Three suburbs pool resources for new LibertyFest

As the recession forces many suburbs to eliminate summer festivals, a partnership between Bensenville, Elmhurst and Wood Dale is allowing all three towns to expand their Fourth of July celebrations.

LibertyFest is a new venture scheduled Saturday and Sunday, July 3 and 4, at Bensenville's Redmond Park that will include a parade, Fourth of July fireworks, live music, games and more.

The festival is sponsored by all three municipalities and will feature the new Taste of the Towns, a food area that offers dishes from all three suburbs.

"It's a good thing to be working with other communities since it ends up benefiting more people in the long run," said Bensenville spokesman Mike Martella.

This synergy is not completely new. In 2009, Elmhurst kicked in $5,000 to help sponsor neighboring Bensenville's $40,000 fireworks display so residents from both towns could enjoy the Fourth.

But this weekend's LibertyFest involves not only cost-sharing, but an expansion of holiday activities for each town: Wood Dale does not traditionally host any Fourth of July celebration and the Bensenville-Elmhurst event was only one day last year.

"We've never done this many bands and we have worked to have things happening all day long," said Martella. "The celebration has never been quite on the same scale as this year."

The festival will begin Saturday with an Independence Parade that steps off from Bensenville Town Center. The parade ends at Redmond Park, where children can learn circus skills and acrobatics from circus performers, visitors can watch figure skating demonstrations or join a public skate, and anglers can compete in a fishing derby.

There also will be caricaturists and a DJ spinning tunes until an evening performance by The Legends, who play hits from Jimmy Buffett, Jan and Dean and the Beach Boys.

Sunday continues with more games, pony rides, an outdoor bingo tournament and then a performance by cover bands The Stingrays and American English. Fireworks follow at dusk.

Taste of the Towns will run both days of the festival.

If leaders from all three suburbs agree these events are a success, Martella said, it's possible LibertyFest could become an annual tradition.

"We are always trying to improve and this might be one way to do that," he said.