An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 people attended the four consecutive days of Lincolnwood Fest, starting July 25 through Sunday, at Henry A. Proesel Park on Kostner Avenue in Lincolnwood.
“Lincolnwood Fest is such a great opportunity for the community and visitors to come together and celebrate all of the amazing things that Lincolnwood has to offer,” said Karen Hawk, director of parks and recreation for the Village of Lincolnwood.
People from surrounding neighborhoods have made Lincolnwood Fest a summer tradition. Many families make it a priority to make intergenerational memories with their loved ones.
Playing with a bubble wand her grandparents from Lincolnwood bought for her was Mila Patel, 18 months, of Skokie. Her grandparents and her parents, Kunal and Radhika Patel, watched with delight on a carnival midway as Mila seemed enchanted with the pink kitty toy.
“We’ve been coming here since I was a child,” said Kunal Patel, who grew up in Lincolnwood and is of the Niles West High School Class of 2004.
“So it’s awesome as an adult to come here and bring my child.”
Radhika Patel observed, “The grandparents grew up going to carnivals and then we grew up and so it’s just like, it’s so nostalgic.”
Abdul Latif and Beauty Begum of Lincolnwood, the parents of Taseen Ryan, 12, a rising seventh-grader and Liyana Rahman, 7, a rising second-grader, watched their children go on rides.
The siblings took a long spin on the Ferris wheel and tried to pinpoint their residence from the top of the ride.
Lincolnwood Fest, “is a pretty awesome thing to do actually within your village that you can come together with your family and have fun,” Abdul Latif said. “There’s a lot to do.
“It’s for different ages,” Latif said. “It’s for everybody.”
The schedule included music, food and rides for teens and adventurous adults plus tots.
Ivy Grace Kittinger, 3, of Elmwood Park, went on the colorful balloon circle ride and other kiddie rides such as the roundabout festive motorcycles.
“It’s important,” to spend time with family and take every minute that you can,” said her mother Leslie Wojciechowski.
The little girl’s entourage included her grandmother Susan Wojciechowski of Chicago’s Jefferson Park and aunt Nina Logan, originally from Chicago and now of Waynesville, Missouri.
“We’re all so close as a family,” Ivy Grace’s mother added. “We do everything together.”
Sylvia Martinez-Johnson of Sauganash went on many of the more advanced rides with daughter Valentina Johnson, 10, a rising sixth-grader.
Valentina starts school in mid-August like many area children so summer memory-making is a priority, Sylvia Martinez-Johnson said.
“I remember when I was a kid, I always kept looking at all of those (carnival) lights and all the different amusement parks.
“I always wanted to go,” Martinez-Johnson recalled. “And so now with my daughter, I want to take her to all of them, as many as we can.
“You only live once.”
