Winfield ready to celebrate Good Old Days
Celebrating under a hometown beer tent illuminated by carnival lights while local bands play hits from Boston, the Doobie Brothers and Bob Seger - the soundtrack from the West Chicago Community High School Class of '79's youth - the Wildcats plan to reminisce and reconnect Saturday night.
"Good Old Days is kind of like that," said Patti Weber, festival coordinator. "People come back for Good Old Days."
Winfield Good Old Days continues through Sunday, kicking off with a Knights of Columbus scholarship dinner and televised Bears game in the Winfield Lions Club tent Thursday night. The carnival and the other festival activities run Friday through Sunday.
"Winfield Good Old Days was always a place where all our classmates kind of gathered," said alumna Kathy Wheeland, who plans to journey back to Illinois from Carmel, Indiana, for the Saturday night 40th class reunion.
"I was raised in Winfield from third grade on and went to Good Old Days every single year. The older we get, we find we don't want to have a banquet-type reunion. We've been there, done that. We wanted something more casual."
This year is the 52nd annual Good Old Days festival, an end-of-summer bash that features music, food, children's activities, a teen street dance, a parade and a competitive bicycle race.
The festivities also include trolley and carnival rides, a bags tournament, a petting zoo, a business expo, a car show, food vendors and a meatball-eating contest.
There's also the Winfield Criterium, a nationally known bicycle race.
For the second consecutive year, the Criterium is being staged during the festival, with the course moving from the south to the north side of the railroad tracks along Oakwood Park, Weber said.
The racing begins at 9 a.m. and goes until 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, and features both professional and amateur racers. Race-day registration fees range from $30 to $50 with cash prizes awarded to top finishers.
A Youth Talent Showcase will take the stage from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday followed by a teen street dance at 7:30 p.m. in Creekside Park.
New this year is a Steak Cook-Off, benefiting charities supported by the Winfield Lions Club, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday with the winner of the best-cooked steak taking a $1,000 prize.
The parade steps off at 1 p.m. Sunday at Sunnyside Avenue and Winfield Road.
Weber said the music bill includes opener Sammy and the Knights, followed by headliners the Cryan' Shames and Ronny Rice on Friday night. True Company and Rack and the Riddler play Saturday night and Three Piece and a Biscuit play Sunday afternoon.
The festival is presented by the Western DuPage Chamber of Commerce and nonprofit organizations including the Knights of Columbus and the Winfield Lions Club in cooperation with the village and the Winfield Police Department, Weber said.
Wheeland, whose maiden name is Miessler, said she remembers attending the festival as a little girl.
"Back in the old days, we would dress up like 'Little House on the Prairie.' We'd have the long dresses with the bonnets that would tie underneath your chin. It was always such a family time," she said.
She said she met her husband, Mike, in their sophomore year at West Chicago Community High School.
"He was football. I was on poms. The rest is history," she said. "We had the best class. Our class, we all got along. Homecoming was a huge, big deal in our day. A lot of us have kept in touch. Good Old Days has always been the place where we'd meet."
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Winfield Good Old Days Festival and Criterium
When: 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5, for scholarship dinner; festival runs 4 to 11 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6, 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 8
Where: Church Street and Beecher Avenue, Winfield
Admission: Free
Info: winfieldgoodolddays.com, facebook.com/winfieldgoodolddays and winfieldcriterium.com