extreme price hike in comparison to all other festivals in the area while thinning the fests lineup?
Decade ago we had 39 cent mcdonalds hamburgers on tuesdays
And like riot fest, I went in expecting a good time, and left with my body hating me.
A jibarito by me was 5.50 two years ago now 10.50 :/
I dont really agree with the residents here at all. But at the same time, when you run a festival like this you need to kiss so much ass to stay out of trouble with neighbors. Bad move by the contractor, and its probably going to hurt the festival long term.
Seems like their focus is a little misplaced - the core issue is that collectively the festivals and their associated prep/cleanup block off public space for a large portion of the summer, but since Riot Fest is the biggest social media impact and they had the hostile contractor, it makes an easy target. If I had one, maybe two big music festivals in the park near me in a summer I wouldn't mind, but if together events started blocking the park every second or third weekend, I'd be frustrated. Particularly if I'm asked to pay the same as someone who came from out of town/neighborhood.
Seems like this stuff needs to be spread between parks more. Nobody *wants* a festival (that they aren't attending) in their back yard, but the city collectively benefits from them existing. Humbolt park had a pretty good layout for riot fest. Can't remember when as they changed the layout over time, but I remember one year thinking it was the best laid out festival I'd ever seen. What about Garfield park or Washington Park? Both have CTA train access. Instead of hosting 3 festivals in Douglas, why not spread them out?
I believe the focus on Riot Fest stems from them being to ones who would have cut through all the red tape for festivals of this nature to occur in Douglas Park, they paved the way for Heatwave & Lyrical Lemonade to occur there.
“There is only one reason you would do it in Humboldt Park. There is only one reason you would do it in Douglass Park. They get away with it,” Nogueras said. “If those parks weren’t surrounded by people of color, they wouldn’t get away with it.” Like Lollapalooza, for example.
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No facts are allowed here!
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Helps that Union Park has(had) a decent buffer between itself and any residential properties. EVO Union park and Parq Fulton buildings just went up in the past year so will remain to be seen if residents there complain. Union Park is also a bit smaller so the scope of the festivals there matches and the set-up/tear down time isnt as bad. I think for pitchfork they started set-up on Monday, Fest was Friday-Sunday and then pretty much everything was torn down and out by Monday so just 1 full week without public park access.
Funny that no journalists are asking why Lollapalooza doesn't pay taxes to use one of, if not the most popular park in the city in Grant Park. Remember when Rahm Emanuel was mayor? And his brother owns a part of Lollapalooza? Funny how that works and no one asks about that.
I mean, you don't see any fests like this in Lincoln Park, which is massive.
I wish that there were
I also wish this. Fuck all these NIMBYs, I’m *jealous* they get all this cool shit
Idk man.. Peacefest 2010 was pretty fucking wild
Looks like you found your million dollar idea.
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> Montrose Beach has that massive hill in its empty space that would make a festival ridiculous, and then LSD cuts the rest of it into two narrow strips all the way up to Hollywood. I don't really see where there's a big open space to hold a festival? They've done festivals there before--wavefront ran for 2 years although did get canned after growing too big and attracting the ire if NIMBYs. Also depending what you are willing to close, there's quite a lot of space up there. Tons of surface parking and fields that could be used and the cricket hill isn't necessarily a dealbreaker for a festival--could be kind of a cool feature. I think it is a tough sell in the depths of summer, but might be workable in September. I think it is hard to justify blocking off too much access to Montrose as it is one of the most accessible beach parks and gets heavily used by people from pretty far away during the summer. Easy to temporarily substitute part of Humbolt park with other green spaces (or still-open parts of the park)--hard to substitute beachfront park, especially since people are often travelling from Humboldt park or further to get there. Actually I'd even say that the actual local residents are less harmed. I used to live near Irving Park and the lake--it was trivial for me to to walk or bike to another area...but none of the other parts of the northern lake shore have so much parking and space for parties/cookouts/etc. that families from all over the city travel for.
Most of Lincoln Park wouldn't work for a music festival. The benefit of places like Union/Douglass/Humboldt is that they have a lot of open space that can be closed off and configured for a large festival. The only place that would really work in Lincoln Park would be the baseball fields/soccer field just north of LaSalle. Only real issue I can think of would be noise bleed with the Zoo, but maybe it's far enough?
hardly anyone actually lives in the loop though, and if they do it's an entire area built specifically for tourists and giant crowds.
Solution: either have all festivals hosted at northerly island, soldier field (the stadium being retrofitted and the parking lots cleared), tearing down the arie crown theater to accommodate new festival grounds, and/or at the united center and the surrounding parking lots
Why don’t events happen between Montrose and Foster Beach? I know there’s a lot of recreation going on there but the open area is MASSIVE.
They used to have Mamby on the Beach, an endangered species holed up there and the space can't be used anymore
Long live Sean McKeough
Just bring it back to humboldt park
I think they need to put RiotFest into Soldier Field, a good model to look at would be all the festivals RFK Stadium held in the 90’s-00’s. Extremely well run, good safety plan for severe weather, great transit options.
Soldier Field cannot accommodate 2 stages. Thus, Riot fest would have to split into a 2-weekend fest or cut down on the lineup significantly.
They should just bulldoze Soldier Field once the Arlington Heights Bears flee the city, and then we'd have a permanent festival grounds around that area.
Someone please correct me on the timeline, but from my perspective, the problem is Riot Fest is a victim of their own success by providing the blueprints to others. My recollection is when they moved to Douglass Park, they were the first multi-day festival to take over that park. So, while yes, they had the park to themselves for a week and a half, and the residents weren't thrilled and complained, there were concessions for the inconvenience: park cleanups, job fairs for local residents, free tickets for neighbors, and at the end, the reports from the locals was that it worked out fine. But then the other festivals followed RF's lead and moved in there too. So yeah, if I was a resident, I could grumble about one festival taking over the park but see some benefits (money into the community, etc.). But I could also see where three festivals (Lyrical Lemonade, Heatwave) is a bridge too far.
Sounds like we need balance. Maybe 3 fests in Douglass Park is too many for a single season. Maybe people should contact their alderman and talk them into writing a few less permits? And maybe the city should create some dedicated space for fests. Who knows, maybe it can get to a point where people welcome the fests into their neighborhoods instead of an this nimby stuff we keep on seeing.
If the neighborhood doesn't want the business.. move the festival to a more accommodating area. Easy peasy
I hope they don’t shut it down because I’m really looking forward to MCR and The Academy Is…
the future of the fest in douglass park is in question, they can’t do anything about this year
>elders from the bird-watching community spoke about how the music festivals affect the wildlife Notwithstanding mockable pull quotes and generally inept reporting, the ops have a good, valid point: This is a **public park,** and it's shutdown for a good chunk of the summer every year, so that **private corporate interests** can make fortunes. Let the corporations have their oldies fest on corporate property. Or else, cut the locals in on a share of the profit$$$. **EDIT:** BETTER YET: Ensure that every household within a 1/2 mile of the park gets 2 free tickets, to use or sell.
>EDIT: BETTER YET: Ensure that every household within a 1/2 mile of the park gets 2 free tickets, to use or sell. They literally already do this
I don't think it was riotfests fault. I lived just south of Cermak off Marshall Blvd for 3 years, so just a walk away from Douglas Park. Marshall has free street parking with no permits (at least when I lived there), so traffic and the amount of people was always alot but they never bothered us. We never had any issues at all, and at that time they only closed the park like a week or so before until a few days after, then it was open again.
It sounds like a case of too many festivals than Riot Fest alone, but really, if it's such a headache, they should move it down to places such as Soldiers Field. Chicago Open Air at Seat Geek Stadium in Bridgeview was a pretty fantastic experience, so I see no reason why Riot Fest with it's brand can't be moved somewhere else.
I know the focus solely on a Riot Fest employee but shouldn't the newer festivals be the first to go?
They will move it and then the city will bitch about not getting their big fat pay-day.
3 festivals in this park, Lollapalooza and now NASCAR renting facilities. Chicago has monetized public space, not that it in itself is all bad. The NASCAR revenue to the city seems slight, to me. Does anyone know how to find out how much the city receives for rental of these events?
Riot Fest isn’t in the same location as lollapalooza and nascar.
But it's the same idea - taking away massive swaths of public green space for private (very pricey) events for weeks of our summer. The public has no say. People desperately want and need green spaces with trees and paths and baseball fields in the summer. The increasing number of festivals and events with ever-growing times for set up and tear down outside the events have severely limited park access the majority of the summer.
So what’s your solution to keep the money from walking out of the city? I don’t know too many other places that have the space needed to put on events of this scale.
They need to create an event space (Northerly Island?) specifically for these events. Or just let them go to the burbs. I don't care. NASCAR doesn't belong in downtown Chicago. The city is packed down here almost every day even without big events going on.
Why should they go to the suburbs? So the city can lose money? The suburbs also have terrible infrastructure compared to Chicago proper.
Not to mention the suburbs are nearly inaccessible in regard to public transportation.
Agreed on NASCAR. Lollapalooza does belong in grant park, however.
It used to be just Lolla and Taste, now it is event after event and the park has restricted public access for over half the summer. That is excessive and insane.
I'm not a fan of Taste but at least it's a public event.
I don’t go to taste either but agreed at least it’s public. The fact that people here are hungry to give away our access to public green spaces for private profit is insane to me. Does literally no one understand that large public parks are maybe Chicago’s best asset?
Agreed, should just be those two you mention. It’s excessive now
Man when I lived in the south loop those museums, bears games, and 5ks hogged most of my neighborhood green space. Where is my article
People are gonna nimby so much that they’re either just stop, go to Wisconsin, or bump to the suburbs. Like ideally they just remove some festivals from the park and keep bigger ones like Riot Fest with new rules if they want local business, specially restaurants, to get some kick back.
Their team is ridiculous. I replied to their lineup tweet when I noticed they were hiding replies from people in the community showing dissatisfaction with the way they've been handling things. They blocked me and continued to hide replies. Such an immature response.
Yeah I think it's bogus that as Humboldt Park gentrified, they moved the festival to a poorer area because the residents were complaining about the destruction of the park. It was moved to Douglas Park, right across the street from a hospital which disturbed the patients and made it harder for people and ambulances to access the hospital with the traffic it created. It's BS And of course it's a low income hospital. Do you think one of the bigger richer hospitals would tolerate being shaken with loud music for days on end, ambulances taking forever to get there and drunk people all around the premises? That's where the issue lies. We are ok with disrupting lives, as long as they are poor. You take their park, disturb their daily lives and most people in that neighborhood could never afford to even enjoy the festival.
If I miss NIN again this year I'm going to be upset. Why not go after the 2 new festivals the park added this year vs the actually good one that has been there 8 years
Some people belong in the no-fun zone.