Record Crowd Turned Out For Plainfield Fest: Organizers

PLAINFIELD, IL — This year marked the 36th Plainfield Fest and — despite complaints from some fest-goers about the location, trash pickup and rules regarding the beer/entertainment tent – Plainfield Riverfront Foundation Executive Director Rob Epley said early estimates show record attendance at the event. "It was unbelievable," Epley said. "It was a great fest."

Epley chalked up the high attendance to good weather, an increasingly popular bean bags tournament and great entertainment. Initially, organizers planned to move the fest to the Riverfront Foundation's focal point, Electric Park, located along the DuPage River on Lockport Street. But Nicor pipeline work at Electric Park prompted organizers to move the fest back to downtown Plainfield, although the carnival did shift over to Plainfield High School - Central Campus.

"Downtown was completely full the whole time" during the three-day fest, Epley said. "It was a perfect weekend for us." He said the Sunday afternoon bean bags tournament also had a great turnout, with a record 84 teams competing.

Some fest-goers took to Facebook to complain that children were not allowed in the beer tent/entertainment area during musical performances, and guests were not allowed to bring chairs into the tent.

"Would be nice if all ages could enjoy the show, brought my teenage daughter with and wasn't able to attend, very disappointed. So much for a family event," one attendee wrote. "Agree there needs to be a place that families can park a stroller, blanket and enjoy the bands outside of tent area," another said.

Epley said the rules barring anyone under 21 from the beer tent after 5 p.m. aren't new.

"That's never changed," he said. "That's a police ordinance." He said for safety reasons, occupancy in the beer tent is limited during performances — which is why guests aren't allowed to bring in chairs and blankets. "Friday and Saturday we had 3,000 people in the beer tent," Epley said. "It becomes a safety issue."

Fest organizers also addressed those concerns in a Facebook post, writing, "In regards to the comments regarding access to the beer tent for those under 21, this has been the rule for several years ... For the same occupancy and safety reasons, we do not allow chairs in the immediate stage area after a set time. We do try to accommodate chairs for as long as possible, but all chairs will be removed from the stage area as the night progressed. Again, this has been the case for several years."

Epley also spoke to complaints that trash from the previous night was not completely cleaned up by early Sunday morning in downtown Plainfield. As in years past, Epley said the fest used two cleaning crews — an evening crew and an early morning crew — to make sure the grounds are cleaned up and ready by the time the fest opens each day.

After the fest ended Sunday night, Epley said cleanup was done and roads had reopened by 8:30 p.m.

As for whether the fest will move to Electric Park next year, Epley said that will depend on conversations between organizers, the village and police. "We know the plan we have in place (downtown) works," Epley said, but noted that organizers would like Electric Park to be part of the festivities in some way.

Proceeds from the fest benefit the Plainfield Riverfont Foundation's efforts to make "an ambitious plan to once again make the DuPage River a focal point of our town" into a reality. Fundraising totals for this year's Plainfield Fest aren't in yet, but "we're thinking it's going to be a record," Epley said.

Image via Patch file