BUCKTOWN — The Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners moved Wednesday to begin a 45‑day public comment period on a proposal to rename Park No. 567, located on Milwaukee Avenue alongside The 606’s Bloomingdale Trail, after the beloved local artist Dont Fret.
Neighbors and interested parties can now submit comments supporting or opposing the change through the Park District’s website. After the comment window closes later this year, officials will review the feedback and present the recommendation to the full Board for final approval.
Who was Dont Fret?
Dont Fret, born Cooper, rose to fame in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood for his distinctive wheat‑paste characters, drawings and witty social commentary that appeared on city streets and building walls. His work expanded beyond Chicago, earning large‑scale mural commissions in New York, Miami, Denver, London, Helsinki and São Paulo, and even a feature in the Chicago‑based Netflix series “Easy.” The artist died last spring at age 36, and his family requested that only his first name be publicly used.
Community support and petition
Support for the renaming has been growing since friends and family launched the effort earlier this year. An online petition has gathered more than 1,100 signatures, and letters of endorsement have arrived from the Bucktown Community Organization, the Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce, and several local officials.
“It’s an unnamed park; it’s a numbered park. And we’re like, ‘Wouldn’t that be cool if it was ‘Dont Fret Park’?” said Chris Cieslak, a close friend of the artist, to Block Club Chicago.
Official backing
Andrew Schneider, the Park District’s director of historic assets, briefed the Board on Wednesday, noting that the proposal meets the district’s criteria: the honoree must have been deceased for at least one year and have demonstrated a “continued commitment and extraordinary contribution to civic betterment, locally, nationally or internationally.”
Commissioner Robert Castaneda voiced his support, stating, “It’s great to see an artist who is local, who had an impact on his local community, and who wants to honor his legacy in this way.”
What comes next?
Following the public comment period, the Board will evaluate the input and decide whether to move forward with the renaming. The district also advanced a separate measure to begin a comment period for the potential renaming of Park No. 559 at 6151 N. Sheridan Road to Edgewater Prairie Park.
Residents who wish to share their thoughts can do so on the Chicago Park District’s website, where a comment form is available until the deadline later this year.
Original reporting: Block Club Chicago — read the source article.
