Aug. 17--Blame it on the rain (and the raging).
When the North Coast Music Festival returns to the West Side next month, music fans will party in a park that has endured a soggy Pitchfork Music Festival and an even wetter summer.
Patches of dirt and dead grass dot Union Park, which was home to the three-day Pitchfork Music Festival in July. Chicago Park District officials last week estimated park repairs will cost Pitchfork host Big Stik $6,500, up from $2,690 in fixes last year.
The repairs, which include filling areas with topsoil and spreading grass seed, won't start until mid- or late September, after North Coast, which is Sept. 4-6. Chicago Park District spokeswoman Jessica Maxey-Faulkner said in an email that Union Park is in good condition for North Coast but "there are a few grass areas that show wear."
The price and the scope of clean-up after large Chicago music festivals seems to depend on the amount of rain that fell before and during the festival. Pitchfork was evacuated on its second day ahead of a fast-moving storm. Lollapalooza, too, was briefly evacuated after reports of severe weather on the last day of the three-day festival. The cost to repair Grant Park is about $236,000, down from $266,000 in 2014, when there was no evacuation but the rain was heavier.
Grant Park is expected to fully reopen by the end of September, Maxey-Faulkner said.
The cost to fix Cricket Hill by Montrose Beach after the June Mumford Sons concert, which was postponed because of rain, ran concert promoter Jam Productions more than $15,000.
For Pitchfork, organizers disassembled stages and tents the day after the festival and the ballfields reopened a week later. Work and field closures are expected to last through fall and the fields may be open for use in April, depending on weather, Maxey-Faulkner said.
North Coast representative Pat Grumley wouldn't comment on the condition of Union Park but said in an emailed statement, "North Coast Music Festival will happen as planned and as always we are working with Chicago Park District to ensure a successful event."
A contract between the Park District and North Coast organizers signed on Aug. 21, 2013 and in effect through Dec. 31, 2017 says North Coast has to accept Union Park conditions "as is" for festival set-up. North Coast set-up is slated to run Sept. 1-3, according to the contract. Organizers have two days to tear the festival down once it's over.
North Coast is also required to pay a $10,000 sod replacement fee within 30 days of the end of the festival to recondition the park. Next year, the sod fee increases to $12,500.
It's unclear how or if the North Coast work will be incorporated into the Pitchfork work.
Pitchfork, too, has a multi-year contract with the city that was signed July 16. The contract, which guarantees the festival will be at Union Park through 2018, doesn't give a timeframe for park repairs. Maxey-Faulkner said the Park District had contracts for Pitchfork in 2010-11 and 2013-14.
Chicago Sport Social Club, which runs softball leagues in Union Park, didn't host games during Pitchfork clean-up last month, club president Chris Hastings said, but he blamed Mother Nature for worse interruptions to the season.
"We had seven rainouts where in a normal year, we had two or three," Hastings said.
