A group of West Side arts organizations are working with Chicago Park District, Riot Fest and the Mayor’s Office of Community Safety to hold what they hope will become the first of the many Douglass Park Art Festivals to come.
The event is the brainchild of Lawndale Pop-Up Spot co-founder Jonathan Kelley, artist and Art West gallery founder Alexie Young, with One Lawndale Arts & Activism Incubator. It will be held May 30 at the Douglass Park Soccer Field, near the southwest corner of California and Ogden avenues, from noon to 4 p.m. Douglass Park Kite Festival is free and open to the public, and attendees can bring their own kites or simply pull out a picnic blanket and enjoy the views.
Kelley told Austin Weekly News the idea for the festival came from an exhibit the museum hosted. In the spring of 2023, Young organized Black Plant-It Herbal Exhibit. Pop-Up Spot usually organizes events around exhibits, and, in this case, one of those events was a Fly Kite Fest.
“We had a handful of people come, and a handful of kites,” Kelley recalled.
He and Young wanted to do something like that on a larger scale, with more participation. The trick was finding enough space to accommodate that vision. The pieces fell into place when Shandrel Starks became the new Douglass Park supervisor.
“We off-handedly mentioned to her that one of the things we’d love to do at Douglass Park is a kite festival,” Kelley recalled.
To their pleasant surprise, she was on board.
But why build a whole festival around flying kites?
“For myself, there is something very symbolic about kites as symbols of freedom, and being able to have, like, a lightness, a lightness and flight, pure joy,” Kelley responded. “When it does go up, and a wind catches it, it just feels very fun and joyous.”
He reflected that, when he brought up the idea to others, they tended to smile wistfully and get nostalgic about flying kites as kids. Kelly also noted that, on the South Side, Bronzeville Kite Day has been a long-time tradition. Having personally attended it, he was all the more determined to bring that kind of a joyful experience to North Lawndale.
“West Side deserves all of that and more,” Kelley said.
Lawndale Pop-Up Spot held a free kite-making workshop last Saturday, May 23. Kelley said that the Mayor’s Office will have a “limited number” of free kites available on a first-come, first serve basis.
Red Line Service, an art organization founded by artists who experienced homelessness, will bring their “Puppet-of-care” — a 12-foot puppet created in 2024 to inspire the audience to “to think about ways that art might be used to activate communities across class, culture and identities, so that all are welcomed in public space.” There will be free food, music and some “art-making activities.”
“Hopefully, it catches on and we can continue it for years to come,” Kelley said.
