Kick back for Warrenville’s Summer Daze
Warrenville’s annual Summer Daze festival returns this weekend with more entertainment and a larger art show that organizers hope will draw bigger crowds.
The two-day festival — running Friday and Saturday, Aug. 5 and 6, at the corner of Butterfield and Batavia roads — includes music, amusement rides, food and a car show. Admission is free.
“It’s a big tradition in town,” said Diane Dillow, executive director of the Warrenville Park District, which is one of the festival’s sponsors. “This is one of the last celebrations before everybody goes back to school.”
The 34th annual festival opens at 5 p.m. Friday with carnival rides and food vendors selling a variety of festival favorites including pork sandwiches, pizza, tropical ice and elephant ears.
A string of musical performances on the main stage begins at 5:30 p.m. Friday with the park district’s Battle of the Bands competition.
Three bands with teenage musicians from West Chicago, Willowbrook and Belvidere will vie for the opportunity to advance to the Illinois Park and Recreation Association’s regional competition. The winner of the regional battle of the bands contest gets to perform at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield.
Friday night’s main stage music continues at 7:30 p.m. when Parrots of the Caribbean, a Jimmy Buffett tribute band, performs. The popular local rock band 7th Heaven is scheduled to perform from 9:30-11:30 p.m.
On Saturday morning, events start early with Art on the Prairie, a juried fine art and craft show.
Ruth Brackmann, the park district’s recreation supervisor and the Art on the Prairie coordinator, said the show is expected to draw about 30 artists from across the Midwest, including woodworkers, painters and pottery makers.
“We had about 2,000 people go through our event last year,” Brackmann said. “This year, we’re expecting even more people because of the larger number of artists and the wide variety of artists.”
There will be live performances during the art and craft show, which runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Children also can learn about origami, native crafts and weaving from artists at a free hands-on art station.
Another Summer Daze favorite — the car show — is back with more than 100 participants showing off their rides. The car show begins at 10 a.m. and will conclude with a 3:30 p.m. awards announcement.
Dillow said Summer Daze organizers decided to expand the daytime entertainment for this year’s festival. Five bands are slated to perform throughout the day Saturday on the main stage, including Neverly Brothers and Suburban Cowboys. The Brooze Brothers will headline the main stage starting at 9:30 p.m.
The list of Summer Daze sponsors includes the city of Warrenville and the Western DuPage Chamber of Commerce. The city contributes about $24,000 in tourism funding, which covers about 45 percent of the festival’s total cost.
If you go
What: Summer Daze of Warrenville
When: 5-11:30 p.m. Aug. 5, 9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Aug. 6
Where: At the intersection of Butterfield and Batavia roads, Warrenville
Cost: Free admission
Info: (630) 393-7279, <a href="http://warrenvilleparks.org/">warrenvilleparks.org</a> or westerndupage chamber.com