Lake Co. fests hold steady despite Saturday's rain

Despite the staggering economy and inconsistent weather, last weekend's Fourth of July festivities barely faltered in their attendance or funds raised.

Mundelein Community Days retained a steady turnout for the four-day event. However, some rain Saturday afternoon put a damper on the sidewalk art contest and car show, according to Assistant Village Administrator Michael Flynn.

The Taste of Grayslake on June 27 saw rain both this year and last year. About 6,000 people still turned out for the event, which was about the same as attendance in past years. The main change of plans was the fireworks show, which was moved to earlier in the evening because of projected rain.

Beer sales were down, also because the weather was bad in the evening, the biggest time for beer sales. Despite this, Tracy Putkonen, recreation supervisor at Grayslake Park District, said revenues remained steady this year.

"It balances itself out. Last year ticket sales for rides were low, this year up for rides and low on the beer sales," Putkonen said.

The Taste of Lake Zurich noticed a drop in attendance because of rain throughout the day.

Wauconda Fest, held June 25 through June 28, had at least 18,000 people attend. Despite rain on Saturday evening, which impacted two band performances, the event generated about the same amount of money as last year. One of the rides also could not be used because of all the rain.

Celebrate Fox Lake is a free event that did better than in past years.

"(We had) one of the largest turnouts. We were kind of scared of the weather, but we were very busy up until the last hour (when it started to) rain," said Nancy Rogers, parks and recreation coordinator.

Mike Perkins, director of parks and recreation in Lake Zurich, sums it up as "something that happens with special events."

No additional attendance or monetary information was available on Monday.