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People clean up Douglass Park in Chicago on Sept. 20, 2021, following the weekend Riot Fest music festival. North Lawndale neighbors are divided about the festival. Some who live nearby enjoy the festival, saying it brings jobs, economic investment and the opportunity to see an eclectic lineup — residents who live within four blocks of the festival can get free tickets. Others stress that the private festival blocks off access to parts of the neighborhood’s public park for weeks, bringing with it concert noise, congestion and damage to the park itself.
