WOW! The fireworks were the best I’ve seen in Carpentersville. There were thousands of people out to watch them. After a strange weather day today with the storms and the gusty winds this afternoon, the evening turned out to be quite nice for the fireworks display. I drove around the area and people were everywhere watching the show and what a show it was. The Village Fresh Market parking lot was filled as were all the other parking lots around the eastside of the Village. It was fortunate that we have moved the fireworks from Carpenter Park to the open field behind the Meadowdale Shopping Center. This makes a much better venue for viewing the spectacular event. This was the third year now that we’ve had the fireworks at this location and it has worked very well. Each year the show has gotten bigger and better. It was a beautiful sight indeed to watch all the people streaming back to their homes and cars at the conclusion of the display. Our police were out directing traffic doing a fine job. Some of the traffic signal lights had been knocked out by the wind storm earlier in the afternoon. But traffic was moving very well and the police were doing a fine job of keeping everyone safe as they ventured home after the show.
Unfortunately, the weather did not cooporate with our second annual Great American Festival. The power kept going on and off, but the vendors all stayed until the end and there was a fairly sizable crowd on hand to enjoy the fun. There were many children who were taking great delight in taking their turns on the inflatables. Janice Murphy our Economic Development and Special Projects Coordinator did a very good job. Given the conditions I would say the event went very well. Some of the food vendors even went across the street to sell their goodies to the people who had come early to stake out a good position for the evening’s show. The bands did an excellent job of providing music. I stood by and watched as a young father gave pennies to his toddler to throw into our fountain out front of Village Hall. The small boy was having the time of his life tossing those pennies into the clear water in the blue pool. I overheard the proud father ask the boy if he’d made a wish. It was a memorable momment for both of them as well as me. One of our maintenance employees saved a very frightened and very hungry parrakeet that obviously had been someone’s pet. The last I saw the parrakeet had been fed and was doing quite well. If you know of anyone who may have lost their pet bird you may want to check with Village Hall to see if this bird may be yours or someone you know. We are always the first in the area to celebrate July 4th, our nation’s birthday. This year we really did it up right. Thanks to the Dundee Park District for coordinating the fireworks event.
