Other local industry workers have weighed in on social media, many angered by a perceived disregard for the staff’s safety.
She told reporters that she could see a lack of security from the first day, and ultimately feels she and her team were set up for failure. The festival’s bars were staffed by independent contractors, including many industry veterans like Liz Melvin. Due to the lack of security, the bar staff does not feel safe working this event & will not be there today.” #SummerSmash /DCe8617i4Z- ellie August 22, 2021Īnother bar staff member on Twitter explained why there would be no beer sales on Sunday at the festival: “Yesterday, a group of kids rushed a beer tent (not mine) & stole product & money from the registers. literally 40 bartenders against 300+ people coming in at once VIOLENTLY. is this how you run your festival? no security? nobody stopped the show. “Literally 40 bartenders against 300+ people coming in at once VIOLENTLY.” Pettit also told Block Club that bartenders tried to get out through an emergency exit, but found it was “wired shut.” “Nobody stopped the show,” tweets Ellie Pettit, a bartender who worked the festival on Saturday night. On Saturday night, however, the raucous crowd spiraled out of control: video posted to social media shows a large group of attendees tearing down barriers around the bar and lunging at staff who tried to keep them out.
This year’s three-day event was disorganized throughout, bar staff and ticket holders told Block Club Chicago: Security was sparse, water stations few and far between. Summer Smash, founded in 2013 by music video director Cole Bennett to highlight local rappers, kicked off Friday, August 20. For some, the incident encapsulates the challenges facing hospitality workers as the industry’s labor shortage continues and large public events resume. Chicago bartenders walked off the job last weekend at the Lyrical Lemonade Summer Smash Festival in Douglass Park after the scene dissolved into “ utter chaos” as attendees stormed a bar tent.