This year\u2019s celebration was the biggest The Q has seen yet, according to Peterson. Attendees have the option to bring their own tents, chairs, coolers and grills \u2014 much like the Chosen Few DJs House Picnic & Festival. Throughout the day, friends bounced from tent to tent, dancing and laughing in the field.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although the celebration is based on the South Side, it\u2019s clear that all of Chicago is welcome. SoGo founder Michael Cox waved a \u201cGod Bless The West Side\u201d flag while walking through the dance floor, antagonizing the South Siders, who jokingly teased back.<\/p>\n
Peterson likes to think of The Q as the millennial version of the House Picnic. At The Q, all genres that make up Chicago\u2019s music identity are played. From Chief Keef\u2019s drill classics, to BabyChiefDoIt\u2019s new track \u201cGhetto Love Story,\u201d and DJ Chip\u2019s \u201cJuke Slide,\u201d all genres of Black Chicago\u2019s music scene were enjoyed. Not only that, but the girls enjoyed when major artists like Sexxy Red or Glorilla blared from the DJ\u2019s speakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this city, if you don\u2019t play house music, then people automatically assume Black people can\u2019t congregate together with their music because it leads to fighting,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery year we show that we can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Around 7 p.m., Peterson is able to take off his event planner hat and take in the crowd.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just nothing but love,\u201d he said. \u201cHalf the people don\u2019t even know each other, but they\u2019re just dapping up, giving each other hugs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peterson doesn\u2019t charge an entry fee for the event, and that\u2019s intentional. He wants \u201cThe Q\u201d to operate as a reunion. A way to ensure that his side of town can have a free function, without breaking the bank for those who desire to attend.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe make no profit off of this,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s primarily the committee who funds this for the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
As The Q gets bigger, however, so do the costs. This year, organizers added more portable restrooms and hired a cleanup crew for the first time instead of cleaning the grounds themselves the next morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bigger we get, the more we have to look into, well, when do we charge and how do we charge?\u201d Peterson said. Typically, festival organizers have grown from free events to ticketed ones to accommodate the behind-the-scenes costs that arise with growing crowds, such as fencing, venue costs and permits, and security.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, for now, we\u2019re going to be the beacon of light on the South Side,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cIt\u2019s my love letter to Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This year\u2019s celebration was the biggest The Q has seen yet, according to Peterson. Attendees have the option…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":963772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[18719,960,4084,5386,1818,387401],"class_list":["post-963771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-bbq","tag-chicago","tag-festival","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-summertime-chi"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116995381423752828","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=963771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/963771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/963772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=963771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=963771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=963771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}