Lots of towns are putting together nice 4th of July celebrations. You may live in one that isn`t doing much. Or you may be tired of watching the local Lions Club parade around and would like to look at some other town`s Lions for a change.
If so, take a gander at the stuff we`ve assembled here. You want fun, we`ve got fun. Bands, parades, fireworks, carnivals–we`ve got `em. Not all of them, of course, but enough to give you absolutely no excuse to sit around and mope just because the Shriners aren`t bringing their little cars to your town this year.
1. Grant Park. Chicago`s annual fireworks display takes place, as usual, on July 3; expect an enormous crowd. The Grant Park Symphony performs in the music shell at 8 p.m.–broadcast live on WFMT (FM 98.7)–followed by the fireworks, synchronized to the symphony`s performance of the 1812 Overture, at dusk.
Grant Park will be a great place to visit the rest of the weekend, too. Saturday`s entertainment includes the WFMT Folk Music Festival, featuring Joan Baez, Fairport Convention and Odetta. There are also the Culpepper and Merriweather Circus and the Clemente High School Steel Band performing at various times. The Taste Stage lineup includes Balance of Power, 1 p.m.;
Safari, 2 p.m.; Calvin Bridges and the Bridges, 3 p.m.; Ken Chaney Experience, 4 p.m.; Pirhana Brothers, 5 p.m.; Vanessa Davis, 6 p.m.; and Jimmy Damon, 7 p.m.
On Sunday, WLS (AM 89) is sponsoring a free concert from 2 to 6 p.m. that should be terrific. It begins with local favorites Four Guys Standing Around Singing, then the Buckinghams, followed by Chicago. If you don`t get down there in person, WLS is broadcasting the entire concert live. This also will be the last day of Taste of Chicago, and crowds should be less intense than they will be on Friday and Saturday.
2. Naperville. Naperville`s 4th starts at 2:45 p.m. Saturday at Knoch Park, Martin and West Streets, with opening flag ceremonies and the National Anthem sung by Four Guys Standing Around Singing. At 3 p.m. festivities get under way with carnival games, volleyball, food tent and beer garden. There`s also a Star-Spangled Hunt–stars, hidden throughout the park, are redeemable for prizes. There are three entertainment stages: The children`s stage features magicians and jugglers, the beer garden stage features the Four Guys from 3 to 5 p.m. and Dave Rudolph from 6 to 7 p.m., and the main stage presents New Odyssey at 7:45 p.m. The fireworks show, $10,000 worth, begins at 9:30 p.m. and is choreographed to music broadcast by WKKD (FM 96). Parking at Knoch Park is scarce, but there`s shuttle bus service from a number of scattered lots.
3. Chicago Historical Society. The society`s annual ”old-fashioned”
celebration begins at 10:15 a.m. Saturday at the Lincoln Park Monument, just east of Clark Street and North Avenue, with a concert of patriotic music by the Bicentennial Band. Following the posting of the colors and a reading of the Declaration of Independence, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin will deliver the patriotic oration. Staffers will pass out free balloons and miniature flags, and the Vienna Sausage Company will provide a complimentary hot dog, bag of chips and soft drink at noon.
4. Arlington Park Racetrack. It`s a big weekend out at Arlington Park, Ill. Hwy. 53 at Euclid Avenue. On Friday there`s the $50,000 Springfield Stakes race, along with roaming musical groups (in the stands, silly), and clowns and summer food specials. Sunday there`s a tribute to Vietnam veterans, including a pre-race veterans` parade. Grandstand admission $2 both days. Saturday is highlighted by a Jukebox Saturday Night dance party, sponsored by Ditka`s Trackside Restaurant, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. That`s followed by Arlington Park`s annual fireworks show, a half-hour blowout consisting of 1,000 aerial displays and a 375-shell grand finale. Admission to both events is free.
5. Blue Island. You don`t mess with success, I guess. Blue Island`s 4th of July celebration is exactly the same as last year`s. It starts at 12:30 p.m. Saturday with the Junior Parade (for those in junior high or younger), traveling from Western Avenue and 123d Street to Western Avenue and New Street. At 1 p.m., the Senior Parade–the one with the marching bands, floats, decorated cars and the like–follows the same route. At 6:30 p.m. the gates open to Eisenhower High School`s football field, Sacramento Avenue and 127th Street. At 7 p.m. the entertainment begins, with the Imperial Youth Band, skydivers and trophy presentations for the parade winners. At dusk is an extravagant, 45-minute fireworks show.
6. Crystal Lake. Check out the other lakeshore this weekend. Saturday marks the conclusion of the Crystal Lake Gala Festival, consisting of an arts and crafts show, children`s carnival rides, petting zoo, pony rides and, of course, a Taste of Crystal Lake and beer garden. At 11 a.m. the parade starts at Central High School, proceeding down Crystal Lake Avenue on its way to Main Beach, on Golf Course Road. Afternoon attractions include a Dixieland Band, Marine helicopters, antique auto show and a 3 p.m. pet parade. Or you can swim in the lake; nonresident fees are $4 children, $5 adults. The Community Band performs in the evening, followed at dusk by a half-hour fireworks show. All the action takes place at Main Beach or at Lakeside Center, which is across the street. Parking available at Main Beach and two nearby schools.
7. Mt. Prospect. The Annual Village Fair and Taste of Mt. Prospect, sponsored by the Mt. Prospect Lions Club, runs through Sunday and features local restaurants, beer garden, carnival, bingo and live entertainment at Melas Park, Central and Busse Roads. Saturday`s schedule includes a pancake breakfast from 7:30 a.m. to noon, a parade beginning at 1 p.m. in Lions Park at Maple Street and ending at Melas Park, evening concert featuring Presence and a 30-minute fireworks show at dusk.
8. Hamilton Lakes. Friday marks the third annual Taste of Hamilton Lakes, a bash thrown by the hotel, restaurant and office complex for the local community. The taste, featuring a variety of food tents, is set up like Taste of Chicago–you buy coupons and use them to purchase food and beer. Radio station WKQX (FM 101) will conduct live remote broadcasts on the site from its new ”Boom Box,” a 40-foot trailer that looks like an overgrown radio. At 9:30 p.m. there will be a 20-minute, 1,000-plus shell fireworks display, choreographed to music that Q-101 will simulcast. Hamilton Lakes is at Ill. Hwy. 53 and Thorndale Road, Itasca, about five miles south of Woodfield Mall. Admission is free, but parking is $3 per car.
9. Brookfield Zoo. The Brookfield Zoo always puts on a nice show for the kiddies. During Saturday`s ”Animals in Action” segments at 2 and 3 p.m. in the Children`s Zoo, the usual show of domestic animals is augmented by Leah, an American bald eagle, and Black, an American-bred standard horse. And the animals will help present the colors, after which everyone joins in to sing
”The Star Spangled Banner.” Elsewhere, the Hurtin` Buckaroos Bluegrass Band plays from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday on the East Mall, next to Roosevelt Fountain. And, as on every weekend, there are five dolphin shows instead of four. The zoo is at 1st Avenue and 31st Street in Brookfield.
10. Hoffman Estates. Gates open at 6 p.m. Saturday at Poplar Creek, Ill. Hwy. 59 and the Northwest Tollway, for a free concert by the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, followed by a 30-minute fireworks show. Admission free; parking $2. Hoffman Estate`s municipal grounds, Gannon Drive between Higgins and Golf Roads, is the site for the village`s 4th of July Celebration, which includes carnival rides and games, arts and crafts fair, food tent and live
entertainment, runs through this weekend. Saturday`s lineup includes the Jesse White Tumblers at 1 p.m., country band South Forty from 4 to 6 p.m. and the Hub Cats at 7 p.m.
