Chicago 'Sanity' Rally Runs Into Snags
CHICAGO (STMW) - As the founder of Chicago's storefront theater Chemically Imbalanced Comedy, Angie McMahon knows what it's like to stage a production.
She had no idea, however, what a production her most recent production would truly be. And it's been far from a laugh riot.
Having posted a Facebook call to arms on Sept. 19 to drum up local support for "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart's" Rally to Restore Sanity -- which shares billing with fellow Comedy Central star Stephen Colbert's March to Restore Fear and takes place in Washington, D.C., on Saturday -- McMahon suddenly found herself helming a hometown version.
Now slated for Grant Park's Butler Field (its second Grant Park location since planning began) at Lake Shore Drive and Monroe, it quickly grew beyond her control.
Complicating matters from a traffic and security perspective, President Obama is slated to appear somewhere nearby (the exact location remains under wraps) at a Democratic National Committee rally on the same day, albeit later in the afternoon.
If informal Facebook RSVPs are any indication, a crowd of 3,000 or more Stewart and Colbert fans could show up to watch televised rally coverage, ideally on a JumboTron.
"I really, honestly assumed someone with more experience, knowledge and money would take it over," McMahon said. "I just started a Facebook page. I called Jam Productions, I called other event coordinators and asked them to take this from me and no one would because of the short amount of time [only 45 days, as opposed to several months], the amount of money that it took [at least $18,000 or security deposit, insurance and other costs] and dealing with the city."
Her Jam contact "laughed and said, 'You're in over your head, kid. Good luck.' And they hung up on me."
That McMahon had reached out to his organization was news to Jam co-founder Jerry Mickelson, who offered a helping hand. At this point, though, a partnership seems unlikely.
Another event planner gave McMahon "a half-hour lecture ... about how this is the most ridiculous thing for someone who hasn't done this to take on." Then he offered to take the reins for a $10,000 fee. McMahon declined.
Fortunately, she has enlisted a group of volunteers who handle everything from PR and setup to security and legal issues. Even so, the buck stops with her -- whether she likes it or not.
"I had generally backed the city into a corner," McMahon said, "because it's a national movement and people have said, 'Hey, even if the city doesn't approve it, we're showing up.' So there's an issue of safety that is very important to everyone. And the city's grateful that it's me organizing the Facebook page and not a teenager that's like, 'Screw permits! Come on, guys!' So the movement became much larger than me and moved much faster than I could even imagine it would."
Today McMahon and crew intend to submit another security plan (their fifth -- the first four were shot down) by a licensed and bonded security company. Which is to say, Chicago's rally remains unofficial.
A Park District spokeswoman confirmed McMahon's accounts and said her staff is simply being diligent and "thorough." McMahon described city and Park District employees who've led her through this labyrinthine process as "very kind and gracious."
By comparison, similar events in several other cities are more or less ready to roll -- save for a small portion of necessary funding that's still trickling in.
"We have had our permits in hand for a week now," St. Louis rally lead organizer Jackson Thompson said via e-mail.
His Seattle counterpart, Jim Baum, was sitting pretty as well. A precinct committee officer, Baum was able to leverage his political connections to facilitate things. "I got a hold of some people who know how to do these kinds of things," he said. "So by the time I got to the city [officials], we already had the answers to their questions before they came out of their mouths."
San Francisco point person Kristen Vandling, who is spearheading operations with her boyfriend and four others, says their ducks "are definitely in a row, and so long as the weather will comply with us, we are totally set."
"It's like a kamikaze mission for event producers," Vandling said. "Most people would never even think of doing this."
While last-minute approval isn't uncommon in Chicago, even for such venerable public events as the Chicago Marathon, this one has no official registration form (only Facebook confirmations) to gauge attendance and no prior history by which to predict issues -- security and otherwise -- that might arise.
But thanks (or no thanks) to ongoing publicity, the local rally keeps growing day by day, heedless of the headaches it's causing. More than 90 percent of the needed money has been raised through donations.
At least initially, McMahon says, city officials furrowed their brows at what she'd unwittingly wrought.
"They were very unhappy," she says. "And I understand why. I don't know what I'm doing. I am inexperienced with putting on a large public event in an open area. Their big concern, and rightfully so, is people could get hurt. There are safety issues that are above and beyond my thought process because I've never done something like this."
And while McMahon is confident the rally will happen, "I'm wishing I didn't organize it."
She laughed nervously. "It's definitely bigger than I am."
-- Chicago Sun-Times, via the Sun-Times Media Wire
