Union Park’s storied grounds hold memories for Chicagoans of all walks of life. Some have visions of Little League or outdoor basketball games and tennis matches. For others, it’s memories of long walks through the 14 acres of park land after church service at First Baptist Congregational that pop up. However, for a lucky few, nostalgia for Pitchfork Music Festival –– the yearly live music fest held by online music magazine Pitchfork –– hits the minute they set foot on Union Park soil.
Pitchfork served the community of Chicago an alternative music festival experience. For 19 years, instead of focusing solely on pop, rap, house, and other mainstream genres, the festival highlighted and celebrated artists who went against the grain and challenged modern norms of music. Music lovers could come to see a favorite indie artist and, on the same day, discover a newfound rapper that becomes a new obsession. Pitchfork Music Festival was about music discovery, appreciation, and love.
With swaths of fans flocking to the festival year after year, including a 60,000-person attendance during the 2024 festival, up 40,000 from three years before, the attendance numbers weren’t heading in a downward direction. However, in the fall of 2024, the festival announced via an Instagram post that they would not be holding the Chicago festival come July 2025. Fans were left to comment, “feels personal,” “but why,” coupled with a tearful emoji, and “…end of an era for Chicago teens,” with simple reasoning and little context. The sole explanation of the thought process behind the decision from the Instagram post was: “the music festival landscape continues to evolve rapidly.”
Each year, Chicago alone hosts around 74 music festivals, with big names Lollapalooza and Summer Smash attracting thousands of fans to see the biggest names in pop and rap music. Although Union Park was Pitchfork’s home for its entire run, it also houses ARC Music Festival, a techno and house festival celebrated in the city where the latter originated. And while Pitchfork’s festival has always had a life of its own outside of the Pitchfork publication, the company has recently been bought by media company Condé Nast, which also manages Vogue, GQ, and The New Yorker. According to Block Club Chicago, the buyout played a major role in the festival’s closure, as the goal of Pitchfork Music Festival historically hasn’t been to make the most money year after year, but to find value in the experience.
Regardless of the reason for closure, the loss of Pitchfork Music Festival remains a gaping hole in the Chicago live music scene. For many, Pitchfork embodied a home away from larger festivals, an intimate and special place that opposed the excessive recklessness that other festivals in the area bring. As one commenter put it, this is an “…end of an era for Chicago teens,” leaving a new generation of music lovers without the chance to see artists that challenge the musical status quo, much like what the festival did. For a new generation of Parker students, that alternative voice won’t be an option, a reality that hinders inspiration for these future citizens to challenge norms in a rapidly changing society.
Where next steps seem unclear, user _hareleys_angeles_ offers a solution, commenting, “All the more reason to make our own festival for Chicago indie artists.” Where Pitchfork has left a problem, Chicago may find a solution, and the storied Union Park grounds could once again be filled with joy and music.
