This past weekend Grant Park in Chicago hosted the Lollapalooza music festival and if it hadn’t been for some untimely weather, the park would have not taken as much of a beating as it did. Rain over night Friday made things a little soggy on Saturday, but nothing we couldn’t handle. Most of it was dry by late afternoon anyway. However, around 6pm on Sunday, the last day of the festival, it started to rain. And I am not talking about some drizzle, I’m talking about full on sprayed with a firehose. The rain stopped for about an hour or so and right as Deadmau5 took the stage it started to pour down again. This made for an unbelievable time while dancing to Deadmau5. In fact, while clean up crews are working hopefully they find my face. I can’t be sure whether it got melted off at Super Mash Bros or at Deadmau5.
While it is clear that everyone of those 90,000+ people had a great time, the park itself was left in horrible condition. Bob O’Neill, president of the Grant Park Conservancy said that the south end of the park (Blue Stage) could cost up to $80,000 to repair. Eminem, Foo Fighters and Muse all played that stage over the weekend.
“This is probably one of the worst [aftermaths],” O’Neill said, “The turf damage is substantial, bushes were trampled … there’s a little bit of damage to some gardens.”
Couple that with the North side where Coldplay, My Morning Jacket and Deadmau5 played along with all the other places and this total could reach $500,000 easily. The only good news is that the city isn’t on the hook for the repair bill. The promoter, C3 Presents LLC, is responible for repairing any damage done as a result of the festival.
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