Fireworks, Music in the Park returning to Bensenville

Bensenville announced this week that its Independence Day Celebration and the free summer concert series Music in the Park will return, but in slightly altered forms.

"We're kind of viewing the Fourth of July as our 'beginning to return to normal,'" Bensenville Village Manager Evan Summers said. "But we don't want to come back too fast and blow our shot at this. We're tamping things down a bit."

As a safety precaution, Bensenville's Independence Day parade will not take place.

Instead, the focus is on fireworks at 9:30 p.m. from the Redmond Recreational Complex, 735 E. Jefferson St., plus music by DJ M.B. Entertainment at 6 p.m. and the Elton John tribute act Simply Elton at 7:30 p.m.

Bensenville's Music in Park typically begins in May. But this year, the season of Wednesday night outdoor concerts starts July 14 with a Motown revue performed by The Moods. The seven-concert series concludes Aug. 25 with Brian Harris returning to perform his Simply Elton show.

One thing missing from the Music in the Park concerts this summer is the classic car cruise nights. Summers hopes they will return next year.

"We used to have face painters, but that's not appropriate right now," Summers said. "It's going to be slightly subdued, but it should have all the energy."

If things do take a turn for the worse, Summers said Bensenville has taken contractual steps in case concert cancellations are necessary.

"If we had a situation where COVID-19 got out of control again, we have an out clause for the village to protect our financial interests," Summers said. "It's unclear what the COVID-19 restrictions will be July 14, but we're going to adhere to them."

Summers also said Bensenville will abide by all COVID-19 restrictions set out by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and the Illinois Department of Public Health.

"We're able to do this because of the hard work we've put in getting people vaccinated," Summers said. "With the vaccination task force, we've done 15,000 shots since January, so we've done a bang-up job bringing vaccines to our community."