Long Grove's chocolate, strawberry and apple fests getting new look
Downtown Long Grove business owners are betting on a new format, longer hours and a musical night life to recapture the buses of tourists that used to turn out for summer and fall festivals.
The biggest dates on their calendar year are devoted to strawberries, chocolate and apples — each getting its own three-day festival.
Organizers with Long Grove Business and Community Partners are planning a number of changes, all geared toward promoting the downtown as a destination again.
One longtime business owner, however, is protesting the changes, particularly new, “totally unfair” road closures that he says will cut his already struggling service station off from the busiest season in downtown Long Grove.
Overseeing the festivals' new look is Ryan Messner, who, in January, became the board president of the nonprofit that acts as a Long Grove chamber of commerce, tourism bureau and economic development arm for the village.
The challenge is bringing back shoppers who have shunned Long Grove's specialty shops — there's one for collectors of classic Hollywood memorabilia, for example — in favor of online retailers.
“It's become desolate,” Messner says of the historic district. “We're trying to bring back some vibrance.”
Messner and the board have hired a new event planner to create more pedestrian-friendly street fests. Chicago's Ravenswood Event Services is planning all three festivals, booking the day and nighttime offerings.
The smallest in the bunch, Chocolate Fest, arrives May 15, with plans for two beer tents — and one for sangria — and '80s cover band Sixteen Candles headlining Saturday night.
Crowds could top 23,000 for Strawberry Fest in June and Apple Fest in September.
Before, festivalgoers were limited to early-bird hours, with live music closing out each night at 6 p.m. sharp. This year, the village has agreed to extend hours until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
And instead of scattering vendors across the downtown, booths and other activities will run along Robert Parker Coffin Road on either side of Old McHenry Road.
Messner hopes extending road closures across Old McHenry Road to the east side of Robert Parker Coffin will funnel pedestrians toward new businesses.
That's where the major downtown property owner, the Forsythe family, has opened Broken Earth Winery in their Mill Pond shops. It's also where the village has agreed to sell, for $1 million, four vacant lots to the family, whose patriarch is an executive of a power plant building company.
“We're trying to make plans for the future now,” said Messner, an insurance agent based in the downtown.
Road closures will remain on Robert Parker Coffin Road west of Old McHenry Road to the single-lane covered bridge. On east Robert Parker Coffin, temporary traffic restrictions aren't uncommon, especially to accommodate crowds during strawberry and apple fests. Now, Long Grove will close Robert Parker Coffin starting at Archer Road for all three days of the festivals.
Randy Towner, though, says the move puts his family's gas station at a disadvantage. Besides hurting gas sales, Towner charged festival patrons $10 each to park at Mel's Marathon.
Towner, who suffered a stroke almost two years ago, has thought about closing several times, but backed off, eager to reach his father's milestone of five decades on the job. His dad, Melvin Towner, opened the station, then Mel's Standard, in 1958 at 209 Robert Parker Coffin Road.
“I put everything into this business since high school,” the 59-year-old said.
He thought Mel's roots in town could persuade village trustees to oppose the closures. The board, instead, offered a concession, rejecting the original request to block off the roads a day before the festivals to make way for setup crews. Messner also says he's working with Towner on a way to help stem the loss of business.
Towner says he struggles to keep Mel's going against competition from chains with cheaper prices. The friendly source of town gossip works 12-hour days, greeting customers by name. On a bad day, he'll get about 20 of them.
“We haven't changed with the times here,” Towner said of the struggling downtown. “We still roll up the sidewalks at 5 p.m., and we suffer along the way.”