I'm camping at this park that's two exits from downtown. Where oh where do I park?
I'm okay with paying for a parking garage or something, but I don't really want to. Suggestions?

There is street parking but sometimes it is metered and sometimes it requires a neighborhood pass. There are other pay to park lots that only operate in the evening. Southeast of Common Grounds is the courthouse runoff lot that is available on the weekends and after 7pm on Friday. There are some two hour spots on south 1st ave between east 1st street and west 2nd street but those are probably not worth the effort. Make sure you know your parking spot is not a tow away as those guys have always been a tremendous pain to deal with.

Jon

I remember pulling into the parking garage near The Venue a couple of times at night and not having to pay. But it's only $5, so it's not bad if you're just leaving your car there til you're done for the night.

Thanks so much. I used the one near the Venue last year but by the end of the night everyone was trashed and it took us an hour to find the parking garage. Doesn't seem like something to worry that much about, so thanks.

I think Sundays are free.

So glad I can just park in my driveway this year. And of course anyone camping in my backyard can park on my street, no decals needed.

The court house parking is where I parked for shows at CGs for years and years, but sometimes it is blocked off for no apparent reason.

The biggest thing about parking is that you just CANNOT park at any business, even if they are closed. No banks, restaurants, office buildings... They all have signs about tow away, but sometimes the signs are not very visible, or unclear. I got a boot a few months ago while parked behind Flacos, and it really looked like the sign said the lot I was in belonged to Flacos.

Like others have mentioned, just don't park somewhere that says they tow, because you almost surely will get towed. I almost got towed at the subway by 1982 the other day because I parked there to walk down to Caribbean Spice for a couple minutes.

There are some exceptions to this during the weekend, though of course advertising them on the internet would be rather stupid and disrespectful. Anyways, no point in taking your chances without asking a resident when there's so much available on-street.

Just in case anyone else is reading this thread with the same situation as me, I found out the parking garage on 2nd near the Venue is only $9 for a full day which is pretty reasonable.

Thanks for all the other help too guys.

If you get to the garage early enough, it's free to come in and at night, they only charge on the way in. We park there earlier and leave it all day.
The first four Fests, we had at least one car from the NU crew towed.
The last one was the reason there was no PA for the PIB u-haul show.