Glen Ellyn needs your help to put on a great July 4 parade
Organizers of Glen Ellyn's Fourth of July parade chose a fitting if long-winded theme to mark some of their challenges: "Blue, White and Red: North to South Instead."
Really, the "north to south" part gets at the problem. The traditional parade route is just the opposite, starting in front of Glenbard West High School and ending at Lake Ellyn.
But the roughly $3.2 million reconstruction of a stretch of Crescent Boulevard - mostly in front of the Hilltoppers' campus - forced planners to reverse the route.
"We're going to need volunteer help in order to pull this thing off more so than in the past," said Jim Rasins, the group's treasurer who made the plea for extra hands before the village board this week.
This year's parade will step off at Lenox Road and Hawthorn Boulevard near the lake; proceed north on Lenox to Linden Street; west on Linden to Main Street; and finally, south on Main to Crescent, ending in front of the horse trough downtown.
"Now, we've just got to worry about the people that are sitting in front of the Glen Theater before the parade starts, going, 'Hey, what great seats! Nobody's here yet,'" Rasins said.
The 11-member committee is seeking volunteers to make sure crowds know where to park their lawn chairs and to guide floats and marching bands to a staging area behind Glenbard West that won't be accessible via Ellyn Road because of the Crescent roadwork.
This matters because the committee has been planning since January in a town with high patriotic standards.
"If there's a gap of more than 10 minutes in the parade, we'll hear about it as a committee," Rasins said.
The park district also tweaked its Freedom Four run, starting at Lenox Road at 8 a.m. Saturday, July 4, because of the Crescent project.
The village will pay about $1.5 million toward the road project, while federal grants finance the rest. Since starting earlier this month, crews have removed the pavement, and much of the underground work is "well in progress," said Jeff Perrigo, the village's civil engineer.
Plans approved in May call for replacing the pavement and curbs on a 1,600-foot stretch of Crescent from Lake Road to Park Boulevard. Crews also will add a roundabout - the village's second - tying in Crescent Boulevard, Crescent Court and Park Row.
Those intersection improvements will help alleviate sightline issues for drivers and congestion from parents dropping off or picking up Glenbard West students, Perrigo said. Teens also will be able to safely cross a center median with a raised bed for landscaping.
The village has shut down Crescent between Park Boulevard and Crescent Court to meet an aggressive deadline. While the entire project should be finished this fall, the village expects to reopen the road to drivers before Aug. 24, or the start of the school year, Perrigo said.
The route changes, meanwhile, won't impact the number of units in the parade that usually range from 80 to 100.
"We've got a full parade," said Jim Burke, a committee member.
Rasins says those wanting to help with the parade or a fundraising picnic after the park district's cardboard boat regatta this Saturday can sign up at glenellyn4thofjuly.com.
"We play with the hand we're dealt with," Rasins said. "The plans for the ultimate project look great. We will survive and it will be a great parade."