CHICAGO — Time’s up. Or is it?
A 24-hour offer by officials from Riot Fest to purchase the much-visited-but-since-removed ‘rat hole’ has elapsed without an apparent response from the Chicago Department of Transportation.
The punk rock festival on Thursday offered to buy the sidewalk slab adorned with an animal imprint from the city for $5,000.
“We will display it at Riot Fest every year,” a post on the festival’s Twitter/X account said.
The post was followed by another hours later, at 6:14 p.m., with a deadline: “You have 24 hours @ChicagoDOT.”
And later: “Anyone who can help facilitate the purchase of the Chicago Rat Hole from @ChicagoDOT will receive 2 VIP tickets to Riot Fest.”
Erica Schroeder, a spokesperson for the Chicago Department of Transportation, said the square of sidewalk from the 1900 block of West Roscoe Street in the city’s Roscoe Village neighborhood is now in temporary storage.
She said the slab will end up at a location that will be a “collaborative decision between the city departments and the mayor’s office.”
Schroeder said the rat hole section, as well as other portions of sidewalk along Roscoe Street, were removed by Department of Transportation crews Wednesday morning after the agency inspected them and determined they needed to be replaced because of damage. New concrete was poured later Wednesday.
The Associated Press contributed.
