Beverage tickets on tap for Last Fling in Naperville

Anyone who wants to celebrate the last hurrah of summer with a beer at the Naperville Jaycees’ Last Fling over Labor Day weekend will have to buy a handful of beverage tickets worth $1 each, organizers said Thursday.

Last Fling Executive Director and Naperville Jaycees member Bill Eagan discussed the switch to beverage tickets Thursday with the city’s liquor commission. He also said organizers are on the verge of announcing some of their main stage headline entertainers.

“We expect Saturday night to sell out,” Eagan said.

Last Fling will run Aug. 30 to Sept. 2 with a business expo on Jackson Avenue, a carnival, a main stage at the foot of Rotary Hill by the Millennium Carillon and Family Fun Land on the grounds of Naper Settlement.

The fest also will feature a Disney star for a meet-and-greet, an entertainment stage full of free acts and a popular dunk tank to soak local elected officials, along with the iconic Bed Races featuring a team of “Nuns on the Run,” Eagan said.

Using tickets for beverage sales has been discussed the past three years, and Eagan said the Naperville Jaycees, who organize the Fling, decided to make the change this year to better track sales and manage cash.

Tents selling beverage tickets will be located next to other tents selling the beverages themselves at several spots on the sprawling festival grounds, according to maps Eagan showed liquor commissioners Thursday.

People 21 and older can use five $1 tickets to buy a regular draft beer or six tickets to buy a premium draft after getting a wristband to prove their age. Eagan said the tickets also will be valid for water, juice and soda.

Mayor George Pradel, the city’s liquor commissioner, said using beverage tickets is a sound policy, one the Naperville Exchange Club successfully implemented for the first time for alcohol purchases at Ribfest earlier this month.