Grant Park clean up calls for six-digit figures
Chicagoans were thrilled to get a fourth day of the annual Lollapalooza music festival this year – but an extra day inevitably comes with extra damage.
The Chicago Park District has announced that the aftershock of Lollapalooza 2016 amounts to a whopping $453,000 in repairs. This heavy cost is not only due to the addition of the fourth day but also due to wear and tear from inclement weather during a couple days of the fest. It’ll be quite a task to restore Grant Park.
C3 Presents are the brains behind the ever-popular Lollapalooza operation, and also the ones who’ll be taking the hefty hit to the wallet. Although this year’s cost is particularly high, it was somewhat expected on their end. Believe it or not, it’s not nearly as bad as the damage from 2011, which rang up over double this year’s cost due to ongoing storms.
According to the Grant Park Conservancy, most of the cost goes toward repairing damages to the soil and grass, which takes a serious beating, especially when it rains. It’s pretty amazing how year after year, Grant Park still manages to look as good as new once these repairs take place.
In a 2015 article by NBC Chicago, it was said that the City of Chicago profits up to $140 million from Lollapalooza, with $3 million directly benefitting the Chicago Park District. Seems like a few days worth of noise, chaos, followed by a high-priced repair bill is reconciled by what the festival does for the city in the long-run. It’ll be interesting to see how next year’s return of the fourth day will impact the city financially.
