music festival crowd

After Gilroy Garlic Festival Shooting, Chicago Ramps Up Security Measures at Lollapalooza 2019

Public safety is a key concern for the music festival, which draws hundreds of thousands to Chicago’s Grant Park each year.

Following a deadly shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in northern California on July 28, city officials in Chicago are taking action to prevent a similar tragedy from taking place at Lollapalooza, a music festival that began on Thursday and will last through Sunday.

The four-day event is expected to draw around 400,000 people to the city’s Grant Park, ABC7 reported. In the wake of concerns over safety at outdoor festival events, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot participated in a roundtable drill on Tuesday that presented some of the worst case scenarios for the event.

"We are vigorously, aggressively reaching out, planning and drawing upon resources from our federal partners to make sure that there's no incident here in Chicago," Lightfoot said, according to ABC7.

Each year, the event adds and refines security measures in ways that are “seen and unseen,” the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications noted in a statement. In 2017, event organizers strengthened security after the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history took place at a Las Vegas country music festival.

Security staff search all bags, administer magnetometer screening and conduct pat-downs at festival entrances. Lollapalooza also bans backpacks with multiple pockets.

“As always, public safety is our top priority for the event, and the city works year-round with the organizers to plan and prepare for the safety and security of attendees, performers and staff at the festival while ensuring a fun and memorable experience,” Rich Guidice, the executive director of the office, said in a statement.

At the Gilroy festival, the shooter was able to cut through a fence to access the fairgrounds and avoid going through security at guarded entrances, local authorities said. It would be more difficult to do the same at Lollapalooza, Guidice said.

“This is what we call the 'needle fencing,’” Guidice said, according to ABC7. "This is a pretty significant piece of equipment that is utilized for this event. You would need high powered tools to try to breach ... the fence that is put around the perimeter of the event."

Guidice added that there will be a visible police presence throughout the weekend, including at hotels and businesses along the street where the festival is taking place. The department also has undercover units assigned to work Lollapalooza, he said.

Organizers advise festival-goers to know their exit routes in case of emergency. In past years, the festival has been evacuated due to weather conditions.

About the Author

Haley Samsel is an Associate Content Editor for the Infrastructure Solutions Group at 1105 Media.

Featured

  • AI Is Now the Leading Cybersecurity Concern for Security, IT Leaders

    Arctic Wolf recently published findings from its State of Cybersecurity: 2025 Trends Report, offering insights from a global survey of more than 1,200 senior IT and cybersecurity decision-makers across 15 countries. Conducted by Sapio Research, the report captures the realities, risks, and readiness strategies shaping the modern security landscape. Read Now

  • Analysis of AI Tools Shows 85 Percent Have Been Breached

    AI tools are becoming essential to modern work, but their fast, unmonitored adoption is creating a new kind of security risk. Recent surveys reveal a clear trend – employees are rapidly adopting consumer-facing AI tools without employer approval, IT oversight, or any clear security policies. According to Cybernews Business Digital Index, nearly 90% of analyzed AI tools have been exposed to data breaches, putting businesses at severe risk. Read Now

  • Software Vulnerabilities Surged 61 Percent in 2024, According to New Report

    Action1, a provider of autonomous endpoint management (AEM) solutions, today released its 2025 Software Vulnerability Ratings Report, revealing a 61% year-over-year surge in discovered software vulnerabilities and a 96% spike in exploited vulnerabilities throughout 2024, amid an increasingly aggressive threat landscape. Read Now

  • Motorola Solutions Named Official Safety Technology Supplier of the Ryder Cup through 2027

    Motorola Solutions has today been named the Official Safety Technology Supplier of the 2025 and 2027 Ryder Cup, professional golf’s renowned biennial team competition between the United States and Europe. Read Now

  • Evolving Cybersecurity Strategies

    Organizations are increasingly turning their attention to human-focused security approaches, as two out of three (68%) cybersecurity incidents involve people. Threat actors are shifting from targeting networks and systems to hacking humans via social engineering methods, living off human errors as their most prevalent attack vector. Whether manipulated or not, human cyber behavior is leveraged to gain backdoor access into systems. This mainly results from a lack of employee training and awareness about evolving attack techniques employed by malign actors. Read Now

New Products

  • Camden CV-7600 High Security Card Readers

    Camden CV-7600 High Security Card Readers

    Camden Door Controls has relaunched its CV-7600 card readers in response to growing market demand for a more secure alternative to standard proximity credentials that can be easily cloned. CV-7600 readers support MIFARE DESFire EV1 & EV2 encryption technology credentials, making them virtually clone-proof and highly secure.

  • A8V MIND

    A8V MIND

    Hexagon’s Geosystems presents a portable version of its Accur8vision detection system. A rugged all-in-one solution, the A8V MIND (Mobile Intrusion Detection) is designed to provide flexible protection of critical outdoor infrastructure and objects. Hexagon’s Accur8vision is a volumetric detection system that employs LiDAR technology to safeguard entire areas. Whenever it detects movement in a specified zone, it automatically differentiates a threat from a nonthreat, and immediately notifies security staff if necessary. Person detection is carried out within a radius of 80 meters from this device. Connected remotely via a portable computer device, it enables remote surveillance and does not depend on security staff patrolling the area.

  • FEP GameChanger

    FEP GameChanger

    Paige Datacom Solutions Introduces Important and Innovative Cabling Products GameChanger Cable, a proven and patented solution that significantly exceeds the reach of traditional category cable will now have a FEP/FEP construction.