Strange Folk Festival Is Coming to Carondelet Park

Strange Folk Festival has a new home: Carondelet Park. The announcement was made today on the festival's Facebook page after a series of clever clues.

The Carondelet location, a sprawling city park in deep south city, will be the fourth in as many years — and follows some controversy with its previous home, Lafayette Square. The festival had been promoting itself as happening in Lafayette Square Park, but rapidly changed its messaging after getting inquiries from the Riverfront Times. The neighborhood's alderman, Jack Coatar, had confirmed that the festival did not have the necessary permits for that location — and, indeed, that the park was not willing to host events of its size as a general rule.

Founder Autumn Wiggins told the RFT at the time that she initially thought she had permission to locate in the park, and when she learned that wasn't the case, had been waiting to finalize the new location before telling vendors.

This morning, she made good on her promises, announcing a new home that fits for the park-like vision she'd described for the event.

“The streets aren’t good for us,” Wiggins said at the time. “We like to do a lot of atmospheric installations and we like shaded walking paths. We’re just trying to create this really chill atmosphere in a park.”

The festival, one of the Midwest's premiere events for the maker community, will take place September 22 to 24. See its Facebook page for more info.