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The focus this weekend is on Lollapalooza. For this week's "Flashback" we want to take you back to the early 80's and another music festival that brought out people from all over.
With Mayor Michael Bilandic providing the impetus, Chicagofest didn't just last a weekend. It ran for a solid two weeks at Navy Pier. This was back in the days when the U of I Chicago campus long abandoned the location and it seemed more likely that Navy Pier would crumble into the lake. With the campus set up like a carnival midway, there was a main stage where the headline acts would play every night and themed stages running the length of the pier. At its height, Chicagofest drew an average of 500,000 people a day. We can remember seeing Cheap Trick, Willie Nelson, Blondie and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts. For this post we've included video of Muddy Waters at Chicagofest in 1981.
When the Blizzard of '79 sealed Bilandic's loss to Jane Byrne, one of the first bright ideas Byrne had was to end Chicagofest. Residents complained to the point where Byrne reversed course and added her name to the marquee. Eventually, Chicagofest was ended by Harold Washington. The success of Chiagofest led Milwaukee to adopt the model for their annual Summerfest. It also inspired the creation of Taste of Chicago and the smaller organized neighborhood festivals that dot the city every year. That's a hell of a legacy.
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"The success of Chiagofest led Milwaukee to adopt the model for their annual Summerfest."
Sorry, not quite. Summerfest started in 1968, long before Chicagofest was even thought of. If anything, Taste of Chicago is a ripoff of the Summerfest idea.
You're absolutely right, lundah. Once the servers refresh, note that I struck the sentence stating otherwise.
Does anyone else remember the year some folks called it Honky Fest? Boycotts were encouraged by the PUSH crowd because not enough African Americans were in the crews hired for the event
kd; Chicagofest or the Taste??
A little anecdote:
My parents were Irish immigrants, both from pretty damn RURAL Ireland, not even the metropolis like Dublin. They'd been married for a few years without spawning yours truly and loved to see live music.
So they went to Chicagofest the year that Blondie was playing.
Apparently, my poor parents were shocked to their socks by Debbie Harry and company. Hard to imagine Blondie shocking anyone. Growing up, any time a Blondie song would come on the car radio my mother would shake her head and mutter something about "how can such a beautiful woman waster her voice singing such nonsense?"
When my parent's passed I found their record collection. Lo and behold, in my father's stack or wax...Blondie.
Nope, Blacks working at Chicago Fest had nothing to do with the protests. It was about then Mayor Byrne's( who was elected by the Black vote) refusal to hire Black folks
to the board of the Chicago Housing Authority
or Chicago Public Schools. Actually people made the counter argument that the boycott would hurt blacks who worked at the fest,( also another sore spot with the protestors),because Byrne would only hire Blacks for the Fest, but not for real jobs with the city.
Steve Wonder was scheduled to perform, but pulled out to honor the boycott. This was considered the beginnings of the Harold Washington Movement/ Campaign because for the first time Black folks actually worked together in Chicago for Justice. Any one interesting in reading about it, check out the Book “A Fire on the Prairie: Chicagos Harold Washington and the Politics of Race.
Of course that was when Jesse Jackson actually was a real leader instead of a poverty pimping sell out of the worst kind
spook:
Thanks for the info. Now I know.
Thanks for posting Chicagoist! Some of my earliest memories are being with my mom, dad, and big bro at ChicagoFest. I remember being real close to the stage, and I could be wrong but I want to say it was Genesis playing, and I was fascinated by how different music sounded *and felt* in person. I think it was my first live show, must've been no older then 4 or 5. I remember feeling the kick in my gut, and thought it was so cool.
Yeah.