Bad Copy

Ummmmmmm. What the hell is going on with Riot Fest!??! Yesterday afternoon, notification went out that Riot Fest is now going to held BACK in Douglass Park again!? We’re happy for the change (because honestly, who the hell wants to drive to Bridgeview?), but this shit has given us whiplash. Here’s everything we know so far:

• Riot Fest moved to Douglass Park (on Chicago’s Southwest side) in 2015, after they got the boot from Humboldt Park due to the condition of the grass (after the world’s wettest and muddies festival that year) and lack of financial benefits to the residents in the neighborhood.
• They formed a new organization called After the Fest which gives back to the area, now Douglass Park, long after the trio of September dates for the mega festival.
• In recent years, the festival also gave slots to local bands and offered vendor and food booths to local restaurants and businesses.
• Despite all efforts (and one really bad community meeting), community members in the Lawndale neighborhood continued to rage against the festival, citing that lack of usage of their community park for weeks to month depending on the setup timeline along with the damage done to the grounds.
• After years of pushback, Riot Fest announced earlier this year that they were done with not only Douglass Park but the City of Chicago in general and would be moving to the suburbs to Bridgeview’s SeetGeek Stadium.
• But yesterday, the news broke that Riot Fest is back in the city again and will be returning to Douglass Park after all for this year. They stated “Driven by the overwhelming support of the City of Chicago and our fans, we’re excited to announce that we are coming back home to Chicago and Douglass Park. If there was no Chicago, there’d be no Riot Fest.”

They’re now offering discounted tickets, shuttles for those poor souls who booked hotels in the ‘burbs near SeetGeek, and early bird priced tickets for those people who wanted refunds with the venue change. Parking passes were a feature of the new suburban location… those are getting refunded and no I will not disclose my ultra secret VIP street parking spot I have used for the last 9 years. Gates are opening at 11AM and everything shuts down at 10PM to meet city curfew. The suburban location touted a new layout called RiotLand, which apparently will still be part of the Douglass Park location. And Riot’s Beyond the Fest community events are back, many of which are located in or around Douglass Park. You can find more info on these events on the Riot Fest website.

With all this excitement, Riot Fest also released the daily lineups today. You can check those out below. The festival will be held on Friday, September 20th through Sunday the 22nd in Douglass Park. Tickets can be purchased HERE. 3 Day tickets. Single day tickets. VIP fancy tickets. They’ve got them all up for sale. We’ll see you there!