Rogers Park’s Pride North multi-day festival (June 27-29) was canceled last month due to lack of a special event permit from the event’s longtime organizer and sponsor, The Glenwood Bar (6962 N. Glenwood Ave.). The event was set to take place on Glenwood Avenue between Lunt and Morse Avenues.
Ald. Maria Hadden (49th Ward), who represents Rogers Park and other North Side Chicago neighborhoods, announced the cancellation on her governmental social media accounts on June 27 with an additional post that included more details on June 28.
According to Hadden, The Glenwood’s owner and Pride North’s event President Colm Treacy (who opened the bar in 2008) failed to secure the required city permits to hold this event. She added that the City of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department (CPD) denied The Glenwood the 500 people or less permit on June 23 after Treacy did not provide a safety and security plan. Hadden also told this publication that she asked Treacy to announce the event’s cancellation on his social media accounts and, when he didn’t do so, she took it upon herself to let the community know the event would not take place.
In Hadden’s Facebook post about the cancellation, she said, “The special event process is highly regulated and Aldermanic sign off is only one level of approval required. The organizer of this event has needed support correcting and completing their application every year that I’ve been in office. And I’ve been happy to help because this is an important community event. I do the same for every business and organization that seeks to hold an event, no matter the occasion or organizer.
“This year was no different. The organizer submitted their application to the City, and City Departments called out several issues that needed correction. There is always special attention paid to safety management, and this year the departments were especially concerned given the rise in hate crimes and other political violence. We have met with the departments and the organizer multiple times. As late as [June 20], we were still working with the organizers to correct their application. After the business failed to make the required corrections and changes to complete their application, the City denied the permit. No one can complete this final step but the business.”
This comes on the heels of the expiration of The Glenwood’s Illinois state liquor license on May 31 according to information found on the Illinois Liquor Control Commission (ILCC) website. When Windy City Times asked the ILCC if Treacy was working to get this license renewed their spokesperson said, “At this time we have no comment.”
Hadden told this publication that the expired state liquor license played no role in Pride North’s permit being denied by the city. She added that The Glenwood’s city liquor license is active.
On June 28, Pride North announced on Facebook, “Pride is on. Inside Glenwood bar we will survive.” This sparked over a dozen negative comments against Treacy on Facebook for his lack of follow-through on the city permits for this special event and other issues.
A CPD News Affairs spokesperson told Windy City Times via email that the 24th District (where the bar is located) received a telephone complaint about The Glenwood Bar on the evening of June 28 and followed that up with a premises check at around 11:30 p.m. while their indoor Pride event was taking place. The CPD News Affairs spokesperson added that, “further investigation revealed an expired State of Illinois liquor license. An ordinance citation was issued, and operations were ceased.”
At the time of publication, Treacy has not responded to Windy City Times’ queries via Facebook messenger (the only way to reach him since the phone number listed online for The Glenwood has been disconnected) about Pride North, his state liquor license issues and if he plans on rectifying any of these issues going forward.
Pride North also faced controversy in 2021when attendees said they were required to pay a $20 fee to enter the festival on the second day of that year’s two-day event. A city of Chicago ordinance prohibits festival organizers from mandating payment to access public streets. They are only allowed to ask for a suggested donation.