Batavia resident Haley O’Brien and her family always check out the annual Windmill City Festival, a summertime staple in the city.
“I grew up here and have lived in Chicago for the past nine years, but I moved back recently and I’m so glad I did,” O’Brien said as she pushed her daughter in a stroller and headed toward the entrance of the fest, held by the Batavia Park District Friday through Sunday at the Batavia Riverwalk.
The three-day fest included music, food, entertainment and a variety of family-friendly activities.
This year’s version was beefed up with a few extra attractions to go along with some of the staples which again included the food tent and beer garden, the golf challenge held at Depot Pond and a pet show.
O’Brien said the fest is always a great way to connect with people.
“I see people that I’ve met down the street at a local brewery or at the farmers market and you recognize faces and make plans to come together and meet down here. That’s my favorite part,” she said.
Anna Miller and her boyfriend Teddy Heidgerken, both from Batavia, came to enjoy the fest over the weekend.
“I’ve been here all my life and I like walking around in the afternoon or evening with my family and having fun,” Miller said. “For Batavia, I feel like this is nice because it gives people a chance to see each other outside of school or outside of work and just look around and have fun and stuff. It’s very nice. Even though we’re not really quite a small town, it makes it feel more like a small town.”
Margaret Stec of Batavia said she came to the Windmill City Festival on opening night and was back again on Saturday.
“We live right across the pond, so we can just walk over,” Stec said. “We moved here just three years ago but we’ve embraced the culture pretty quickly. Batavia is all about community. We have friends that have lived here and when we moved, we were very nervous because we moved from Oak Park – a big change. They said, ‘You may not have a lot of friends here yet, but the community will become your friends.’ She was absolutely correct.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
