Shortly after noon on a Sunday last August, police were dispatched to a forest preserve picnic grove near Chicago’s Edgebrook neighborhood for an unusual call.A “subject was trying to attack our complainant with a sword,” according to a police report that indicated the man was “hitting a f emale... in the head.”When police arrived and began sorting things out, the man said he had been eating with his family when they were approached by strangers, and “he picked up his shish kebab skewer and held it in his hand because he didn't know if he was going to be attacked,” records show.“There was no sword.”Nobody was apparently hurt, police calmed things down and one group departed the preserve, located in Bunker Hill woods.At the center of the dispute: who had a right to the picnic site.A woman told police “that when she arrived at the shelter, there was another group having a picnic and she explained to them that she has a permit and if they could leave,” but “one of the male subjects got mad and started cursing,” and "pulled out" what was thought to be a sword.To reserve a grassy grove or covered pavilion with picnic tables in a Cook County Forest Preserve, a permit is required through the agency and can be purchased online, over the phone or in person at certain offices. Prices vary depending on certain factors, including the size of the gathering and whether someone is a county resident, but "the basic price" can range from $64 to $261.Without a permit, people can still visit or eat at the groves. But if visitors with a permit arrive, they take priority and the others are supposed to leave.A Chicago Sun-Times review found that's not always as easy as it sounds. While police records are sparse on such encounters — with only a handful of incidents memorialized over the last five years in Cook County — interviews with visitors and forest preserve employees show conflicts over picnic sites are relatively common, though usually resolved without police, or at least without arrests and other major trouble.“I’ve never seen violence,” says one forest preserve employee working recently in the suburbs. “But yes, big mouths, craziness.”He says the problems sometimes involve visitors unaware permits are required — who wrongly think it’s a “first-come, first-served” system.Other times people know a permit may be needed, but don’t want to pay for one so roll the dice that nobody else will show. A picnic pavilion can be seen in Harms Woods in suburban Morton Grove, Thursday, July 2, 2026.Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere / Sun-Times Some police reports documenting the incidents have people involved in the disputes bemoaning there are no posted signs informing visitors about permits — something forest preserves General Supt. Adam Bianchi says he'll think on.Some forest preserve employees advise those with a permit to show up early at their site so they can wave off others or hang a sign on their pavilion indicating it’s taken.Carl Vogel, a spokesman for the preserves, points to the handful of police reports and says the absence of more shows other incidents "weren’t notable at that level.”Since 2021, "our police have no record of a physical altercation around this issue... no arrests."Vogel says there are 288 picnic groves that can be rented, nearly 200 with shelters. The agency’s rules require a permit for gatherings of 25 or more. Below 25 people, a permit isn’t required, but they’re not guaranteed a space.In 2025, there were more than 7,000 permits issued for picnic areas, with an estimated 800,000 people or more visiting for cookouts and other events, Vogel says.A non-emergency police phone number is on the back of permits in case of trouble. And last summer the forest preserves piloted a program where employees visited busy groves to help ensure smooth-going for permit holders. Adam Bianchi, general superintendent of the Cook County Forest Preserves.Forest Preserves of Cook County "They're out there for strictly this reason, conflicts," and to make sure "everyone has what they need," from the right picnic table configuration to enough toilet paper in the bathrooms, Bianchi said. "We're really leaning into that customer service."In 2023, police records show another animated permit dispute, this time at Linne Woods in the Morton Grove area.“Dispatch advised that the permit holder asked the other party to leave their area and they refused,” records show. “Upon arrival, I met with the permit holder/complainant of grove #2” who “stated that there was a party of around 20 female patrons having a picnic in the close vicinity of his rented out shelter who refused to relocate away from his party.”The man with the permit “only wanted them to move 50 feet away so they could utilize that space. Even after he allowed them to use his picnic table as a good will gesture, they still refused to move.”When police “spoke to the other party,” one of the women “stated that her party will not move.”“I explained to her several times that the other party has the grove rented out and would like them to move a little further away since they will be having dancing and not want to be in their way.” A picnic pavilion can be seen in Harms Woods in suburban Morton Grove, Thursday, July 2, 2026.Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times “I offered several times to help move her party 25-50 feet away, but she still refused. I explained” to the woman “that I want everyone to enjoy their picnic and that” the complainant “has paid to have the grove for the day.”The woman “still refused to move” and “stated that we are not the real police and have a little less authority then Morton Grove Police. I assured her we are the police and Linne Woods is the jurisdiction of the Forest Preserves.”“Two sheriff's units arrived on scene and were also trying to explain to her and she became very upset” but they “eventually came to an agreement and all units assisted in moving their party to a location approximately 20 yards away.”In 2023 in a grove near Country Club Hills, a person who'd reserved a picnic space reported to police that a man who wasn't part of their group "was giving them a hard time," and said: "This is a public place and that he did not have to move," records show.Before leaving, the "male offender threatened to shoot up her picnic," but didn't, and left before the police arrived.In 2021, police records show a family set up a barbecue at a picnic site in the near west suburbs only for another family to show up with a permit.The family that was there first “became angry and uncooperative because they had already set up at grove #4 and begun grilling food,” and “a disturbance between both families” erupted that forced the responding officers to “separate both families” and calm things down.Turns out the first family had a permit, too, but for a different grove. ...read more read less