“We see North Lawndale, we see that the city hasn’t really invested in that community,” she says. While Solorio says his team was conscious of the “nuisance” events such as music festivals can be, participated in community meetings and sent out notices, at the same time organizing park clean-up efforts in exchange for tickets and job fairs (as Riot Fest does), Tovar argues real investment requires much more. After the official walk-through post-weekend, the company picked up a $350,000 bill.Īfter initially moving from Humboldt Park in 2015, Riot Fest spent $180,000 in preparation, repairs and maintenance costs on Douglas Park.
In 2012, the year of the first official extreme weather evacuation of the event, the festival’s promoter C3 estimated repair costs to Grant Park to be around $150,000. In 2011, Lolla racked up $1 million in repair costs when it had to re-sod all of Grant Park after storms rocked the park, as patrons pulverized anything that was once green into the mud. While the Chicago Park District is still estimating a restoration fee for Douglas Park after this year’s Summer Smash, which not only expanded to two days this year, but increased its footprint on the grounds - Michele Lemons, the park district’s director of communications, told the Tribune that landscaping damage isn’t substantial and will include aerating and seeding a portion of the field, and laying sod in other areas of the field. “These organizations, these concerts,” Tovar states, "are not for us and they shouldn’t be in Douglas Park.”
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