Glenview Park District offers Tomato Fest, marks Grove Heritage Association anniversary
The Glenview Park District will celebrate village history in a pair of activities coming up on consecutive days in September.
From 1-5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, Historic Wagner Farm, 1510 Wagner Road, will host its first Tomato Fest.
A working farm, this year Wagner Farm planted more than 1,200 tomato plants in 20 different varieties.
The free event will be held in collaboration with Saints Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church. It will offer tomato canning demonstrations, tomato-themed games and contests, a scavenger hunt, photo booth, and field tours every half-hour.
Some things will cost money, with $1 tickets for activities requiring from one to 15 tickets. Food tastings, wagon rides, tomato tie-dyeing, cow chip bingo and felt tomato magnet crafts are among the activities.
Food tastings include a Bloody Mary bar, focaccia pizza, chili in a tomato bowl, tomato soup and grilled cheese, and samples of tomato dishes served around the world.
Employees will explain the various ways Wagner Farm uses its bounty of tomatoes, from selling them in the gift shop to preparing farm soil for next year's crop.
Parking will be available at Wagner Farm and also at Saints Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church, which is right next door.
On Sunday, Sept. 10, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., The Grove Heritage Association will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a special event at The Grove, 1421 Milwaukee Ave.
The free event will feature a dedication of the anniversary, the unveiling of an art installation made for the occasion, the signing of a special commemorative banner, and a scavenger hunt.
The association began in 1973 as a group of 10 women - initially derided as "the frog and fern ladies," the small, grass-roots group came to embrace the term - dedicated to "Save the Grove" from development.
Spanning 154 acres of savanna and wetlands, what is now The Grove was the home of horticulturalist and educator Dr. John Kennicott, who with his family settled first in a log cabin in 1837. Son Robert Kennicott, who helped build the Kennicott House on the property in 1856, became an esteemed naturalist and explorer who founded the Chicago Academy of Sciences.
The "Save the Grove" committee - the "frog and fern ladies" - succeeded in preserving the land from development. The property was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
Enlisting the Glenview Park District's involvement in 1974, voters approved by 89% an $875,000 bond issue to buy and protect The Grove. The goal was to maintain the property's ecological, historical and educational resources.
In 1975, the committee formally was established as the Grove Heritage Association. A year later, the U.S. Congress named The Grove a National Historic Landmark, and in 1997 it achieved Illinois Nature Preserve status.
The nonprofit Grove Heritage Association has since raised millions of dollars to benefit the property and enhance its mission of education and preservation. The grove annually attracts more than 200,000 visitors who explore its paths, attend special events and enjoy and learn from significant historic holdings, such as the Redfield Estate, and newer construction like the Wetland Greenhouse and a period schoolhouse.
To help commemorate the association's 50th anniversary, this year the Grove Heritage Association has taken on special projects to repair the Kennicott House Signature Wall, conserve the historic Grove Quilt and other artifacts, and refurbish the Kennicott House with period-appropriate furniture.