CHICAGO (CBS) — Festival organizers in every part of Chicago are doing their best to keep everyone safe this summer.
The Puerto Rican Festival, or Fiestas Patronales Puertorriqueñas, kicked off Thursday in Humboldt Park. The music was booming on the festival site in the park, but if you wanted to go in to see it you had to wait in a security line.
Organizers prioritized security, with a perimeter fence and bag checks at the entrance.
“One of the biggest things we’re focused on — and we’ve been focused on for the last few years — is making sure this is completely family-friendly. That’s a priority. Safety is a priority,” said Mike, host of the Puerto Rican Festival. Oquendo. “So everything – every decision that is made – is made with that in mind.”
According to organizers, 2,000 people had pre-registered to enter the gates of the festival site on Thursday. They expect that the number of visitors will only grow during the four-day festival.
Concerns about safety at events in the Chicago area are not merely theoretical. This is the same week that another southern suburbs event, the Posen Park Fest carnival, was canceled on Saturday evening after a major fight.
This is the same week that another event in the southern suburbs – the Posen Park Fest – was canceled on Sunday evening after a major fight.
A fight broke out at the festival and carnival around 6 p.m. on Sundayand lasted almost two hours. Police have made several arrests in connection with the incident and have shut down the carnival due to security concerns.
But back in Humboldt Park, the show will go on and the festival will adapt to whatever the organizers face.
“The festival over the last few years after the pandemic — like other festivals in the city, like other festivals in the country — has weathered some challenges, and the community has worked through them,” Oquendo said.
Navy Pier fireworks on July 3 and 6 during major summer events
Meanwhile, the city acknowledged that it will not have a fireworks show on Lake Michigan on the Fourth, instead shifting to Navy Pier’s regularly scheduled fireworks shows on Wednesdays and Saturdays. This is not a departure from the norm in recent years, as the city has not held a fireworks show since 2010 and fireworks shows at Navy Pier have been the only option since then.
The city once hosted a fireworks extravaganza the night before the 4th on July 3 as part of the Taste of Chicago in Grant Park. This fireworks show has not been held since 2009, when Richard M. Daley was still mayor.
Nowadays, even the Taste of Chicago itself is now held in September.
In 2008, a man was killed and several others were injured when customers streamed into the Loop from Grant Park after the July 3 fireworks show. The shooting caused mass hysteria on the streets of the Loop and led to tighter security measures at the Taste the following year.
The Taste of Chicago was still held over the Fourth of July weekend in 2010, but there was no fireworks show on July 3 that year. It was replaced by three smaller shows – on Navy Pier, on 63rd Street Beach on the south side and on Montrose Beach on the north side – but this plan only happened once.
Since 2011, Navy Pier’s fireworks displays have been the only ones for the 4th. The Navy Pier fireworks shows are actually held on the night of the 4th of July during the past yearsbut not for a while.
Last year, the Navy Pier fireworks show for Independence Day took place on July 1, and there were no fireworks on the 4th either. This year’s Navy Pier Independence Day fireworks show will feature fireworks displays on Wednesday, July 3.
There will also be fireworks at Navy Pier on Saturday, July 6.
