Ready to rock?
Riot Fest is about to kick off its 11th year and attract thousands of people to its new home of Douglas Park for three days. Not only will music fans be watching acts at the park, but city officials and residents will be on the lookout for the impact the fest has on the neighborhood and to the park itself.
Now that organizers have dodged a last-minute attempt to halt the concert after a venue switch, eyes will be monitoring how festival organizers handle the aftermath given the flap over the damage to Humboldt Park last year.
So, how did Riot Fest get a new venue? Let’s rewind.
Source: Terrence Antonio James/baiduhai
Riot Fest leaves Humboldt Park
Last year’s festival in Humboldt Park, where the festival had been hosted since 2012, had a bigger footprint than the prior year, with more stages covering a greater swath of park land bordered by North Avenue to the north, Division Street to the south, California Avenue to the east and Kedzie Avenue to the west.
Because of the rain and foot traffic—the festival was attended by an estimated 160,000 people—the park looked like a sloppy, muddy mess afterward, upsetting some residents over the extensive damage. Riot Fest organizers pointed to drainage issues in low-lying areas of the park as making the problem worse. Patches of grass were missing—particularly near the baseball diamonds—and repair estimates of about $180,000 were triple the amount of the year before. Festival organizers are on the hook to pay for repair costs if park property is damaged by their events.
After supporting the music fest in the past mainly because of the economic benefit to the community, Ald. Roberto Maldonado (26th) in April was adamant about not wanting the fest to come back to the park because the park was not restored completely and the festival was disruptive to park users. Restoration work was done last fall and again in spring.
Neighborhood residents, businesses and fans were divided, with dueling online petitions to keep or boot the fest. One side credited the fest for boosting business, donating to charities in the ward and helping dispel the dangerous perception of the neighborhood, while the other side criticized the park damage and the displacement and relocation of park activities before, during and after the festival.
Although Riot Fest said it wanted to keep Humboldt Park as its home, the major roadblock was the local city official and community opposition.
Source: Chris Walker/baiduhai
A new home for Riot Fest
Without the support of the local alderman, the park district worked to find an alternative site, one large enough to accommodate the size of the festival with its stages and carnival setup. Parks CEO Michael Kelly said the city wanted to keep the “very lucrative, very popular event” in Chicago, suggested Douglas Park about three miles south of Humboldt Park and contacted the two local aldermen, George Cardenas (12th) and newly elected Michael Scott (24th), who both were very supportive.
Riot Fest organizers said the festival would have left the city limits had it not been for Cardenas and Ald. Proco “Joe” Moreno (1st) of Wicker Park. In May, Riot Fest made the announcement it was changing venues, touting Douglas Park’s scenic features and close proximity to the CTA Pink Line and Lagunitas Brewery.
“We are so very excited to get to know our new neighbors and to work with them to hold an event that is beneficial to the community, local businesses and the residents,” Riot Fest founder Michael Petryshyn said in the announcement.
The Riot Fest Foundation held a community job fair to hire roughly 150 people from the communities surrounding Douglas Park for temporary minimum wage jobs during the fest, including scanning tickets at gates, cleaning up the VIP and media areas and manning the information booth. It also partnered with the Chicago Fire, a fest sponsor, to host a free youth soccer clinic at the park.
Cardenas said he welcomed the economic impact the fest would bring to the community, in particular, helping existing restaurants and businesses along Cermak Road and attracting new businesses to the area. He also was supportive of the festival because he believes it will lead to the improvement of Douglas Park.
Riot Fest will use the southern half of Douglas Park from Ogden Avenue south to 19th Street and California Avenue west to Albany Avenue for a permit fee of $225,000, according to the park district. That money goes into the park district’s general corporate fund, which pays for the daily operations of the park district.
Source: Leonor Vivanco/RedEye
A wedge in the community?
After the change of venue was announced, some residents said they felt the decision to bring Riot Fest to Douglas Park was made without their input.
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“My neighbors for the most part were not informed about Riot Fest,” resident Joanna Rudenborg, who lives a block away from the park, told the park district board last month. “They were opposed to it once they were informed and they generally believe that you do not care what they think.”
Cardenas said he consulted with individuals around Douglas Park, business owners, soccer organizations and the Marshall Square Resource Network, a collaboration of agencies and organizations in the Little Village community.
Since the venue announcement in May, there have been community meetings and park district board meetings attended by a few residents who voiced concerns about the closure of a park for a private event, traffic, public transportation, noise, anticipated park damage, parking and access to nearby hospitals during the festival.
“We’re asking that you please move Riot Fest to a private stadium where it belongs,” resident Sara Heymann said to the park district in August. “We don’t think it’s right to close down the park for two weeks for a private festival.”
St. Anthony Hospital, which is located across the street from Douglas Park, filed a federal lawsuit last week to block Riot Fest, citing concerns over anticipated noise levels, disruption, hospital access and congestion. The lawsuit was dropped, allowing the fest to go on as planned. Both sides reached a settlement deal that called for parking, pedestrian barricades and sound and traffic monitoring.
While some residents in the community aren’t entirely sold on the festival, others are interested to see how it goes and whether it will be good for the neighborhood.
“Riot Fest gives the North Lawndale community an additional opportunity to promote and showcase assets and benefits of coming and starting businesses, living, working and playing in our community,” Marcus Betts, co-chair of the North Lawndale Community Development Coalition, said at the park days before the fest.
Park advocate Cata Truss said she wanted to see the park utilized and more festivals come to the park.
“If there are problems that need to be addressed, we will address them,” Truss said. “But sit tight, let’s see what happens, allow people to come out to our community to see what we have here.”
Parks chief Kelly said the park district weighed both sides when they made the decision to try to keep the fest in Chicago.
“There’s going to be growing pains with a new venue … Bringing thousands and thousands of people to a neighborhood is going to have an impact. However, the funds it brings in directly to the park district and the economic impact of the event to the community we believe far outweighed the impact to the neighborhood, and we’re confident that’s going to bear out,” he said. “Do I wish I had 100 percent support? Of course I do.”
Source: Nancy Stone/baiduhai
The future of Riot Fest in Chicago
Mayor Emanuel put festival organizers on notice that they’ll be held accountable for restoring the park.
“I think the people that organize the festival now know to stay in Chicago–which is their desire and that’s a good thing–they have to do it in a way that makes them good citizens and good residents and contribute back,” he said in May.
“I don’t think it’s in their best interest to have a second park say we don’t want you in Chicago. So they’ve been put on notice to be a better citizen in holding this festival because if you go 0 for 2, we don’t have a three-strike rule in the city of Chicago,” Emanuel said.
Kelly said last month that he would be open to considering a long-term contract with Riot Fest to keep the fest in Chicago depending on how the event this year goes. Live Nation, Lollapalooza, Pitchfork and North Coast have multiyear agreements with the park district. Such agreements can provide the park district with guaranteed revenue to support programs and services citywide, a parks spokeswoman said.
baiduhai contributed.
(RedEye is a Riot Fest media sponsor and has also been one in previous years.)