When the park is closed for the festivals, “we have to scramble around to find other parks that will give us permits to let us play,” Alvarez said. “That was the whole fall that we were not allowed to use the fields.” “The little kids, they play on the fields where the stages are at that get destroyed,” Alvarez said. The fields where they practice and play are closed for a week for setup before a festival opens, and at least another week or two after a festival to clean up and repair damage, Alvarez said. But during festival season, the soccer teams get displaced from their neighborhood park for weeks. Nearby resident Ernie Alvarez coaches elementary and middle school soccer at Douglass Park.
The needs of the community aren’t put first.” “School groups who use the park for soccer, baseball aren’t able to use it anymore. When it is rainy during the festivals, the damage is much worse, Cortes said, turning the park into a muddy mess that takes weeks to repair. The park’s fields get trampled and the landscaping gets damaged at each festival. When massive crowds flock to Douglass Park for Riot Fest and Lyrical Lemonade, “it does ruin the park,” Cortes said. It feels more like exploitation than something for the community,” she said.
But the audience is Chicago-wide or even nationwide. “Lyrical Lemonade is having local artists, which is cool. Parking is definitely hard,” said Sara Cortes, who lives two blocks from the park. “It’s definitely been difficult with residents sharing the space with so many people with such a large festival. Many fear the Summer Smash will be more of the same. They complain about rowdy concertgoers, damage to the park, litter, noise and parking issues. Riot Fest, which relocated to Douglass Park in 2015, draws the ire of neighbors each year. But some residents who live nearby in North Lawndale and Little Village already are fed up with summer festivals. The Summer Smash is the latest major festival to come to Douglass Park. The fest will bring some of the biggest names in hip-hop, headlined by Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Baby and A$AP Rocky. The stages will also showcase talented local artists, including Saba, Joey Purp, Qari and Lei Dominique. NORTH LAWNDALE - The Lyrical Lemonade Summer Smash will return to Douglass Park this weekend for its second music festival there.
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