![]() ![]() “It also messes with our quality of life,” she says.įor Talamantes, the sudden influx of traffic makes her late to pick up her son from school. Gloria Talamantes, a Douglas Park resident and single mother who follows the Facebook page, says festivals do more than damage the park. Members of the page didn’t like Riot Fest invading their park, and they haven’t been fans of Summer Smash, which made its debut in Douglas Park last year. ![]() Residents created the Facebook page in 2015 when punk rock festival Riot Fest landed in Douglas Park after being kicked out of Humboldt Park due to community pushback. “Those festivals bring in a lot of income,” Cross continues, “and I’m left wondering, well, how is Douglas Park benefiting from that?” In his role, Cross leads beautification projects in the West Side community, including the recent redesign of the mini golf course on the north end of Douglas Park. “People go to these festivals for one weekend, but we’re here year-round,” says Haman Cross, an artist and instructor on the North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council’s arts and culture subcommittee. Then, the festivals and their followers leave the area as quickly as they came - and North Lawndale goes back to being the neglected community it’s been since the 1968 uprisings following the assassination of Dr. Meanwhile, festival attendees get to exist in a vacuum, cordoned off from its impoverished surroundings so they can party without giving a second thought to the community’s needs. Food deserts and fears of gun violence keep them away, except for a couple of summer weekends when music festivals such as Riot Fest and Summer Smash set up shop in Douglas Park, bringing tens of thousands of people with them.Īll weekend long, these summer festivals fence off the public park, rip up the grass and back up traffic on surrounding streets. For most of the year, North Lawndale is devoid of tourists and Chicagoans who live outside of the West Side.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |