Chicago’s Mamby On The Beach Canceled Because Of Endangered Birds, Lake Michigan Levels

– Mamby On The Beach

With just over a month to go before Mamby On The Beach was set to return to Chicago, promoters broke the news Friday that they’ve been forced to cancel the event because of “circumstances beyond their control,” including the presence of federally protected shorebirds on the festival site.

The Aug. 23-24 festival at Montrose Beach was to have featured performances by Brockhampton, Flying Lotus, Troye Sivan, Phantogram, Sylvan Esso, T-Pain, Quinn XCII, Santigold and more.

“Organizers for Mamby On The Beach are saddened to announce that the 2019 festival has been cancelled due to circumstances beyond their control,” React Presents & Jam Productions said in a joint statement. “These unforeseen issues include significantly higher than average waters of Lake Michigan eliminating the beach portion of the festival’s intended site. Additionally, the original footprint was affected by the presence of Great Lakes Piping Plover shorebirds, a federally protected species.”

The announcement added that organizers had worked “tirelessly” with the Chicago Park District and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services to relocate Mamby but with just five weeks before the festival’s launch, it would be impossible to move the event while still providing a “superior beach event experience.”

Ticket sales were apparently strong, according to industry sources.

Ticketing company See Tickets is automatically refunding all online orders to the card used at checkout, with refunds to be credited within five to 10 business days.

Promoters had considered staging the festival at parkland between Wilson and Lawrence avenues, with a plan unveiled at a Chicago Park District meeting earlier in July, according to the Chicago Sun Times.

The Chicago Sun Times reported that the Piping Plovers had been nesting at Montrose Beach “for months – and more than doubled in number this week.” The paper noted in an article posted June 13 that during a meeting with city officials and concerned community groups, including the Montrose Lakefront Coalition, JAM Productions’ Jerry Mickelson offered to pay the cost of overnight security during the festival to supplement the volunteers who had been standing guard over the birds’ eggs during daylight hours.

Mickelsen also promised to hire security to keep fans from nearby natural areas, which the Sun Times reported that JAM Productions did for a Mumford and Sons concert held a few years ago.

The U.S. and Wildlife Service had been considering enforcing a 1,000-meter buffer zone at Montrose Beach to protect the birds from noise.

Ticket sales were apparently strong, according to industry sources.

Mamby On The Beach had previously been held at Oakwood Beach in Bronzeville and organizers decided to relocate the event to Montrose Beach after feedback from fans, according to the Times which reported that the festival was expected to bring in as many as 20,000 attendees per day.

RBC Bluesfest in Ottawa ran into bird problems of its own when a family of birds halted construction of the main stage, according to NPR.

Last July an Ed Sheeran concert at an airfield in Essen/Mülheim, had to be moved to the nearby D.Live Open Air Park in Düsseldorf to protect the local bird population.

The year before that T In The Park was called off because of an osprey’s nest at the festival site. The bird “is a protected species and it’s against the law to disturb them during breeding season,” according to The Telegraph.