This is part two of a Block Club Chicago series about street fests. Read part one here.
CHICAGO — Over 11 years, Square Roots Festival has become one of the city’s most popular street fests, beloved for its unique lineups, assortment of craft beers and the support it provides to Lincoln Square nonprofits.
But it’s also getting more expensive than ever to produce. This year’s fest cost $500,000, and street festival operators across the city say they are struggling with rising costs as fans complain they feel forced to pay to enter the free street fests.
The Wall Street Journal dubbed 2023 “the year of the $1,000 concert ticket.” Prices surged to meet increased post-pandemic demand, and inflation and supply chain woes have also made it more expensive for artists to put on shows. Those same rising costs have hit organizers of free street fests in Chicago, said Rudy Flores, CEO of the Lincoln Square Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce.
Flores and Dave Zibell, director of marketing at Old Town School of Folk Music, partner to stage the midsize Square Roots Festival that attracts more than 40,000 people annually to the neighborhood. Faced with high demand for equipment and rising costs, the festival is 20 percent more expensive to produce than it was before COVID, Zibell said.
Organizers have to shell out $75,000 for musical talent, as much as $20,000 for security and $8,000 for EMT and ambulance services, they said.
To make money, Square Roots Fest organizers ask attendees to make an optional $10 donation when they enter the fest, like many other street fests across the city. Over decades, some street fests have become known for their aggressive volunteers, who routinely say a fee is required to enter at fest gates, against the city’s rules.
Under city rules, festivals that take over city-owned streets can request a donation and often have “suggested donation” amounts posted at the gate. Events in the public way can’t charge a mandatory entrance fee. They’re also required to post signs at the festival entrances indicating that entry is free, according to the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, which regulates street fests.
But some street festivals broke that rule this summer. Block Club Chicago revealed that Taste of Randolph in the West Loop presold tickets and advertised online that fest admission was $10 when in fact it was free. Star Events, which was contracted by the West Loop Community Organization to produce Taste of Randolph, also advertised three other street festivals online in the same way.
When asked about the discrepancy, Julie Darling, president of of the West Loop Community Organization, said the language was in error. But she also acknowledged festivals are getting more expensive to produce.
“They’re becoming exponentially harder to produce … between liability and insurance and the type of talent, everything,” Darling told Block Club in July.
Tax Dollars Don’t Pay For Street Fests
Despite fest goers’ saying they are routinely told they must pay a fee to enter a fest, street fest organizers maintain they don’t force people to donate. But donations are essential for the fests’ survival, they said.
Former Ald. Michele Smith (43rd) told Block Club Chicago street festivals are free because they have to be, but that doesn’t mean people shouldn’t donate. Smith believes there’s a large disconnect between people who will “pay hundreds of dollars to attend Lollapalooza” but not donate at a street festival.
Smith stepped down last year and represented parts of Lincoln Park and the Gold Coast, hotspots for street festivals.
“If you want to have these kinds of events in your neighborhood, and you want to be a good neighbor, make the contribution,” Smith said. “Or the city gets overtaken with out-of-town promoters who really pocket all the proceeds.”
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Special Events Management, a production company that puts on festivals like Burger Fest and Pride Fest, said they encourage, but never force, people to donate.
“Events in the city of Chicago cannot happen without gate donations … All our events that we manage are community fundraisers for local non-profit organizations,” a Special Events Management spokesperson said in an email.
There’s also a misconception tax dollars help pay for these events or the city supports fests in other monetary ways, Flores said.
“It’s actually the opposite. We’re paying the city in order to put on these events,” Flores said.
On top of those costs, fest organizers must also pay numerous fees to the city for permits. Square Roots Festival organizers said they needed approval from 10 different city departments before they could stage the fest.
On average, Square Roots pockets between $50,000 and $200,000 annually in profits, which is split evenly between the two nonprofit organizers. That money goes toward scholarships at the Old Town Music School and various neighborhood projects overseen by the chamber.
Zibell estimates their success rate in getting people to donate is about 20-30 percent.
Every year, volunteers, a security officer and a paid gate captain are trained on how to ask for a donation with the help of signage, Venmo QR codes and a recording that plays with more information about where the donation goes.
“It is a hard ask to put your hand [out] and say, ‘Can you give me some money out of your wallet?'” Zibell said. “That can be awkward for people to experience.”
“Be a good citizen and don’t make people pressure you for money. Just give it [to] the neighborhoods that you are visiting so they can be as lovely as they are. Don’t take your city for granted,” Smith said.
A Beloved Fest Calls It Quits
While the benefits for Square Roots organizers still outweigh the costs, some fests have been forced out of business by rising costs, organizers said.
After 18 years, the Silver Room Block Party at Oakwood Beach called it quits, telling Block Club in June the event got too expensive to produce. The block party used to run off of suggested donations, but switched to a ticketed event in 2022 after moving to Oakwood Beach.
Silver Room owner Eric Williams said he was fronting the cost yearly for the event that attracted nearly 20,000 attendees.
“Last year, I was paying thousands of dollars for port-o-potties and sound equipment,” Williams said. “The generators were over $100,000. It went from costing me $500 to $5,000 to $50,000 to $1 million last year. I was losing money, and no one wanted to donate.”
Laura Austin, executive director for Andersonville Chamber of Commerce, said confusion surrounding online messaging can also make it hard for street festivals to solicit donations.
The chamber, which organizes Midsommarfest, said its event producer, Star Events, started advertising general admission tickets online through a third-party company, Bucketlisters, which led to confusion.
The posting did not say general admission was a “suggested donation” and offered a free drink for those who purchased a ticket. Austin said she asked Star Events to remove the posting and they did.
Still, Austin feels like it has soured the perception of street festivals and how they operate. In a time when everything is more expensive, the chamber fully relies on the gate donation to continue to host the festival.
“We want everyone to have a good time … not feel strong-armed into paying at the gates even though we do 100% need gate donations for it to continue to happen,” she said. “I feel like [the situation] … led to a negative impact on street festivals in general.”
Zibell and Flores said they feel lucky to have the support of surrounding businesses and residents, who see the value in their annual festival, although the street closures can be an inconvenience.
“It’s really critical for us to make sure people understand that it is a luxury to be able to utilize the public way for a festival even though it’s a fundraiser,” Zibell said.
To encourage local restaurants to participate at a low cost, food vendors at Square Roots pay $400 in addition to a percentage of sales at the end of the festival. That’s low compared to the Taste of Chicago, the city’s largest food festival, where vendors paid $1,000 for a spot.
Flores and Zibell said they also survey local businesses who didn’t participate to see if there were any negative impacts.
“How can we help mitigate the impact of the event? It’s just trying to be mindful,” Flores said.
Zibell said Square Roots’ community connections and its education efforts at the gate help get people to donate.
“From an outsider perspective, I think that’s probably what a lot of other festivals don’t do,” Zibell said.
Block Club Chicago reporter Jamie Nesbitt Golden contributed to this report.
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