Talent finalists ready to rock first Randhurst fest

Randhurst Village in Mount Prospect launches its first Street Fest this weekend with a bang — and a boom.

That's because the entertainment lineup includes The Pack Drumline and Dance Crew, as well as other finalists from Suburban Chicago's Got Talent. The Pack combines rhythm and dance, offering up a rousing, contemporary take on the classic marching band experience.

“It's a hard-hitting, loud, creative sense of — I don't even know the words to explain it,” says founder and director Perry Donta'e Mister Jr. “We're not your regular marching band. One thing that we always try to bring to people is energy.”

Founded in January, the Bolingbrook-based Pack has roots in a leadership and mentoring program.

“It's set up to enhance people's ability to be able to live their dreams,” says Mister of The Pack's mission. “I created the program to help people that want to be performers, but don't have the training or resources, to be able to come in and get that work from us and that training from us. But at the same time, for those who are under 18, it also gives them the ability to have mentors (who) give them leadership and help them grow as adults.”

Mister, who performed show-style marching at Southern University in Louisiana, cites street musicians as the main influence on the unique marriage of dancing and percussion that defines The Pack Drumline and Dance Crew.

The Pack has come a long way in nine months. With plans for further expansion, the group looks forward to a big November with a performance scheduled at the McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade in Chicago as well as an audition for NBC's “America's Got Talent.”

First, though, members of The Pack will reunite Saturday with other Suburban Chicago's Got Talent finalists. They battled it out this summer in a talent competition co-sponsored by the Daily Herald, Onesti Entertainment, the Prairie Center for the Arts in Schaumburg, the Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce, Amita Health, Valli Produce, Salon Lorrene and Zeigler Chrysler Jeep Dodge of Schaumburg.

Also on the bill for the Randhurst Village Street Fest are Modern Day Romeos, the Forest View Elementary Chorus, Holmes Junior High School Chorus, Trinity Irish Dancers and dancers from the Mount Prospect Park District.

The event will also feature classic cars, food and more.

The new fest is part of the evolution of Randhurst Village, which began in 2008, says independent marketing consultant Cindy Bohde.

“There's still a lot of people in our market who haven't been to the new place,” Bohde says. “So we think we need to keep doing events that are interesting … It gives people new reasons to come.”

Randhurst Village Street Fest

<b>When:</b> Noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10

<b>Where:</b> Randhurst Village, Mount Prospect, (847) 259-0500, <a href="http://www.randhurstvillage.com">randhurstvillage.com</a>

<b>Admission:</b> Free