A tiny sliver of green space along the Bloomingdale Trail in Wicker Park could soon carry the name of one of Chicago's most beloved street artists. The Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners has approved a motion to begin the process of renaming Park 567, a .33-acre passive green space at 1801 N. Milwaukee Ave., in honor of Cooper Link, the artist known to the city as Dont Fret, who died in spring 2025 at age 36.
The move, first reported by WTTW News, has drawn support from neighborhood civic organizations, residents, friends and acquaintances of the artist, according to the outlet. Backers of the renaming reportedly include filmmaker Joe Swanberg and Chicago Blackhawks Chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz, a sign of how far Link's reputation traveled beyond the neighborhood where he grew up. Park 567 itself sits at a key entry point to The 606 Bloomingdale Trail, the 2.7-mile elevated linear park built atop a former Chicago & Pacific Railroad line that opened in 2015, connecting Wicker Park, Bucktown, Logan Square, and Humboldt Park, according to The 606.
An Artist Rooted in Wicker Park
Link was born and raised in Wicker Park, the same neighborhood where the park now under consideration sits, and where much of his earliest work appeared, per the WTTW report. He earned an art degree from Columbia College Chicago, where he began creating outdoor murals and drawings as a teenager nearly 20 years before his death, according to FOX 32 Chicago. In 2015, the Chicago Reader named him the city's best street artist, per the WTTW account.
What set Dont Fret's work apart, FOX 32 Chicago reported, was its subject matter: tamale vendors, neighborhood restaurateurs, bar patrons — everyday, working-class Chicagoans rather than celebrities or public figures. That populist eye extended to a 2020 commission from the City of Chicago called The People in Your Neighborhood, which included 55 portraits of everyday Chicagoans and was displayed on the Chicago Riverwalk that year, according to the WTTW report. The piece was inspired by Carl Sandburg's poem City of Big Shoulders, the outlet noted.
From Alley Walls to Netflix
Dont Fret's street art can be seen throughout Chicago, and his work also crossed into television: his artwork, set murals, and episode title cards were featured in the Chicago-set Netflix comedy series Easy, which ran from 2016 through 2019 and was created by filmmaker Joe Swanberg, according to Columbia College Chicago. Swanberg filmed the series on location across the city's North Side neighborhoods, embedding local art directly into the show.
His reach extended well beyond Chicago. FOX 32 Chicago reported that his public murals and gallery work were exhibited internationally in London, São Paulo, Helsinki, and Berlin, while the WTTW report adds exhibitions in Warsaw, Budapest, New York, Denver, and San Francisco. Robert Castaneda, addressing the scope of that legacy, said Dont Fret's work clearly made a profound impact, and added, per WTTW, that “it's great to see an artist's local community want to honor his legacy in this way.”
How the Renaming Process Works
Under Chapter 7 of the Chicago Park District Code, naming or renaming a park requires a formal two-step process: board approval to initiate a mandatory 45-day public comment period, followed by a final majority board vote, according to the Chicago Park District Code. The board's recent action initiated that 45-day comment window for Park 567, and the proposal may receive a final vote by commissioners after the comment period closes, likely coming before the commissioners' November 2026 meeting, per the WTTW report.
Park 567 is one of a large number of Chicago green spaces still identified only by a number rather than a formal name — roughly 10% of the Park District's more than 600 parks remain unnamed, according to Chicago Park District records. Recent procedural rules adopted in late 2025 also limit the introduction of formal park naming or unnaming requests to a maximum of four per calendar year, the same records show, a constraint meant to manage board meeting agendas while preserving structured public review.
The Park District board separately approved a motion to consider naming Park 559, located at 6151 N. Sheridan Road in Edgewater, as Edgewater Prairie Park, according to the WTTW report — meaning Link's park is one of at least two numbered green spaces moving through the same renaming pipeline this cycle. Park 567's history traces back to 2011, when the site was transferred from the City of Chicago to the Chicago Park District before being developed into the passive green space it is today, according to Chicago Park District records.
