Frontier Days attendance tops 80,000

Volunteers spent a rainy Monday cleaning up after the popular Frontier Days Festival in Arlington Heights, which officials said was a success this year in large part because they got a break from severe weather.

Frontier Days started Wednesday in Recreation Park and ran through Sunday with musical performances, rides, family attractions and a 5K race, among other activities. As is tradition, a large group of volunteers came out Monday to clean Recreation Park and put stuff away.

“It was a very successful event,” said Village Manager Bill Dixon. “The weather cooperated after being so difficult before the festival.”

Arlington Heights Police Captain Richard Niedrich estimates that more than 80,000 people attended the festival over five days, with the largest attendance on Saturday night when Bret Michaels was the headliner. He said about 22,000 concertgoers attended that night alone.

Six people were cited for local ordinance violations, including three for fighting and three for underage drinking, but Niedrich said there were no major arrests or incidents during the festival.

As well, more than 2,000 runners filled the streets of downtown Arlington Heights Sunday morning for the annual Stampede run.

The free annual festival is organized by more than 500 volunteers.

“Our thanks go to the red shirts (volunteers) and the planning committee. They do a wonderful job,” Dixon said. “We are so fortunate as a community to have this done by volunteers as opposed to the village putting a lot of money into it.”