There will be no Naperville Salute this summer, organizers have announced.
The Fourth of July celebration, annually held at Naperville’s Rotary Hill, is canceled due to organizers falling short of their fundraising goal, according to an event update posted to Naperville Salute’s Facebook page.
Amid funding challenges, organizers said they could not “provide the same level of programming our Hometown Heroes and local community deserve,” the post said.
This year would have been the festival’s fifth. It was scheduled to take place from June 27-29.
Organizers could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.
Naperville Salute launched in 2021. It was an idea conceived by Naperville Responds for Veterans, which assists veterans and their families — especially those with low and moderate incomes — with home repairs and renovations.
The festival is billed as a “family-friendly Independence Day hometown celebration, centered around our appreciation for veterans, active military, first responders and their families,” the Naperville Salute website says.
In previous years, the event has boasted food, drinks, children’s activities, live entertainment and special presentations for the military.
Naperville Salute came in the wake of Naperville Ribfest, the city’s former longstanding Fourth of July celebration, which moved to a new location after its 2019 run.
Ribfest, after a few years spent at the DuPage County Event Center and Fairgrounds in Wheaton, ended permanently last summer.
In their post Tuesday, Naperville Salute organizers said the decision to cancel the festival “was not made lightly.” However, they assured the “spirit of The Salute lives on.”
Organizers said they “look forward to sharing what’s next” and to “celebrating and honoring our veterans, military, and first responders in 2026.”
