(Above) A structure meant to represent a house succumbing to the 1871 Great Chicago Fire burns only sporadically during the closing ceremony of last year’s Great Chicago Fire Festival. (Click on image to view larger version.)

3-Jul-15 – Yes, there will be a Great Chicago Fire Festival this year but no, it will not be on the Chicago River.

The theater company Redmoon announced late Thursday the event will take place on Northerly Island.

The reason? The 91-acre peninsula near Museum Campus south of the Loop can accommodate more people.

“After attracting a capacity crowd to Chicago’s riverfront last fall,” reads the announcement, “Chicago Park District officials and Redmoon targeted a new site for the popular festival that could safely and effectively accommodate a large audience, feature more performers, and better integrate Chicago residents from every neighborhood in the event.”

With about 30,000 people watching the “Grand Spectacle” of the inaugural Fire Festival on October 4, 2014, an electrical problem kept three structures on floating platforms from fully igniting. The structures represented Chicago’s architecture prior to The Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

“More than anyone, I shared the audience’s frustration with the challenges the spectacle faced last year,” says Jim Lasko (left), Redmoon’s executive artistic director. “I can assure you we will burn this year.”

Scheduled for September 26 from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., the closing ceremony will feature “multiple performance stages,” says Redmoon, “which will showcase unexpected collaborations and talent from Chicago’s neighborhoods.”

The ceremony will include the burning of a “GRIT” house, as in “grit and resilience,” and a fireworks display.