Mt. Prospect full of plans to celebrate village's centennial

The village of Mount Prospect will officially turn 100 on Feb. 3, 2017, and a 100th-year celebration requires a lot more planning than your ordinary birthday party.

Keeping that in mind, Mount Prospect's Centennial Commission is using the $50,000 in seed money it received from the village, as well as its own resources, to throw the party of a century.

At this week's committee of the whole meeting, village board members heard from Jean Murphy, co-chair of the Centennial Commission.

"We have been investing it wisely," Murphy said of the seed money. She said the commission intends to repay the seed money by the end of 2017, with fundraising.

The commission has contracted with Ravenswood Event Services to develop the centennial website and host and maintain it. Planners also met with representatives of every local organization, club and church they could find, plus representatives of the school districts, park districts and the library.

A Facebook page is planned, and maybe a Twitter account. A glossy commemorative guide is in the works, and the commission is talking with the Mount Prospect Chamber of Commerce about holding an international fair.

Postcards will be sent to residents and banners will be placed on lampposts, Murphy said. Businesses will also get something to post on their windows when they renew their licenses for 2017.

Lindsay Rice, the executive director of the Mount Prospect Historical Society, has been hired part time to develop online content.

"No one was better qualified," Murphy said, "considering she has access to all of Mount Prospect's historical files and is also young and amazingly talented when it comes to website design."

The website will be launched in January 2016 and will be linked to the village and historical society site, as well as the library and potentially others. It will include a comprehensive centennial calendar of events, video and historical tidbits.

Sponsors will also be sought, and their logos will be featured on the site. Randhurst Village has bought a $10,000 sponsorship.

Murphy said commission members Gerald "Skip" Farley and Leo Floros will lead the effort to solicit sponsorships from local businesses.

Murphy said other fundraising efforts include sales of T-shirts and commemorative posters. Residents may also be allowed to buy $10 "shares" in the centennial, for which they get certificates signifying they are part of the celebration.

In addition, residents and businesses will be invited to decorate fire hydrants in the fall of 2016, which would remain painted for at least 18 months.

Murphy added the panel is planning a re-enactment of the signing of Mount Prospect's papers of incorporation in the restored Central School house in February 2017.

The dedication of a lasting memorial to the founding families will come during the 2017 Oktoberfest.

"In the tradition of Mount Prospect, we want everyone to play a part in celebrating Mount Prospect's centennial," Murphy said. "This isn't the commission's celebration; it's everyone's celebration."

Murphy said fireworks to be shot off the village parking garage roof on Feb. 3, 2017, and bands and floats added to the 2017 village Fourth of July parade.

Mayor Arlene Juracek lauded the group's efforts.

"It is so wonderful when you bring energized people with lots of great thoughts and lots of great experience and give them this kind of a task and see how it grows," Juracek said.

Trustee Paul Hoefert said it is important to draw the diverse community of Mount Prospect into the celebration, and he suggested holding some events in neighborhoods, close to where people live.

Trustee Michael Zadel said using social media might draw the interest of the village's young people.

"They are just as important as well," he said. "Even though they may not have been around many years ago, they are the future."