Final touches being put on Fiesta Days
By CRYSTAL LINDELL - clindell@nwherald.com
McHENRY – More than 350 volunteers will be needed to pull off this year’s Fiesta Days.
With mere weeks until the three-weekend McHenry Festival kicks off July 10, some of those volunteers now are working hard to put the finishing touches on the event.
Specifically, they’re making sure participants have their paperwork in order and nailing down details with the city, said Kay Rial Bates, McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce president.
“I don’t know what we’d do without them,” she said. “They’re kind of the nuts and bolts. They love the event, and they’re loyal to the community.”
The festival is organized by a core committee with about 20 community members on it, including Jeff Kleinschmidt, who owns McHenry-based Elite Furniture Service.
“All the pieces are pretty much in place at this point,” he said. “[Now] it’s waiting for D-Day to come.”
Throughout the year, officials worked to book entertainment, line up vendors, and plan a variety of activities for the community, Kleinschmidt said.
The first weekend there’s a Music Fest in Petersen Park, off the south side of McCullom Lake Road, west of Route 31. Then on July 14, activities move to Veterans Memorial Park at Pearl and Park streets in McHenry. Over the next few days and into the weekend, there’s an ice cream social, a parade, Arts and Crafts in the Park, and competitions in that area, among other things. The event then concludes with Family Faith Night July 25 at Petersen Park.
“[Fiesta Days] is a family event,” Kleinschmidt said. “You can bring out your grandma, and you can bring out your 8-year-old.”
He added that the organizers have paid special attention to keeping prices low because of the economic conditions that many local residents are facing. For example, ticket prices for the Gin Blossoms show will be $8 at the gate.
“You can’t see a band in a bar for $8 hardly anymore,” he said. “[The event] is a very low-cost alternative.”
Rial Bates said throughout the actual festival, volunteers will help with the set-up, and running of things.
“We have some people who have done this for close to 20 years,” she said. “It’s amazing how many people want to do this because of the love of the event.”
As for a breather after the festival concludes July 25, Rial Bates said there’s no time.
“It’s a yearlong event and then some,” she said. “We’re starting even right now to consider 2010.”
