Riot Fest is moving back to Douglass Park for its annual music festival in September.
According to an announcement Wednesday from Riot Fest organizers, Ald. Monique Scott (24th), the City of Chicago and the Chicago Park District, the decision was “pending provisional approval by the Park District Board next month,” but that all parties were in favor of the festival’s return. Wednesday’s surprise came after a calamitous couple of months that saw the music festival announce in June it would depart its longtime home in the North Lawndale neighborhood and move to the campus of SeatGeek Stadium in southwest suburban Bridgeview.
At the time, that decision followed delays by the Park District to approve the festival’s permit for 2024, as well as amid rising tensions over the use of city parks by music festivals such as Riot Fest.
Riot Fest organizer Mike Petryshyn, speaking to the Tribune Wednesday, said relations with the Park District has since gone through a reversal.
“We’ve loved working with them recently,” he said, “It’s gone through this 360.”
Riot Fest announced the news on its website and via social media: “There’s no place like home. Riot Fest is coming back to Douglass Park, Chicago. September 20-22, 2024.”
Douglass Park is the location it has used since 2015. Music headliners will be Beck, Public Enemy, the Marley Brothers and Fall Out Boy, along with Slayer, The Offspring, St. Vincent, Bright Eyes, Rob Zombie, Dr. Dog, Sublime and Pavement.
Some of the most vocal support for Riot Fest staying in North Lawndale came from Scott, who said her constituents were largely supportive of the festival. Her office released a statement in June that called Riot Fest “a cornerstone of positive impact and opportunity in our community,” and characterized some of its most outspoken opposition as a “false narrative” from a small number of people, some of whom did not live in the 24th Ward.
However, the Tribune has spoken to local residents who say they find the festival — with a music lineup that crosses genres that has long favored punk, rock and hip hop bands — an intrusion and a poor fit for North Lawndale, a predominantly Black neighborhood, and the largely Latino Little Village.
On its side, Riot Fest has put in place a number of projects to support the local residents and businesses, including through job fairs and other initiatives.
This story is updating.
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