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Some residents don’t mind the festivals at all. Park District spokesperson Michele Lemons in a statement that the festival’s organizers have gotten the alderman’s input and plan to “provide some benefit with a positive and lasting impact on the park” and neighbors. “If there are people who think it is not being handled correctly, I urge them to have that conversation with me so we can do it the right way, because I don’t want people to feel like the park is not being used to their benefit,” Scott said.
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There are also efforts to make sure the park is fenced-off for as little time as possible, and the organizers work with the city to find alternative locations for programs and events that might get displaced by the event, Scott said. “It goes to help subsidize all of our communities,” Scott said. Summer festivals can be an inconvenience, but the revenue they bring to the Park District lowers the cost of sports and programs for West Side youth, Scott said. The neighborhood benefits from the festival’s apprenticeship program, free tickets, the park cleanups hosted by organizers and from the economic boost tourists bring, Scott said.
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The fes organizers do their best to be a good neighbor to the community, said Ald. But the city’s planning process should prioritize residents and allow festivals to work around the needs of the community, rather than forcing the community to accommodate the schedule of a private company, Shaw said. Solario makes an earnest effort to keep the festival in the good graces of neighbors, is glad the It Takes a Village event will still happen, Shaw said. Lyrical Lemonade organizers also plan to help the school pay for the relocated Juneteenth event, festival Director Berto Solorio said in a statement. “It’s important for us to be able to celebrate our history and culture in our neighborhood in a significant way on a regular basis … in a space that was renamed and reclaimed by a group of young people,” Hobbs said. But the Summer Smash organizers helped the school get a permit for another location in the park so its Juneteenth event will still happen, school co-founder Nakisha Hobbs said. It Takes A Village - the school that spearheaded the campaign to rename the park - also wanted to host a Juneteenth event at Douglass Park, but its plans hit a snag since the park was already booked for the music festival. “With the size of that event, it causes other people in the community having events to celebrate Juneteenth … to have to close down or minimize their events,” Shaw said. Shaw had to put a pause on planning the Juneteenth event because of the Summer Smash, she said. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago Stage lights gleam as A$AP Rocky performs for a large crowd uring the first day of The Summer Smash Festival in Douglass Park on Aug. There is added buzz around the holiday this year since it is the first time Juneteenth will be recognized as an official holiday in Illinois, Shaw said. The event was going to be a barbecue that would “have people come out like they used to do back in the day and get the community to just be a community again … and celebrate the fact that we’re able to come together,” Shaw said. Shaw, who previously spearheaded the Light Up Lawndale holiday events, has been planning since December for a Juneteenth and Father’s Day event. RELATED: Summer Smash Or ‘Fyre Festival’? Workers Walk Off Job, Citing Chaos At Douglass Park Music Fest “What we have seen is that other people can come into our community, utilize our parks and displace us where we are not able to utilize the parks,” Shaw said. The park was renamed in 2020 to honor esteemed abolitionists Frederick and Anna Murray Douglass. Many residents were eager to spend Juneteenth at the park, said Princess Shaw, a Lawndale resident who was planning to throw an event June 19 at Douglass Park. The holiday recognizes the liberation of enslaved African Americans after the Civil War. The hip hop festival has drawn the ire of some neighbors since it launched in 2018 due to issues with noise, parking, traffic, damage to the park and the displacement of sports and youth programs.īut neighbors have an additional concern this year: The music fest headlined by Post Malone and Playboi Carti is happening two months earlier than normal, meaning residents will be unable to use parts of the public park to celebrate Juneteenth. NORTH LAWNDALE - West Side residents have asked the Park District Board to boot the Lyrical Lemonade Summer Smash festival from Douglass Park so residents won’t be fenced out during Juneteenth weekend.