LOGAN SQUARE — The Logan Square Arts Festival, one of the neighborhood’s most anticipated summer events, has been canceled for the second year in a row due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We just think it’s best to take another year off and come back in 2022 stronger than ever,” festival co-chair Billy Helmkamp said.
Organizers canceled the festival last spring as coronavirus gripped Chicago. At the time, they said they were considering putting on an “alternate event” later in the year, but that plan did not come to fruition as the pandemic raged on.
The festival is typically held over the weekend in June or July and includes live music, local food and drinks and a bevy of vendors and makers.
The fest, formerly known as the Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival, launched in 2009. When the fest resumes next year, it will be the festival’s 12th year over the last 14 years.
In lieu of the festival, organizers with the Logan Square Arts Festival and the arts group I AM Logan Square plan to announce “a number of initiatives to continue to engage the community in Logan Square,“ Helmpkamp said.
More details on those initiatives, which are planned for the second half of the year, will be announced in the coming months, Helmpkamp said.
Festivals across the city were canceled last summer due to the pandemic. With the city’s positivity rate at an all-time low and vaccinations ramping up, this summer in Chicago could be a more normal one, but it’s unclear if there will be a resurgence in summer festivals. Sox Park and Wrigley Field are reopening at limited capacity.
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