The Silver Room Sound System Block Party is coming to an end following a final edition at Oakwood Beach on July 29 and 30, its organizers say.
Founded in 2002 by local entrepreneur Eric Williams as a grassroots alternative to Chicago’s slate of summer street festivals, the event has gone through many changes through the years — and a few near-demises.
Before its purported final bow, WBEZ contributor Zach Long traced the story of the distinctly Chicago event through photos and conversations with Williams and his collaborators. Interviews were edited and condensed for publication.
2002
Organizers throw the first party in a Wicker Park alley near the Silver Room, a shop founded by Williams.
Block Party founder Eric Williams: I was on the board of the [Wicker Park Bucktown] Chamber of Commerce, which organizes Wicker Park Fest. And being that I’m a DJ, I’ve been around music my entire life. Chicago has this very rich, dynamic, diverse music, and at all the North Side festivals, you didn’t see anybody of color. I’d asked a couple times for these other festivals to include us, and they just said no. So I said, well, I won’t keep begging. I’ll start my own thing.
Rebecca McQuillen, entrepreneur and former Block Party volunteer: Me, Eric and Ron [Trent] threw parties upstairs at Square One [a restaurant in Wicker Park]. It was no alcohol, no drugs, just music. During that time, we would get shut down by the police because they couldn’t believe that there was no alcohol. I think that’s probably why Eric started the Block Party.
Ron Trent, producer, DJ, and Block Party organizer: We saw the value in putting some energy behind local artists that we thought were talented. We said house music was the focus, but house music is really an amalgamation of different types of music — and we wanted to showcase all of them.
Williams: I probably spent $500 [on the first Block Party]. I went and got two 25-foot orange extension cords from Home Depot. I bought some cardboard because my friends wanted to breakdance in the alley. Me and Ron Trent owned the sound system. The stage was made out of some cinder blocks and some plywood.
2005
The Block Party sets up a stage on a section of Evergreen Avenue.
Corey Wilkes, Chicago jazz musician and Block Party performer: Everybody felt free to be themselves. Some cats might wear baggy pants and perform straight hip-hop, as opposed to somebody who [plays] Afro-punk. It’s not a different crowd, it’s one crowd.
Williams: I think people loved [the Block Party] because that’s what Wicker Park used to be in the ‘90s and the ‘80s. It was a melting pot. And as [the neighborhood] was losing that, the Block Party was the one thing that kind of brought that back together.
2014
The party grows.
Williams: At the first Silver Room at 1410 N. Milwaukee Ave., my rent was $800 a month [in 1997]. Then it eventually went from $800 to $4,000. [By 2014] I’m going to $8,000 a month. So I was like, it’s time to go.
Pickett: [Former Wicker Park] Ald. Joe Moreno told me in 2014 when we hit 8,000 people, “Ken, you guys are way too big to be a block party now.”
2016
After moving his storefront to 1506 E. 53rd St. the year before, Williams revives the Block Party in Hyde Park.
Williams: I was trying to get settled into the neighborhood and to get acclimated as a retailer. But the entire year, people kept asking: “Are you doing the Block Party?”
McQuillen: There’s such a desperate need for things like this, for block parties, for festivals. If you think about the South Side, how many street festivals are there? But if you’re up north, there’s a festival every weekend.
Williams: Someone from the University of Chicago called and said, “We keep hearing about this Block Party, are you going to do it?” They said if you do it, we’ll help you out a little bit financially. I never had anybody come to me with a little bit of money. So University of Chicago was actually one of our first sponsors.
“So I’m in the shower a few months ago and I’m thinking, ‘Why am I doing this, man?’ I don’t have to do this anymore. This is way too much work. And also, I think that to make money, I have to fundamentally change the essence of what this event is. Let me just lay this to bed. We had a good run.” — Eric Williams, Silver Room Block Party founder
When we came to Hyde Park, I would guess it was 15,000 people the first year, and then it went to 20,000 in 2017
2019
The Block Party draws more than 40,000 people in one day.
Williams: The last year in Hyde Park, I had no fun. I’m not gonna lie. It was so much work. It was so many people. And that day was the hottest day of the year. And things weren’t working, and I’m running from stage to stage. And then I’m trying to collect donations, and people are pouring through the gates and no one’s donating.
Pickett: It takes three components for a successful festival: It takes sponsorship from corporations and companies. It takes residents to go and donate or buy tickets. And it takes participation and support from vendors and local businesses.
Williams: I think I lost probably $30,000 or $40,000 the first year we did it [in Hyde Park]. And then it just got worse.
Pickett: People were not supporting [the Block Party] enthusiastically as far as donations go. And that also includes local businesses — I’ve had business owners literally tell me that they make five or 10 times more in one day during [the Block Party]. I won’t say that it’s malicious, right? They might be thinking, ‘The people are coming, so why should I donate?’
Williams: When the pandemic hit, honestly, it was a sigh of relief. We took the first year off.
2022
Williams relaunches the Block Party as a ticketed, two-day festival at Oakwood Beach.
Williams: Just like when I moved down to Hyde Park, all these people kept asking “Hey man, what about the Block Party?” And so I was kind of like, well, I can’t do it in Hyde Park anymore. You can only charge admission in private locations in the City of Chicago, which is the Park District. My friends had done Mamby on the Beach at Oakwood Beach, so that’s where we moved.
People say, ‘Man, it used to be free.’ I’m like, ‘It was never free for me. It was free for you.’ We had sponsors here and there and some vendor fees, but you pretty much had one guy paying for a party for 20 to 30,000 people. That’s not sustainable.
2023
Williams announces that this year’s Block Party at Oakwood Beach will be the last.
Williams: So I’m in the shower a few months ago and I’m thinking, ‘Why am I doing this [Block Party], man?’ I don’t have to do this anymore. This is way too much work. And also, I think that to make money, I have to fundamentally change the essence of what this event is. Let me just lay this to bed. We had a good run.
McQuillen: I don’t know if there’s space for the Block Party in Chicago anymore. It’s just a different culture now. It’s harder for small events like that to happen.
Trent: I’m not looking at [this Block Party] as the last; it’s just the last of this era. And then whatever happens after that, we’ll see.
