Winfield centennial celebration includes Intelligentsia Cup
Residents in Winfield have two reasons to celebrate this weekend.
Winfield has combined Summerfest and the Winfield Criterium into one Sunday event commemorating the village's centennial and marks the first time the town plays host to the Intelligentsia Cup bike race.
"Since we're going to have this large outdoor event happening, we thought we could tie a few things together," Winfield Village President Carl Sorgatz said.
The Intelligentsia Cup is a professional multiday criterium cycling race famed for moving to different suburban and city locations. Besides Winfield, the Intelligentsia Cup in 2021 stops in West Dundee, Glen Ellyn, Mundelein, Lombard, South Chicago, Elgin, Lake Bluff and Chicago.
Bike races have become a tradition for Winfield. In previous years, the local Athletes By Design club organized the village's criterium.
This year, the nonprofit Winfield Foundation is playing host to the cycling races, which will run from 9 a.m. to 8:15 p.m.
"We were actually going to try to bring them in last year," said Intelligentsia Cup marketing director Mark Zalewski about adding Winfield to the circuit. "But our series of races didn't run last summer for reasons that everybody knows."
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Zalewski said the Intelligentsia Cup has not been able to register as many international teams as in past years. Still, he expects more than 600 local and national cyclists to race in Winfield.
"We like to say, we hold a bike race, and then a party breaks out," Zalewski said.
Zalewski said some residents and businesses initially were skeptical about bringing the Intelligentsia Cup to their town due to all the road closures. But he said they often change their minds once they see the number of visitors who show up and bring extra business to local restaurants and shops.
The Summerfest portion of the day features food trucks and family games at Winfield Primary School. A classic car show runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Prairie Trail Center. A historically costumed re-enactment of Winfield's incorporation will be at Oakwood Park (even though the actual anniversary date was April 18).
"I think we're going to have a pretty good crowd coming out," Sorgatz said. "It should be a lot of fun."
For more information on road closures and race times, visit intelligentsiacup.com or winfield100th.com.