Organizers of the annual African and Caribbean International Festival of Life say they were forced to relocate their three-day event at the last minute after the city denied their permit.
Dr. Ephraim Martin, the festival’s founder, said at a Monday press conference at Park No. 540 in the South Loop, where the festival was going to be held, that organizers were notified Friday that they weren’t allowed to use the park for the mid-July event.
“We were notified that the police had refused a permit for this festival,” Martin said. “Canceling us one week before the event is one of the worst things that someone could have done.”…