Photos: The Week in Pictures
Daily Herald photographers were in the heat, the smoke, the rain and the festivals to bring you the best moments of the first half of July in the suburbs of Chicago.
Haze caused by smoke from Canadian wiildfires hangs over downtown Mount Prospect on Thursday, July 16, 2026. (Joe Lewnard/Daily Herald)
Rain leaves ripples as it hits a puddle while a worker cleans up from storms at the Northwest Fourth-Fest Friday, July 3, 2026 in Hoffman Estates. (Brian Hill/Daily Herald)
Tayler Menzel, middle, of Wonder Lake enjoys a ride on the Matterhorn with brothers Braelan, left, and Brody Ryan, also of Wonder Lake, during the Mount Prospect Fourth of July Festival on Wednesday, July 1, 2026 in Mount Prospect. (Joe Lewnard/Daily Herald)
Presley Grimpe and her mother Kristin spend time together in their Mount Prospect home on Tuesday, June 30, 2026. Presley lost both legs to sepsis in March. (John Starks/Daily Herald)
Audience members dance during the performance by Rod Tuffcurls and the Bench Press during the Frontier Days Festival at Recreation Park on Thursday, July 2, 2026 in Arlington Heights. (Joe Lewnard/Daily Herald)
Landens Cota, 5, of Crystal Lake is on top of the shoulders of his dad, Tommy, while his brother, Mason, 3-1/2, is on the shoulders of mom Stephanie as the family watches Rod Tuffcurls and the Bench Press perform during the Frontier Days Festival at Recreation Park on Thursday, July 2, 2026 in Arlington Heights. (Joe Lewnard/Daily Herald)
Cathy Sample tries to fix an unlighted soldier that is one of more than 130 that are part of the holiday display in downtown East Dundee on Tuesday, June 30, 2026. Cathy and her husband Bob have collected the soldiers for almost 50 years and have donated them to the Dundee Township Lions Club, who have them on display in Memorial Park on Barrington Avenue in East Dundee. (John Starks/Daily Herald)
Lake County Sheriff's Deputy Evelyn Todd talks to the operator of a rented pontoon boat as she and a partner patrol Pistakee Lake on personal watercraft on Wednesday, July 1, 2026 in Fox Lake. (Joe Lewnard/Daily Herald)
Carey Schug, of Des Plaines protests in a chicken costume while the Chicago Northwest suburbs chapter of Indivisible, Northwest Suburbs Organizing for Action (NWSOFA) hosts a rally at the Clock Tower mall in downtown Arlington Heights on Saturday, July 18, 2026. (Joe Lewnard/Daily Herald)
Two people on a personal watercraft start moving north on the Fox River, just north of St. Charles. Several regulations and restrictions give access to the river for the small personal watercraft, also referred to by trademarked names like Jet Skis and Waverunners. They include state registration as well as Fox Waterway Agency stickers as well as safe conduct on the water. (John Starks/Daily Herald)
A Mundelein police officer checks the festival grounds Friday, July 3, 2026 at Courtland Commons Park in Mundelein, as a summer storm with lightning rolls into the area causing the Mundelein Community Days to be evacuated for safety. (Brian Hill/Daily Herald)
John Fischer, of Plainfield works on his Newport 11 World War I replica plane before the start to the Fox Valley Aero Club’s annual Windy City Warbirds & Classics remote control plane show in St. Charles Friday, July 10, 2026. “This was a box of sticks six months ago,” he said. (Rick West/Daily Herald)
Pastor Bob Etheridge pauses in the sanctuary of St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in Schaumburg, which is celebrating 175 years in what is now the southwest corner of the village, on Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (Joe Lewnard/Daily Herald)
Glen Ellyn resident Jonathan Charbonneau, who has autism, will be the grand marshal of the Glen Ellyn Fourth of July Parade. The locally famous Charbonneau has been asked to be grand marshal because he has worn the Superman costume at the parade for 30 years. (Joe Lewnard/Daily Herald)
McHenry Outdoor Theater starts a weeknight show at 1510 N. Chapel Hill Road, Lakemoor, on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (John Starks/Daily Herald)
Iana Victory, of Wheaton claims victory while playing a ball-pit game with friends during Wheaton's Independence Day celebration at Graf Park on Friday, July 3, 2026. (Joe Lewnard/Daily Herald)
Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson looks over some of the upgrades at the Elk Grove Cemetery, which include restored and reset headstones, a new flagpole, benches, signage, fencing and driveway asphalt, on Thursday, July 2, 2026 in Elk Grove Village. (Brian Hill/Daily Herald)
Abel Black, 17, of Move Up Cycling Club of Kansas City, eyes his line through a turn of the Men’s Cat 3 race during the first stage of the Chicago Grit bicycle races in West Dundee on Friday, July 17, 2026. (John Starks/Daily Herald)
Water sprays everywhere as the first round of the fire departments water fight starts during the Warrenville Fourth of July Celebration Saturday, July 4, 2026. (Brian Hill/Daily Herald)
Ballet Folklórico Huehuecoyotl dances their way down the parade route during the Elgin Fourth of July Parade Saturday, July 4, 2026. (Brian Hill/Daily Herald)
Lisle Community Band conductor Steve Green, a former Lisle High School instructor who founded the group in 1987, leads band members as they warm up for the first of four concerts of the season in Lisle. (Joe Lewnard/Daily Herald)
Schaumburg Village President Tom Dailly speaks at the opening of the village of Schaumburg's 70th anniversary exhibit at the Schaumburg Township District Library on Monday, July 6, 2026. (John Starks/Daily Herald)
Indra Genden, of Hoffman Estates snaps a photo of her fellow performers during the Mongol Naadam celebration Saturday, July 11, 2026 at Busse Woods in Elk Grove Village. The Chicago Mongolian community has celebrated Naadam annually since 2000. (Brian Hill/Daily Herald)
Luke Young bites into a Texas Outlaw BBQ rib at the 20th Annual Rockin’ Rotary Ribfest in Sunset Park in Lake in the Hills on Friday, July 10, 2026. His t-shirt reads Leftovers are for quitters. He was with his family from Carpentersville. (John Starks/Daily Herald)
Bill Taylor saved the life of a coworker at Dave & Busters in Schaumburg. He poses by the big screen tvs, his favortie part of the business, on Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (John Starks/Daily Herald)
Chris Garcia, holding umbrella, and Idalia Cardona, back right, and Evelyn, all of FSVRA, try to find some shade during Fox Valley Special Recreation Association’s Day in the Park, Wednesday, July 15, 2026 at Pottawatomie Park in St. Charles. (Brian Hill/Daily Herald)
A young boy puckers up to blow a kiss to a sheep Thursday, July 16, 2026 at the Kane County Fairgrounds in St. Charles. (Brian Hill/Daily Herald)