Libertyville - A Beautiful Place in the Country
(Libertyville, IL) -- The unofficial start to summertime in Libertyville is only a matter of weeks away! The annual Libertyville Days festival is set for the weekend of June 14th-17th in beautiful downtown Libertyville!
Libertyville Days Theme: The theme for the 2018 Libertyville Days Festival is, "Libertyville, A Beautiful Place in the Country!" The theme is a tribute to Libertyville's farm and country past. It also shines recognition on the current "Mile of Cars" automobile district along Milwaukee Avenue. A popular sound on Chicago area television and radio in the 1970s and 1980's was Weil Cadillac's "A beautiful place in the country," jingle.
Parade Grand Marshals: One of the highlights of the community festival, is the annual Libertyville Days Parade. Through the years, Libertyville Days has featured a variety of locally significant parade grand marshals, including Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks (1978) and member of Rolling Stones Magazine's Top 100 Greatest Guitarists list and 1982 Libertyville High School grad, Tom Morello (2013).
The 2018 Libertyville Days Parade Grand Marshals are longtime Libertyville Days and Civic Center volunteers, Art and Nancy Kopp. Art and Nancy Kopp have spent decades involved with volunteering with the Libertyville Days festival. Art is the former president of the Libertyville Civic Center Foundation. Libertyville Mayor, and former Civic Center Foundation president, Terry Weppler, says many improvements made to the Civic Center building, were attributable to Kopps' work. Weppler says Kopp, "was an advocate of the senior center." He was also instrumental in the transformation of the old Civic Center loading dock, into an enclosed space.
Nancy Kopp spent numerous years as the Libertyville Days Parade chairperson, spending a great deal of time coordinating parade entries, and ensuring the parade would step off each year, without issue. Weppler says, "without Nancy, there wouldn't have been a parade for a number of years."
The 2018 parade will step off from the Downtown Metra Station at 10am, heading South along Milwaukee Avenue, to Rockland Road. Weppler spent time to make sure to add new parade entries that were different from previous
years, including more bands than ever before. Weppler said it is important to try some new things, to "make it a little different from other parades."
Weppler's Last Year: 2018 also marks the last year Terry Weppler will serve as the Libertyville Days Parade chairman. Libertyville's Mayor has spent close to 40 years as a volunteer for the summertime festival. Weppler will continue to be a visible part of the parade for the remainder of his term as mayor. In addition to organizing all the parade participates ahead of the parade, Weppler has also played an important role during the parade - walking the parade route, with shovel in hand, behind the horse entries of the parade.
2018 Libertyville Days Highlights: This year's festival includes a renewed focus on four nights of quality musical acts for the main stage area near the Civic Center building. The musical acts include; Modern Day Romeos, Ivy Ford, Betty Soul, Fletch Rockwell, Wheelhouse and Mellencougar.
Other festival highlights include; the Miss Libertyville pageants (June 14), Children's Party and Children's Bake Off (both June 15), youth stage performances (June 16), and a watermelon eating contest and an appearance by the Agriculture Lake County Farm Group (June 17).
The Beer Garden will be open all four days in the Civic Center parking lot. Thursday 5p-11p, Friday 4p-12m, Saturday 12pm - 12m, and Sunday 1p-6p.
Libertyville Days History: The roots of the four-day festival trace back roughly 100 years! A summertime festival has been a part of Libertyville's history since the mid 1850's. The Lake County Fair was first held in Libertyville in 1854, then again from 1858-1925. While the exact start of the first "Libertyville Days" festival is a bit unclear, the origins to appear to be around the time the Fair left town, roughly 100 years ago. In the 1960's, local nonprofit groups including the Libertyville Lions, Rotary Club, Knights of Columbus, and Libertyville Junior Woman's Club took over the festival administration as a fundraiser. Eventually these groups founded the Libertyville Civic Center Foundation, which operates the Libertyville Civic Center. The Libertyville Days Festival is now the annual fundraiser for the Libertyville Civic Center Foundation.
Throughout the years, the Libertyville summertime community festival has been a time and place for friends and neighbors to spend time relaxing, playing games and enjoying food and company.
Libertyville Civic Center Foundation information is available at: www.libciviccenter.org Libertyville Days information is available at: www.LibertyvilleDays.org
What: Libertyville Days Festival When: Thursday June 14, 2018 - Sunday June 17, 2018 Where: Downtown Libertyville