Rose Fest returns to unite neighbors, help community
Bob Jilke jokes that he stopped counting after his first 15 years of coordinating the Roselle Lions Club annual Rose Festival, but, really, he’s been at it for 25 years now.
And with all that time under his belt, Jilke said he’s seen the fest grow immensely while maintaining the charm that makes it a Roselle tradition.
“It’s really about kicking off summer with your peers,” he said. “You could go to a theme park and stand in line or sit on rides with strangers. But here you see young people who have gone away to college reuniting with high school friends, young kids anticipating their last day of school, and neighbors visiting.”
The annual Rose Fest returns to the Roselle Metra Station lot Thursday, May 31, to Sunday, June 3, concluding with the traditional Rose Parade Sunday.
The fest features live entertainment daily in the Festival Miller Beer Garden, carnival rides, games, food vendors and more. And Sunday’s parade, sponsored by the Roselle Chamber of Commerce, steps off at 2 p.m. and will be led by Grand Marshal Kristen Langner.
Langner, an optometrist, is the chamber’s 2012 Business Person of the Year.
The Rose Parade will include floats, marching bands, color guards, the Rose Queen and her court, dancers, racing cars and walkers passing out candy for the children.
But the Rose Festival wasn’t always such a to-do, Jilke said. When it started decades ago in a nearby park, the fest had one band that played for the whole weekend and no carnival rides.
“People would sit in the weeds listening to music and get chigger bites,” Jilke said, laughing.
But the fest’s growth isn’t only good for visitors. It’s also good for the community, as the Roselle Lions Club pours the money it raises into its charitable work.
Over the years, the group has used proceeds from the fest to purchase large-print books for the library, to throw a children’s Christmas party that collected food donations for the Bloomingdale Townshipand Trinity Lutheran Church food pantries, and to provide hearing aids for the elderly, among dozens of other projects.
They’ve also used proceeds to donate to local charitable organizations, such as Marklund, which provides programs for people with severe developmental disabilities, or Stepping Stones, which helps victims of domestic violence.
“Everything we do goes back to the community,” Jilke said. “When this carnival is over, if we make $10,000 there will be $10,000 that is donated back.”
Jilke said it’s that spirit of giving — even more than the fun of the fest — that keeps him and his fellow Lions going every year, growing the fest and keeping it alive. Jilke recalled a time in the Rose Festival’s early years when he and his fellow Lions watched a patient have bandages removed after a surgery to restore her eyesight. The Lions had helped fund the effort.
“She looked at the boy next to her and said, ‘I never imagined your hair was so curly,’” Jilke said. “That’s when I decided, this is something good. So every time I go out there and put in an hour selling beer in the tent or something, I realize that money may give one kid a chance at life.”
Rose Festival
The Roselle Lions Club annual Rose Festival will be from 6 to 11 p.m. Thursday, May 31; 6 p.m. to midnight Friday, June 1; noon to midnight Saturday, June 2; and noon to 10 p.m. Sunday, June 3, at the Roselle Metra Station Parking Lot, Irving Park Road and Maple Avenue. The event includes music, carnival rides, food and bingo. Admission is free. Carnival ride specials are 10 rides for $15 on Thursday; unlimited ride wristbands $20 from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Vendor and sponsor proceeds benefit the Lions Club. Info: roselle.il.us.
THURSDAY
8 p.m. Hyperflo
FRIDAY
8 p.m. Rod Tuffcurls and the Benchpress
SATURDAY
1-5 p.m. Bingo
6:30 p.m. Partyhardigans
8 p.m. Howard and the White Boys
SUNDAY
2 p.m. Rose Parade
3 p.m. Living Out Loud
6 p.m. According to Andrew