Lollapalooza clean-up continues in Grant Park

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Lollapalooza clean-up began in Chicago's Grant Park immediately after the three-day music festival wrapped.

Hundreds of thousands of people packed into the music fest's permanent home over the weekend to see their favorite artists and bands.

The weather was nice for the first two days. But on-and-off storms turned Grant Park's Hutchison Field into a muddy mess on Sunday.

Sunday night, hundreds of workers began efforts to remove the trash and waste left behind after Lolla. The event's eight stages will come down, too.

"We try to get the trash out. Of course the mud sucks everything in there, money sometimes," said Shane Jackson, Venue Smart, operations manager.

While many sought shelter from the rain between acts, others simply gave into it and opted to for some shoe-less music appreciation. The conditions caused serious damage to the grass, but it's not as bad as it was three years ago.

In 2011, rain damages and repairs cost the production company in charge of Lollapalooza- not the city- more than $1 million. The money was used to lay new sod, replace hundreds of damaged bushes, and rehab the baseball diamonds.

Those in charge of cleanup are also hoping to recycle or compose 60-70 percent of the estimated 250 tons of trash and waste left behind by the roughly 300,000 people who attended the three-day music festival.

Lollapalooza generates about $100 million a year for City of Chicago. And while the music festival still has its critics, onetime skeptic Bob O'Neill, president of the Grant Park Conservatory, an organization dedicated to the betterment of parks, says because of the benefits to the city's front yard, the park needs the event as much as the event needs the park.