Lakefront festivals celebrating gospel, country, Latin and Irish music could be downsized or consolidated next year if the city can’t find a private operator for its traditional lineup of events, a city official told Chicago aldermen Wednesday.
It’s unlikely there will be major changes to the city’s three marquee summer parties: Taste of Chicago, the Blues fest and Jazz fest, even if the city continues to run them, Megan McDonald, executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Special Events, said after a 2011 budget hearing.
But if the search for a private festival operator drags on or is unsuccessful, four smaller events — the Viva Chicago Latin Music Festival and the Celtic, gospel and country music festivals — could look very different next year, McDonald said.
“If we get to March, and suddenly we’re trying to organize a festival that’s scheduled in May, we may have to look at changing some things,” McDonald said, noting that Celtic Fest started May 8 this year.
Mayor Richard Daley in August said the city planned to seek companies to run some or all of its festivals. A request for bids on the events should go out in the next few weeks, McDonald said.
Busy pursuing privatization, officials have not lined up sponsorships for next year’s festivals, the traditional route for defraying costs to the city. So even if the city’s budget didn’t shrink in 2011, it wouldn’t allow for the big-name acts fans have become accustomed to.
One possibility could be to consolidate some of the other events into a single weekend, she said. The country music festival could again become part of Taste, as it was for 16 years before getting its own weekend in 2008, McDonald said.
Daley’s call to privatize was prompted by rising costs of running the festivals and lower spending on food and drink by people attending the events, as well as a way to cut spending amid the city’s fiscal woes.
Also Wednesday, Department of Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Thomas Byrne told aldermen that privatizing Chicago’s garbage and recycling collection would “decimate” the city’s ability to handle heavy snowfalls by eliminating the jobs of the municipal truck drivers who operate the plows.
In a report he issued this week, city Inspector General Joseph Ferguson said privatizing the services would save the city $112 million a year.
