Festival of thanks to Summerfest supporters
Dear Forest Park,
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! What a tremendous weekend for Summerfest. The Chamber of Commerce committee is proud to share our kudos with all of the sponsors, donors, merchants, employees, volunteers, friends and families who helped make the fest a success. Attendance doubled and we exceeded our expectations.
First of all, to the mayor, village, public works department, police deptartment and the auxiliary police department, without your support and diligent work, we could not have had two days of virtually flawless set up and take down. Sunday morning it was nearly impossible to tell there had been a festival. The streets were clean … and that’s impressive.
As far as we know, there were no altercations of any kind. Our police officers kept the streets safe and traffic running smoothly, facilitated setup and maintained order, and hopefully got a chance to enjoy the fest.
A very big thank you to all our sponsors whose generosity make Summerfest possible: Title Sponsors Consolidated Auto Service Center & Burke Beverage/Miller; Advertising Sponsors Ferrara Pan Candy and Two Fish Art Glass; Main Stage Sponsor Cherryfield Construction; Sound Booth Sponsor Gleason Chevrolet; Jazz Stage Sponsor Volvo of Oak Park; Summerfest Sponsors La Piazza, Team Blonde Jewelry, Forest Park Main Street; Healy’s Westside, The Brown Cow Ice Cream Parlor, Chicago Magazine, Red Bull, Trage Bros. Electronics & Appliances, AT&T, Macdaddy on Madison, M. Santana Boutique, Afkara Shoes, Doc Ryan’s, Todd & Holland Tea Merchants, Chrisopher B. Burke Engineering, Oak Park Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, Spotless Carwash, McNeil Financial Group, O’Sullivan’s Public House, Francesca’s Fiore, Jimmy’s Place, Ultra Foods, Louie’s Grill, Mohr Oil, Ed’s Way, Forest Park Review, Focus Development, Chris Guillen Studios, Thiesse Plumbing, Forest Park Firefighters Local 2753, deedee & edee, Schauer’s Ace Hardware, Neighbors Magazine, Storino Ramello & Durkin, American Family Insurance/Axtell Agency, Keystone Ventures LLC, Kagan & Gaines, Shanahan’s, Commissioner Marty Tellalian, MKM Services, Park District of Forest Park, Kathryn McBride, Shortstop Lounge and Forest Park Liquor Association.
Thanks also to our many wonderful volunteers too numerous to mention. We could not have done it without you … you are a valuable commodity.
To all the merchants and employees who participated, thank you for all your efforts. The overall consensus indicates that sales were up and everyone made new contacts, meeting many new customers that were visiting Forest Park for the first time. Great job everyone!
Finally, to the Summerfest committee-“the hardest working folks in show business,” Laurie Kokenes, Mark Hosty, Cec Hardacker, Bill Hosty, Heidi Vance, Connie Brown, Liz Axtell, Tom Krenek and Augie Alesky. No one will ever know how much work and coordination goes into an undertaking like this.
We all worked tirelessly (in addition to running our own businesses!) and we should pat ourselves on the back for a job well done!
Forest Park sure knows how to throw a party! Mark your calendars for Summerfest 2008, June 6 and 7. See you then!
Forest Park Chamber of Commerce Summerfest Committee
Forest Park
Summerfest thanks
The staff of the Howard Mohr Community Center thanks the following for their generosity and assistance during Senior Square at Summerfest. To Bob Kutak and the Public Works Department for all their help during the day. To Rick at Paulson’s Paint for his kindness letting us use their water for our refreshments and use of their restroom for our staff and senior citizens. To Mike Sturino, Commissioner Mike Curry and Mayor Calderone for their time calling bingo and announcing the name of the grand prize winner and we are extremely appreciative to Forest Park Wal-Mart for their very generous donation of the 26-inch HDTV for the grand prize. We also extend our thanks to all the folks who came out to play Bingo. Hope to see everyone again next year.
Beverly Thompson, director Howard Mohr Community Center
Forest Park
