Noisy Electronic Music Fest Riles Lincoln Park Neighbors, Could Prompt Future Ward-Wide Ban

LINCOLN PARK – Ald. Timmy Knudsen (43rd) vowed to prevent large-scale music festivals in his near North Side ward after an electronic dance music festival held at the neighborhood’s namesake park drew a slew of noise complaints from residents.

Lakeshore Music & Arts Festival, which was held at an event space near North Pond last Friday and Saturday, has come under fire from some residents who said bass sounds reverberated for eight hours each day in homes blocks away. Neighbors also complained about trash left behind in the park afterwards.

After fielding a series of noise complaints, Knudsen said in his ward newsletter sent earlier this week that he confirmed that the festival will not return next summer and that his office is “in conversation” with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs to prevent future large-scale music festivals from being permitted in the 43rd ward. The move was applauded by some neighbors — but deemed excessive by others. 

Knudsen said in the newsletter that his office did not approve the festival and does not have final approval authority over festival permits. Instead, he said, the Department of Cultural Affairs, the Chicago Park District and “other relevant departments” gave the go ahead for the event.

“From the moment we learned of the proposal, we raised concerns directly with the City about noise, security, traffic, and siting, and successfully blocked an earlier version adjacent to North Pond,” the newsletter said. “Despite that, the festival was ultimately approved on a short timeline.”

Knudsen spokesman Alik Schier said in a statement Friday that Knudsen and his office are “enthusiastic supporters” of live music and arts year-round, but had concerns with the scale and format of a multi-day electronic music festival operating for extended hours in one of the city’s most densely populated neighborhoods. Schier added that the area is home to thousands of residents, wildlife habitats, the Lincoln Park Zoo and the North Pond ecosystem.

He said the office looks forward to working with “experienced producers” to ensure live music can thrive in ways that are appropriate for the 43rd ward.

“We believe there is an important distinction between supporting live music and supporting an event of this magnitude, duration, and sound profile in this specific location,” Schier’s statement reads. “The noise of the music at the event, coupled with the equipment necessary to produce it, showed itself extremely disruptive to the lakefront that weekend.”

The festival, which ran from 2-10 p.m. on both days, featured 10 DJs, including Elderbrook and Mindchatter, and more than 50 Chicago-based electronic music artists across multiple stages, according to the festival’s website.

Festival organizers also hosted Meltin’ Margs Music Festival in Soldier Field’s South Lot in June of last year that featured electronic and country music artists like Ship Wrek and the Eli Young Band.

Martin Paris, the event’s chief organizer, did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Cathie Sekendur, a Lincoln Park resident in her 70s, said she was sitting at a park bench near the intersection of Commonwealth and Fullerton avenues last weekend when she felt the bass from the festival beating in her chest. She said she called Knudsen’s office and left a message describing the volume as “unacceptable.”

“I don’t have anything against music, but there’s a time and a place, and that was not the right place,” Sekendur said. “It was disturbing a lot of the neighborhood.” 

She said she was also worried about how the noise might affect the patients at Ascension Saint Joseph Hospital, 2900 N. Lake Shore Drive, blocks away from the event. Sekendur said she wants Knudsen to ensure a music festival isn’t granted permission to use Lincoln Park in the future. 

“He needs to call that organization and put his foot down and say, ‘This is not going to happen again,’” Sekendur said. 

Rosemarie Colacino, 63, who lives on the border of Lakeview and Lincoln Park, said she was running past Bacino’s restaurant, 2204 N. Lincoln Ave., when she began to hear pounding, “earth-vibrating noise.” She said the music began to give her a migraine and make her feel nauseous, so she ran west to escape it. 

“It just was consistent, banging noise, like you’re being terrorized, in my opinion,” Colacino said. “It’s something you would play if you were just really trying to punish somebody.”

Colacino said she’s “appreciative” that Knudsen’s office confirmed the music festival wouldn’t return to the park and is working to disallow future festivals. 

“We should have an expectation of some peace and tranquility,” Colacino said. “I’m glad that the alderman did accept that and do the right thing, but in general, and I think going forward, I would want to make sure that we do think of the many instead of trying to appease the few.” 

But Robert Walton, 34, of Lakeview, said he was disappointed that the backlash to the event he saw online from locals prompted Knudsen to seek to prevent future festivals in the park. He said as a fan of alternative house music, it appears to be growing more difficult to host music events in the neighborhood due to noise complaints.

“I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be careful or organized or consider the locals or traffic it’s near. This event was pretty close to a hospital. I understand those concerns,” Walton said. “I just don’t think that’s where the complaints were coming from. It felt to me, everything I saw was just about how noisy it was.”

While he didn’t attend the fest, he said that he would love to attend one in the park that aligned with his music taste.

“It feels like they’ve thrown the baby out with the bathwater,” Walton said. “And now, because some homeowners and grumpy, ‘get off my lawn’-type of people have complained about the noise, now there just won’t be anything, whether it’s this kind of cringy festival or something more legitimate and local and representative of the culture.” 

Bridgitte Buchanan, 28, of Lincoln Park, described herself as “a huge EDM fan” but she said the event’s location near North Pond made it loud and disruptive for neighbors, which includes animals like beavers and turtles at the adjacent protected wildlife area nearby. She said she saw animals picking through debris left behind the morning after the festival, including trash and what appeared to be bags of drugs.

But Buchanan said she thinks Knudsen’s effort to disallow future music festivals in the 43rd ward is a “cop-out” answer, because she said it fails to recognize that the root of the issues was the festival’s location in the park at the Diversey Event Space and the event’s organization. 

“I definitely think there should be music festivals in Lincoln Park. There can be musical festivals in Lincoln Park,” Buchanan said. “I think that the failure of our elected officials to investigate who’s putting on events in our park and how it will be run is on them.” 

Spokespersons for the Park District and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs didn’t respond to requests for comment.