Mundelein Community Days festival schedule trimmed by a day
After taking a year off because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mundelein's Community Days festival will return this summer — but with a smaller-than-usual schedule.
“We're really excited to move forward with the event,” Kelsey Langeler, Mundelein's business services manager, said during Monday's village board meeting.
The festival is set to run from July 3-5 at Kracklauer Park, 116 N. Lake St. It's usually a four-day event, but the schedule was trimmed to three days because of COVID-related restrictions that were in place earlier this year and uncertainty about the future of the pandemic, said Adam Boeche, the village's public works and engineering director.
The festival initially was scheduled to start July 2.
As in the past, a carnival will coincide with the festival near the festival grounds. Because it's a separate operation, the carnival will begin July 2, Langeler said.
Reducing the duration of the festival reduces the cost of the event, Boeche said. That may be important because Community Days is expected to lose $20,000 to $30,000 this year, depending on attendance, Langeler told the board.
Donations that usually fund the event are down, Langeler said, in part because local businesses that normally would contribute have faced hardships during the pandemic.
However, attendance might be greater than usual because other suburbs have canceled or postponed their summer festivals, said Shah Quaiyoom, a member of the Community Days Commission.
Despite the shorter schedule, two of the big Community Days events — a fireworks show and a parade — will go on.
The fireworks show is planned for 9:30 p.m. July 4 over the festival grounds. The parade is set to step off at 2 p.m. July 5 at the Metra station, 205 N. Archer Ave.
More information can be found at mundelein.org/community/.