'Rave' party 'not welcome' in St. Charles, mayor says
St. Charles officials are demanding answers about a three-day music festival that slipped into town last month and went practically unnoticed until several concertgoers were arrested on charges of possessing drugs such as cocaine, Ecstasy and LSD.
"It brought an element to the community that is not welcome and will never be welcome," Mayor Don DeWitte said of the festival.
Four drug arrests were made and one overdose was reported at the 1st Annual Midwest Electronic Music Festival, which drew an estimated 1,500 fans and performers to the Kane County Fairgrounds in St. Charles June 27 to 29. The "rave" party was widely publicized through online social networks including MySpace.com, but DeWitte said the city received no advance warning.
Police Chief Jim Lamkin is compiling a "full report" about exactly what transpired leading up to and during the festival, the mayor said.
"Needless to say, the city was not pleased to find out through the need for police services that this function was even taking place," DeWitte said. "Once all the information is collected, we will be addressing this issue with the fairground management personnel."
According to promotional materials posted online, the festival was put on by Chicago-based Infrared Productions, which has promoted similar events in other suburbs, including Woodstock last year. Dozens of DJs and other acts performed indoors at the St. Charles event, with concertgoers camping on site.
Concert promoter Adam Dilich could not be reached for comment, and a concert hotline was no longer accepting phone calls.
Chris Unger, executive manager of the fairgrounds, defended the handing of the event, saying the promoters must have contacted the city because they showed him paperwork related to paying local admission taxes.
"There's no way the city didn't know this was happening," Unger said. "Whether or not it was communicated to various departments ... or whether that's the norm ... is an entirely different question."
St. Charles Police Cmdr. David Kintz said officers first learned of the festival the afternoon it started. He said there were a few complaints about noise, but it was the activity in camping and parking areas that drew the most attention.
"(Officers) didn't have to work very hard to come up with the drug arrests out there," Kintz said.
One concertgoer was taken to a hospital after surviving an accidental drug overdose. Others were caught allegedly getting high while in plain view in the parking area, police reported.
Among those arrested was a 22-year-old Dayton, Ohio, man accused of possessing LSD, marijuana, cocaine, Ecstasy and drug paraphernalia. Other arrests involved young adults from Wilmette, Carbondale and St. Louis.
Unger downplayed the number of arrests relative to the crowd size. He also said similar events have been successful elsewhere and fair management thought it would be a good revenue source.
"The fair should not be painted as the bad guy," he said. "Anytime you have 500 people get together anywhere, you're going to have issues.
"The bottom line," he added, "is we're probably not going to do it again."