Naperville working to ease overcrowding at Ribfest

The Naperville Exchange Club believes it can ease overcrowding at Ribfest this summer without having to sell per-day tickets.

Members also hope to resolve tax issues without having to implement a food ticket system.

The club's annual Fourth of July weekend bash attracts about 100,000 people each year and is scheduled for July 2-5 at Knoch Park. Last year it raised $922,000 for organizations that fight child abuse.

At times, the scheduled entertainment has attracted so many visitors that people who purchased tickets in advance have been turned away at the gate when the park became too full.

Since 2004, the city has been asking the club to consider selling per-day tickets and food and beverage tickets.

"Don't take any of this as lack of support for the Exchange Club or the tremendous good this brings to the city," Councilman James Boyajian said. "You are a victim of your own success. We as a city are a victim of your own success. This event has grown so large and become so successful there are some issues today we didn't have 10 years ago."

City and park district staff, public safety officials and the Exchange Club have been meeting regularly in recent months to discuss ways to improve the event, including the proposed per-day tickets, but have come up with alternative ways to deal with overcrowding.

Ribfest Chairman Dave Harrington said the group plans to implement a no re-entry policy after 7 p.m., have a separate entry for people with day-specific tickets to see the headline band and plans to avoid scheduling a big-name band on July 4 when large crowds show up to see the fireworks.

The club also will implement a system to give it real-time counts of how many people are in the park.

The Naperville Fire Department has established a capacity of 35,000. Fire Chief Mark Puknaitis said there also will be larger aisles and more of them to allow people to move around the park more easily.

Another issue has been the collection of city and state taxes from Ribfest vendors. Five vendors still have not paid taxes they owe the city.

Officials previously suggested implementing a food ticket system like the Taste of Chicago to better track sales.

But Bruce Erickson, one of the founders of Ribfest, said there would be too much money changing hands to use volunteers to sell food tickets and it would be an expensive undertaking. It also would add to congestion in the park by creating extra lines.

Harrington suggested requiring vendors to pay the city taxes they owe before leaving the park on the final day of the event.

Another possibility suggested by Councilman Richard Furstenau would be to hold a certain amount of money from each vendor in escrow and settle up at the end of the event.

Councilman Doug Krause said the club also could collect the tax immediately when it sells rib meat to the vendors.

Councilmen Joe Dunn and Kenn Miller both expressed concern about the city micromanaging the event.

"We don't want any unwanted consequences of what this council may do and ruin the golden goose here," Miller said.

The city, park district and Exchange Club will continue to meet and return to the council with updated recommendations in May.