Grateful Dead fans won’t be allowed to park or camp overnight on Chicago Park District land outside of Soldier Field, a spokesman for the arena said Tuesday morning.
Over the past two weeks, while tickets for the band’s 50th anniversary concerts (July 3-5) quickly sold out, several city entities including the Park District and Chicago Police and Fire departments decided against allowing Deadheads to park or camp overnight in parking, citing safety concerns, Soldier Field spokesman Luca Serra said.
“We took this seriously and did not want to dismiss it,” Serra said. “All of us came to the conclusion that this is an exceptional event, but that does not exempt the fact we put safety first. … And staying overnight can be a recipe for the unforeseen.”
Demand for overnight parking was sparked by Grateful Dead fan Jeremy Davis of Florida, who said he wanted to park his RV overnight. Davis started an online petition requesting that the city of Chicago allow overnight parking because “we all know the safest thing to do — is NOT to drive, to keep away from cars and the open roads altogether,” it reads. The petition had garnered more than 11,000 signatures as of Tuesday morning.
The only instance when overnight parking was allowed at Soldier Field was a 2007 college football game, when the University of Iowa requested it on behalf of a small number of fans traveling to the game in RVs.
Serra expects 60,000 to 70,000 people to attend each concert, not including those without tickets, who will be outside the venue. Soldier Field typically doesn’t hold events that run longer than 11 p.m., after which no tailgating is allowed. Grounds crews usually try to clear the lots within an hour after the show, Serra said.
“We’ll be upping security numbers with Chicago Police and Fire (Department) from a traffic management standpoint,” Serra said.
Twitter @_tonybriscoe
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