megafests GTFO of Douglass park
there’s nothing punk about riot fest’s disruption of essential services and its occupation of Black and brown neighborhoods. Douglass park’s summer invasion by boorish drunk suburbanites is pathetic at best and a public health hazard (what colonizer whites on this continent have been since they got here) at worst. riot fest destroys park land, obstructs neighborhood streets, invites an enormous pig presence, makes deadly noise, and ultimately needs to get the fuck out of Douglass park.
Douglass park is a local park in a quiet zone directly across the street from 2 safety-net hospitals and a rehab center, and every year, riot fest’s occupation of the park denies access to vital resources for community members in the mostly Black and Latine little village and north lawndale neighborhoods that the park primarily serves.
"Mt. Sinai Hospital is one of only five Level 1 Trauma Centers in the entire City of Chicago for 2.8 million residents. Each year Riot Fest is held, trauma and other emergency patients are delayed by minutes and hours to life-saving care at Mt. Sinai as well as to the emergency room at St. Anthony. Due to Riot Fest, the city of Chicago Fire Department (CFD) and/or each of the hospital emergency rooms may be put on “by-pass” which means the CFD ambulances are re-routed to hospitals further away, which could endanger the lives of the primarily African American and Latino patients who should be going there."
Dr. Howard Ehrman, MD (courtesy of Únete La Villita)
Douglass park is a local park in a quiet zone directly across the street from 2 safety-net hospitals and a rehab center, and every year, riot fest’s occupation of the park denies access to vital resources for community members in the mostly Black and Latine little village and north lawndale neighborhoods that the park primarily serves.
"Mt. Sinai Hospital is one of only five Level 1 Trauma Centers in the entire City of Chicago for 2.8 million residents. Each year Riot Fest is held, trauma and other emergency patients are delayed by minutes and hours to life-saving care at Mt. Sinai as well as to the emergency room at St. Anthony. Due to Riot Fest, the city of Chicago Fire Department (CFD) and/or each of the hospital emergency rooms may be put on “by-pass” which means the CFD ambulances are re-routed to hospitals further away, which could endanger the lives of the primarily African American and Latino patients who should be going there."
Dr. Howard Ehrman, MD (courtesy of Únete La Villita)
LAND
Douglass park (named after abolitionists Frederick and Anna Murray Douglass) and all of what we know as “chicago” (bastardization of zhigaagong / shikaakwa) is on unceded anishnaabe, myaamia, wea, ho-chunk, sauk, peoria, kaskaskia, and meskwaki land. as inhabitants of colonized indigenous land, we have a duty to work to liberate it from the claws of imperialism through the dismantling of and divestment from all police (including immigration enforcement, child protective services, and all u.s. armed forces), incarceration, forced labor, and fossil fuels by any means necessary.
in the aftermath of the 1871 chicago fire, white settlers attempted to colonize lawndale, filling the marshy land that would become Douglass park with sand and manure from the chicago union stock yards. by the early 20th century, russian jews had settled most of north lawndale, which made it one of the few chicago neighborhoods where Black great migration migrants from southern states and urban renewal refugees from the south side were not barred by redlining and restrictive covenants from moving into. in the 1960s, the czechs and other eastern european communities who had settled most of south lawndale attempted to distance themselves from what had become majority-Black north lawndale by renaming their neighborhood "little village." today, the pools, gardens, and athletic facilities of Douglass park serve the largely Latine la villita and largely Black north lawndale communities between which it is situated.
every year, riot fest proudly promotes videos of wasted white fest-goers tearing up the grass of these communities' park land, throwing dirt around, and writhing around in mud during the festival. so, in addition to blocking access to Douglass park's soccer pitch, athletic track, and green spaces for 3 weeks, the megafest inflicts lasting damage to park land that makes it unusable for children’s soccer programs and other community athletics programs and recreation options for the rest of the summer. the megafest used to be in humboldt park, but after the alderman and community became fed up with the damage to park land that it caused, riot fest moved south to Douglass park, where they have been able to work with and donate tens of thousands of dollars to much more bribe-friendly aldermen (see the chicago reader article “donations, violations, and fees” by Kelly Garcia). The park district, city council, and riot fest all know that the community opposes the festival, but in 2025, the park district signed a 3 year contract to have riot fest stay in Douglass park with an option to extend for 2 years without any community meetings or input. this november, chicago will vote on whether the city should build a dedicated festival grounds. it’s important that it doesn’t end up being somewhere that prevents community members from accessing public space and essential services, but we like the sound of festivals happening in spaces that are designed to host large, loud performances.
“Since Riot Fest had started occupying Douglass Park 9 years ago, kids sports have suffered. There is no longer any kids soccer in the fall at Douglass Park and the SCORES program has had to move all of their games to McKinley Park instead, making it difficult to impossible for kids from North Lawndale and Little Village to attend. Riot Fest deteriorates the Park's Infrastructure without meaningful plans for repair. The physical damage inflicted on a park that already suffers from disinvestment and chronic flooding is heartbreaking. Each year, repairs made to the park do not fully address the damage done by the festivals, and they certainly do not address the major infrastructure needs that Douglass Park has had for many years. The park is in disrepair for the entire summer until Riot Fest sets up the following year.”
public comment from june 2024 park district board meeting
Douglass park (named after abolitionists Frederick and Anna Murray Douglass) and all of what we know as “chicago” (bastardization of zhigaagong / shikaakwa) is on unceded anishnaabe, myaamia, wea, ho-chunk, sauk, peoria, kaskaskia, and meskwaki land. as inhabitants of colonized indigenous land, we have a duty to work to liberate it from the claws of imperialism through the dismantling of and divestment from all police (including immigration enforcement, child protective services, and all u.s. armed forces), incarceration, forced labor, and fossil fuels by any means necessary.
in the aftermath of the 1871 chicago fire, white settlers attempted to colonize lawndale, filling the marshy land that would become Douglass park with sand and manure from the chicago union stock yards. by the early 20th century, russian jews had settled most of north lawndale, which made it one of the few chicago neighborhoods where Black great migration migrants from southern states and urban renewal refugees from the south side were not barred by redlining and restrictive covenants from moving into. in the 1960s, the czechs and other eastern european communities who had settled most of south lawndale attempted to distance themselves from what had become majority-Black north lawndale by renaming their neighborhood "little village." today, the pools, gardens, and athletic facilities of Douglass park serve the largely Latine la villita and largely Black north lawndale communities between which it is situated.
every year, riot fest proudly promotes videos of wasted white fest-goers tearing up the grass of these communities' park land, throwing dirt around, and writhing around in mud during the festival. so, in addition to blocking access to Douglass park's soccer pitch, athletic track, and green spaces for 3 weeks, the megafest inflicts lasting damage to park land that makes it unusable for children’s soccer programs and other community athletics programs and recreation options for the rest of the summer. the megafest used to be in humboldt park, but after the alderman and community became fed up with the damage to park land that it caused, riot fest moved south to Douglass park, where they have been able to work with and donate tens of thousands of dollars to much more bribe-friendly aldermen (see the chicago reader article “donations, violations, and fees” by Kelly Garcia). The park district, city council, and riot fest all know that the community opposes the festival, but in 2025, the park district signed a 3 year contract to have riot fest stay in Douglass park with an option to extend for 2 years without any community meetings or input. this november, chicago will vote on whether the city should build a dedicated festival grounds. it’s important that it doesn’t end up being somewhere that prevents community members from accessing public space and essential services, but we like the sound of festivals happening in spaces that are designed to host large, loud performances.
“Since Riot Fest had started occupying Douglass Park 9 years ago, kids sports have suffered. There is no longer any kids soccer in the fall at Douglass Park and the SCORES program has had to move all of their games to McKinley Park instead, making it difficult to impossible for kids from North Lawndale and Little Village to attend. Riot Fest deteriorates the Park's Infrastructure without meaningful plans for repair. The physical damage inflicted on a park that already suffers from disinvestment and chronic flooding is heartbreaking. Each year, repairs made to the park do not fully address the damage done by the festivals, and they certainly do not address the major infrastructure needs that Douglass Park has had for many years. The park is in disrepair for the entire summer until Riot Fest sets up the following year.”
public comment from june 2024 park district board meeting
via Únete La Villita instagram
ROADS
riot fest's impact on traffic around Douglass park is a threat to the mobility, livelihoods, and lives of the communities around it. the additional vehicle traffic and hordes of sunburnt pissheads attracted by the festival make it impossible to drive up and down ogden, a critical road for ambulances, hospital workers, hospital patients and their families, and other commuters living or working in the area.
“Driving up and down Ogden is almost a daily necessity. However, every year during the “Riot Fest” I do anything possible to avoid the traffic mess/jam caused on that avenue. [...] Riot Fest does not belong in Douglass Park or any other public park situated in a similar type of residential area. It belongs in a venue suitable to this type of event like Soldiers Field or Northerly Island. [...] I have personally seen ambulances with sirens blaring moving at a snail’s pace down Ogden trying to get to Sinai during the fest.”
Dr. Raoul Contreras, founding member of Mi Villita Neighbors (courtesy of Únete La Villita)
“I have personally witnessed streams of people blocking ambulances from entering the hospital campus, which could potentially be life-threatening. After one event was rained out, hundreds of concert attendants entered the parking garage at the hospital and wantonly damaged vehicles inside that no doubt belonged to workers and visitors of patients.”
Joel Novak, RN at mt. sinai hospital (courtesy of Únete La Villita)
“I have had people pee in my yard, I have woken up to a man [unconscious] in front of my house, and once my kids and I saw a man completely naked walking around (not in the right state of mind).”
Hannah Jacobson, nurse practitioner at lawndale christian health center (courtesy of Únete La Villita)
“I have had patients whose spouses *missed the birth of their child* because they were unable to find parking or access the hospital when their partners were in labor. In a community that is disproportionately impacted by poor maternal child health outcomes, and poor health outcomes in general, creating literal barriers for patients accessing healthcare is dangerous and harmful.”
midwife at st. anthony hospital (courtesy of Únete La Villita)
“St. Anthony hospital does not have the luxury of a multi-level parking structure. The OR staff has been struggling all week trying to find parking space- TO GET TO WORK!! To care for the surgery patients that live in this community.”
Marisol Mireles, RN, surgical nurse at st. anthony hospital (courtesy of Únete La Villita)
PIGS
as a festival with a predominantly white suburban fanbase, it’s no surprise that riot fest collaborates with pigs and sics herds of them on the already over-policed Black and brown communities it occupies every year. riot fest LOVES pigs. they even welcomed a white supremacist terrorist street gang recruitment table at the festival with on-site applications in 2023.
yes this is real
cpd’s counter-terrorism unit, famous for handling cpd's mass surveillance programs and making mass arrests during summer gatherings at the lakefront and political demonstrations, gets deployed in the hundreds during megafests, and makes up the majority of the pig presence at riot fest. they reinforce a presence in north lawndale and little village that typically consists of the murderous 10th police district, which shot a dog last month, and the trigger-happy, abuser-shielding chicago park district, which shot and killed Marjay Dotson and paralyzed Jeremy Herred Jr., Laquan McDonald's cousin, in Douglass park last summer.
“While our community is heavily surveilled, Riot Fest attendees have next to no security at all- while also demanding MORE cops to protect them from us. They are given free reign to do whatever they want, as long as they have a ticket to get in the fence. We had police perched on street corners with their lights flashing, hundreds around the fences, and we had to endure giant spotlights on street corners blocks away from the fest, with a police car next to them for much of the weekend […] there was 24/7 Riot Fest security- who we heard were stopping residents walking around the neighborhood at 4 in the morning and asking them what they're doing.”
Únete La Villita instagram post
NOISE
the quiet zone agreements around Douglass park that the city and park district allow riot fest to brazenly violate are in place so that people can heal properly while receiving life-saving trauma, emergency, clinical, and rehabilitative care at st. anthony, mt. sinai, and schwab. hospital noise pollution causes patients to experience stress, anxiety, and delirium, and causes sleep disturbances that prevent efficient tissue repair, hormonal regulation, and neurological restoration. it also increases the need for analgesia and sedation, can cause communication failures between healthcare workers, and leads to more medical errors.
"Patients trying to heal are kept up by the noise from the fest. Mt. Sinai Hospital is a Level 1 Trauma Center that serves a huge part of the city, including Cook County Jail. This is a question of life and death-it is not an exaggeration to say that hosting mega-festivals in close proximity to hospitals negatively impacts the chances of survival for individuals seeking emergency medical care."
Concerned Citizens of Riot Fest in Douglass Park facebook post
this isn't noise, it's a nightmare.
noise is rage, revolution, love, liberation, and care. it’s supporting the work of real punks, including the artists building the radically accessible scenes we want to see in this city and the organizers fighting for systems of care and public resource provision that respond to community needs.
real punks are part of shows like Running Down The Walls, anarchist noise demonstrations outside of the mass incarceration facilities downtown and in little village, and Little Lawndale in the park, a festival that actually uplifts local vendors, artists, and resources. real punks organize with and materially support groups like Únete La Villita, a community organization at the forefront of the fight against riot fest that works to protect the neighborhood from extractive developers and violent occupiers, and chicago community jail support, a volunteer-run mutual aid project providing resources and assistance to anyone being released from cook county jail (just 7 blocks south of Douglass park at 26th/california), their loved ones, and the surrounding community every night. real punks make noise that sounds like direct action.
riot fest takes a shit all over the punk ethos of care and disgraces the radical potential of the riot. riots and the threat and fear of them have been responsible for revolutionary redistributions of hoarded land, wealth, resources, “private property,” and power for centuries. the 2020 uprisings overturned a cruiser downtown and burned a whole precinct in minneapolis. a real riot could tear down the flimsy chain festival gates to restore people’s access to Douglass park the weekend of the megafest. it could disrupt business-as-usual for the park district and city council, redistributing essential resources back to the constituents they have looted them from. it could lift the boot of the police state from the neck of our communities. it could make elites the appropriate amount of scared about what could happen if things don’t change radically, quickly.