Riot Fest management apologizes and its contractor steps down after ‘hostile’ community meeting, as momentum to boot festival gains traction

CHICAGO — With a community-led movement to evict big-ticket music festivals from Douglass Park gaining steam, Riot Fest management has let go its event organizer and apologized to the community for his “tone” at a neighborhood meeting last week that only seemed to exacerbate the festival’s fraught relationship with residents.

The community meeting on Aug. 2 was the first of its kind by Riot Fest since the multiday punk, rock and hip-hop festival moved to Douglass Park in 2015. The meeting is now a requirement by the Chicago Park District, but residents said it was poorly advertised, in the middle of a weekday