New Hindu temple in Schaumburg will open with parade July 22

A new Hindu temple in Schaumburg will open with a parade and fanfare July 22.

A pair of floats and about 600 attendees are expected to mark the opening of the 21,000-square-foot Shree Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Temple and Cultural Center at 540 Martingale Road.

The procession will close a roughly milelong stretch of Martingale Road for a couple hours in the afternoon. It will step off at 4:30 p.m. from the parking lot of the Chicago Marriott Schaumburg, 50 N. Martingale Road, and cross the intersection of Schaumburg Road heading southbound. Use of the roadway is expected to be wrapped up by 6:30 p.m.

The village board recently approved the road closure and providing police security and other support.

Schaumburg Mayor Tom Dailly told parade organizers the aim is to minimize the impact on traffic that day.

"I just want to remind you, timing is everything," he said. "So that will be extremely important to trying to start on time and be done on time, 'cause it's closing Martingale."

Requests for the waiver of fees for such events are common, Dailly added. In this case, staff recommended a waiver of $3,430.50, half the estimated cost.

Marriott management has granted permission for the parade to assemble at the south end of its parking lot.

Schaumburg Park District officials said they didn't expect conflicts with a soccer event they're hosting at Olympic Park at the southwest corner of Schaumburg and Martingale roads, expected to wrap up by 3 p.m.

"Of course, we'll have some unhappy people complaining to the village over it, but they'll live," Dailly said. "Hopefully, it will be a gorgeous day and the weather will hold."

Though the roads involved are in Schaumburg, the temple's 8-acre property is unincorporated. Construction was approved by the Cook County Board before the groundbreaking five years ago.

An accompanying celebration at the Schaumburg Renaissance Hotel is expected to draw between 1,000 and 1,500 participants.