It`s soon to be sticky-finger, cotton-candy time, what with the absolute barrage of summer festivals scheduled this year throughout the Northwest.
But amid the twirly rides that make you dizzy, tables crammed with crafts and cold beer tents for those sizzling days will be some unique events that will test your curiosity and imagination.
Among them are good ol` bed races and a cattle show during that most unusual celebration of the bovine, the 50th Annual Harvard Milk Days through June 2. This is a hearty mixing of athletic events, like the 2- and 7-mile fun runs, and dairy product eating that drew an estimated 75,000 visitors last year to the community of 5,900 people.
The milk parade, at 1:30 p.m., June 1, is always a big deal that calls for white-washing and renaming the Main Street parade thoroughfare the Milky Way, explained Wanda Marzahl, secretary of Milk Days Inc., the non-profit group that organizes the event.
”It`s a country festival made large,” she said. ”I mean it`s got a down home flavor. Everyone is friendly. People come from all over and don`t know a soul, but they do by the end of the day.”
Of course, if you`re looking for something more strenuous than watching Misty the cow walk down the Milky Way, you can join 1,000 others for a 22-mile sprint down the Fox River during the Mid-American Canoe Race June 2.
Some people float all day while others race to beat the record of 2 hours and 8 minutes, said Paul Heinkel, superintendent of recreation for the Fox Valley Park District, which has sponsored the event for the last 31 years.
Ten canoes are launched every four minutes starting at 7 a.m. and not ending until the afternoon. ”It`s pretty neat when you start looking from the bridges. It`s nothing but a wave of canoes coming down the river,” he said.
Along those same cool, watery lines is Crystal Lake`s famous America`s Cardboard Cup Regatta June 29 when all sorts of people will prove their competence, or incompetence, at building and sailing boats of cardboard.
If music is your bag, then get thee to the annual Woodstock Mozart Festival Aug. 2 to 31 to hear a French boys` choir and many other professional musicians celebrate the Austrian composer.
Or try the first ever St. Charles Music Festival, which is an attempt to make that community a cultural feeding ground by bombarding visitors with an array of theater and musical performances, said Robert Murphy, executive director for the event.
Jazz will mix with classical, which will mix with architecture, English teas, dance, all kinds of artwork and even an international piano contest. It`s a combination organizers hope will draw 20,000 people.
And those are just a few of the events planned for summer suburbanites, according to Ann LaSala, executive director of the Northern Illinois Tourism Council. Four years ago, the council listed only 100 summer events in a brochure that this year describes 500 activities.
There are events designed to teach folks about Scandinavia and Greece, intrigue antique music collectors, challenge amateur volleyball enthusiasts, fascinate cemetery tour groups, inspire patriotism on Independence Day … Just browse the list below to find one that nabs your fancy:
See microfilm for complete listing:
