The main gate for the event is located on Ashland Avenue, on the west side of Union Park.
Gates open at 12pm on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
The Box Office is open on Thursday, July 13 from 10am to 8pm. During the festival, July 14-16, the Box Office is open between 11am and 9pm each day.
The festival does not provide any parking for festival attendees. There are no sanctioned parking lots for public use in the Union Park area associated with the festival. But why not share a ride via Lyft!
Lyft is the exclusive ridesharing partner of Pitchfork Music Festival!
Lyft is offering 20% off one ride up to $5, to or from the festival this weekend. Simply apply code: PITCHFORK17 in the ‘Promos’ on the app and visit here to learn more.
The Ashland stop on the Green and Pink lines is right at the northwest corner of the park. There is an accessible entrance.
The Ashland #9 bus runs north/south and stops right on the western edge of Union Park. The Madison #20 bus runs east/west and runs just south of the park, it also runs directly from Ogilvie station and is a short walk from Union Station downtown.
Biking is a great way to get to the festival. This year we have ample and secure bike parking available located just north of the park at 325 N. Ashland Ave.
Lockers will once again be available for rental at this summer's festival. Keep your hands free and your phone charged! Rent a locker w/ unlimited cell phone charging.
You can reserve a locker for one day or all three! When you reserve a locker online, you will receive an email 24 hours before the fest containing your locker location, locker number, and lock combination so you can simply find and use your locker.
The Pitchfork Music Festival is committed to making its facilities accessible to and usable by all patrons and visitors. There are ramps from the sidewalks to street and ADA restrooms. In addition, we can offer wheelchair accessible viewing for the two main stages.
In order to help us create the best experience for you, please contact us ahead of time with any questions, needs or concerns.
If you need space to store any equipment such as oxygen tanks or insulin, please email medical ahead of time, so that we can make accommodations.
We have designated viewing platforms for ADA festival attendees. In order to access these platforms, please check-in at the ADA entrance which is on Ashland, just north of the main entrance.
Shop for records between sets! The Chicago Independent Radio Project brings you vinyl selections from indie labels, local record stores, and independent vendors. Buying direct from labels without shipping fees will save you a few pennies and sellers often dig out rare catalogue items for the event. Get there early on Friday if you want to score the best finds!
The country’s best show-poster artists gather to share their work and sell prints at Flatstock, hosted by the American Poster Institute and Speedball.
Renegade Craft Fair, the world’s largest curated showcase of independent craft and design, creates a vibrant and lively marketplace that reflects and illuminates the work of today’s modern makers. Equal parts entrepreneurial incubator and community gathering space, it all culminates in a lively celebration of contemporary craft and design culture.
Book Fort is a roving, interactive book fair that seeks to make a meaningful contribution to communities through readings, performances, and opportunities to connect with a highly-curated selection of independent publishers, presses, and literary organizations. A list of Book Fort publishers will be announced soon.
This year we have two great activity zones in the Kids Area! Music House, School of Performing Arts are bringing us a musical petting zoo, hip hop beat-making, performance play, workshops, and raffles!
We also welcome Field Museum of Natural History, who have partnered with Johalla Projects to provide a mobile interactive museum experience fitted with dinosaur bones, prehistoric plants, birds, a park-wide scavenger hunt and more!
The Pitchfork Music Festival takes our responsibility to the environment seriously, and we encourage our audience, musicians, and vendors to do the same. Following are some steps we’ve taken to ensure that our environmental “footprint” is as small as possible.
Managing waste is a very important part of any large gathering, and Pitchfork Music Festival has worked with our sustainability coordinator since 2006 to develop a comprehensive plan to limit what we send to landfill. This plan depends on a broad network of folks, including our professional cleanup crews, the in-house recycling volunteers who work directly with all of our sponsors and vendors, and our trash hauler. But we need YOUR help as well.
If you come to PMF, please recycle your plastic cups and bottles, aluminum cans, and paper in the 130 blue recycling bins found throughout the festival grounds!!
Starting in 2011, Pitchfork has provided compost containers for all of our food vendors, to ensure that any food scraps generated at the event get reused.
For the last 12 years, all of us at The Pitchfork Music Festival have been honored to contribute to the cultural life of Chicago, one of the greatest cities in the world. We take seriously our commitment to this community—not just for three days every July, but all through the year. And like all Chicagoans, we’re deeply troubled by our city’s tragic gun violence. This year, we’re proud to partner with Everytown for Gun Safety and Mothers Against Senseless Killings (MASK) on an initiative that will make a difference. Read our open letter →
During the weekend of Pitchfork Music Festival Chicago, Saint Heron will host a multidisciplinary experience featuring an onsite art installation, film screening, artist talks, late night jazz jam sessions, and more! Check out the events →
For questions and comments please visit ap-arts.com and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.