Memorial Day Carnival back in business in Mt. Prospect

For decades, the Mount Prospect Jaycees Memorial Day Carnival served as the unofficial start to summer.

This week, after a three-year hiatus, the carnival is back.

The five-day event begins at 6 tonight at Mount Prospect Plaza, Rand and Central roads. It runs through Monday.

“We're so happy to bring this back again,” said event Chairwoman Becca Easley. “It has such a long history in the community.”

As in past years, the carnival will include a host of rides and plenty of food and beverages for sale. Admission is free, but ride tickets cost $1.25 each, and most rides require three to five tickets, Easley said.

Proceeds from the carnival go back into the community in the form of charitable contributions and funding for future Jaycees events. The Jaycees are a nonprofit civic group for young adults.

The last Memorial Day carnival was in 2010. The Jaycees canceled the 2011 event because of construction at the carnival site, and subsequent efforts to hold it didn't pan out.

This year, the Jaycees and Fantasy Amusements reached out to Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust, the new owners of Mount Prospect Plaza, and the parties got a deal in place, Easley said.

She said that looking ahead, everyone involved hopes the carnival picks up where it left off as an annual tradition in Mount Prospect.

“That would be wonderful,” she said. “We're all trying to make that happen.”

On Memorial Day, the carnival will not open until after Mount Prospect's annual Memorial Day parade and ceremony.

VFW Post 1337 is sponsoring the parade, which steps off at 9:35 a.m. from Busse Avenue and Emerson Street.

The parade will march to the Veterans' Memorial Bandshell at Lions Park for a short ceremony.