Palatine Hometown Fest celebrates the July Fourth
Palatine will celebrate the nation's independence with fireworks, live music, a large parade through the village's downtown and lots more family fun, during the 58th annual Hometown Fest sponsored by the Palatine Jaycees.
The fest begins today and runs through Sunday at Community Park, located at Palatine Road and Northwest Highway.
"Hometown Fest brings Palatine residents together to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday," said Joanne Rinaldo, co-chair of the festival. "As we always do, we've made this festival for the entire community. We have events and activities for all ages with the arts and crafts fair/business and charity expo, the ever popular parade and fireworks, Family Day and a wide variety of food and music."
The fest gets underway at 1 p.m. today with the Kathleen A. Blanck Memorial Carnival. The two-hour event provides free carnival rides for individuals with special needs and their families. Registration begins at 12:30 p.m.
The carnival opens for everyone else at 5 p.m., along with food and beverage sales. The Mega Pass, which allows a visitor to go on rides anytime the carnival is open, is available online at hometownfest.org for $70, or at the festival grounds for $80.
Organizers worked to make music a big part of this year's fest, starting with a performance by Illinois Teen Battle of the Band winners Trance from 5 to 6 p.m. today. Matchbox 20 cover band 3AM follows at 6:30 p.m., and local favorites 7th heaven closes the first night with a 9 p.m. set.
"We've made sure that everyone who comes to the festival will enjoy the music," Rinaldo said. "We have everything from swing to country and rock from the 1940s to today."
The band Hawthorn Effect, featuring Palatine's own John Jausch, leads off Friday's entertainment schedule at noon, followed by country band Summer Son at 2:30 p.m., and Serendipity at 5 p.m. Hometown Fest favorite Bucket Number 6 takes the stage from 7:30 p.m. until the fireworks show. The evening's music ends with rock band Semple from 10 p.m. to midnight.
The lineup Saturday kicks off with the Park District Battle of the Bands winner at noon, followed by Suburban Cowboys at 2:30 p.m., Rumor Hazit at 5 p.m., Libido Funk Circus at 7:30 p.m. and Hairbanger's Ball from 10 p.m. until midnight.
The Jaycees are expanding the entertainment schedule to include live music all day on Sunday, beginning with Planet Groove at 12:30 p.m., RSVP Orchestra at 3 p.m. and Rolling Stones tribute band Hot Rocks at 5:30 p.m. The evening wraps up with classic rock cover band ARRA at 8 p.m.
Also on Sunday, Hometown Fest is introducing a new event, an American Classic car show. Car registration is from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., with judging scheduled to take place from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Awards will be handed out at 7:30 p.m.
The most anticipated event during the celebration is the fireworks display, which this year takes place at approximately 9:30 p.m. Friday. This year's show will "incorporate all of last year's crowd favorite pyrotechnics as well as some that the committee feels the community will appreciate," said festival co-chair Richard Lewis.
Like last year, the Jaycees are teaming with the Bike Palatine Club to encourage residents to ride their bikes to the fireworks show. From 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., the Jaycees and bike club are offering supervised bike parking at the tennis courts on festival grounds.
The annual parade will step off at 11 a.m. Saturday on Cedar Street with 70 entries, including several musical acts including the Palatine Community Band, the High School Drum Majors, the Paul Hall Boys and Girls Club Drum and Bugle Core. The Jesse White Tumblers will be entertaining the crowd along with the Bensenville Shriners Segway Precision Drill.
The fest will celebrate Family Day from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, with face painting, balloon art and activity stations, temporary tattoos, small crafts and painting.
Other highlights include the Arts & Crafts Fair/Business & Charity Expo on Saturday and Sunday, featuring more than 70 exhibits of pottery, jewelry, paintings and a wide variety of other unique items; and bingo hosted by American Legion Post 690 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday in the pavilion.
Some of Palatine's best eateries and civic groups will supply pizza, hamburgers, ribs, ice cream and some international treats to satisfy the heartiest of appetites. Among the restaurants and groups taking part are American Legion Post 690, Beef on the Moove, Chicago Classics, Evon Butcher, Georgie's Greek Tasty Foods, Heybeck's Meat Market, Immanuel Lutheran Church, JJ Twigs, Lee's Concessions, Pancho's Mexican Food, Yumz Yogurt and Morkes Chocolate.