Naperville Salute canceled this year, but hopes to be back in 2026

Increasing costs have prompted the cancellation of this year’s Naperville Salute festival.

The three-day event, which honors military and first responders, would have been held the last weekend of June at Rotary Hill.

“Unfortunately, we fell short of our fundraising goal and, as a result, cannot provide the same level of programming our hometown heroes and local community deserve,” festival organizers announced on the Naperville Salute Facebook page this week.“While this decision was not made lightly, the team remains deeply proud of what The Salute has represented — honoring our veterans, supporting local organizations and bringing the Naperville community together in celebration.”

The cancellation comes one year after Ribfest, which was held in Naperville until 2019 before moving to the DuPage County fairgrounds, announced the end of the long-running event.

Naperville Responds for Veterans, an organization that helps veterans with home repairs and renovations, has supported the event since its inception and has been one of Naperville Salute’s main beneficiaries, said Dan Jurjovec, president of Naperville Responds for Veterans.

He said when the family-geared event started in 2021, it was one of the first outdoor events after the COVID shutdown. As a result, organizers were able to get some “outstanding pricing” from vendors, he said.

The event featured food, live music, children’s activities and ceremonies honoring veterans, military and first responders.

“The inflationary reality of those costs caught up with us this year, and we didn’t feel comfortable with the level of fundraising we were at in February,” Jurjovec said, adding that festival organizers would have had to compromise the quality of the event to host it this year.

“It was a difficult decision, but at the end of the day, the group felt like that was the responsible thing to do for 2025,” he said of the cancellation.

He said the group expects to bring the event back in 2026 and will make a “targeted effort” for fundraising and to seek out as many bids as they can for vendors.

He added the Naperville Responds for Veterans Ruck March, an event typically tied to Naperville Salute, is still on for July 4, and additional information regarding registration will soon be available.