2 days ago
Children have a ball despite Grayslake parade cancellation; ‘We still got to come out and have some fun'
Heavy rains forced the last-minute cancellation of Saturday's Grayslake Summerfest parade, but some in attendance still managed to have a ball, or two.
At the corner of Whitney Street and Center Street, children set to march in the parade got a surprise when a parade participant released dozens of red and white beach balls from a truck which were apparently to be given away at the event.
'The kids are having a good time,' Tanya Blum of Island Lake said. 'This is so much fun.'
Grayslake Colts youth football players ended up kicking around beach balls instead of footballs.
'We were down here for some team bonding before the parade, so we ended up actually having some fun and having some team bonding done before the storm came in,' Grayslake Colts football coach Micah Montondo said. 'Despite the parade being canceled, we still got to come out and have some fun.'
Grayslake SummerFest, formerly known as Grayslake Summer Days, has kept the parade as a tradition for more than three decades and is sponsored by the Grayslake Chamber of Commerce.
The parade was set to feature more than 50 entries, but was cancelled about 45 minutes before its scheduled start when a storm front moved in, forcing community partners to batten down the hatches and secure vendor tents.
The gusty winds caused one large white barricade fixture to move on Whitney Street. The heavy metal partition stopped along a parking lot curb and did not ram into nearby parked cars.
Vendor Samantha Schenk of Beer Bazaar of Grayslake was set up for beverage sales under a large tent on Whitney Street and watched the kids have a ball.
'The rain will pass,' she said. 'It happens. It's the Midwestern weather. It's bound to happen.'
Meanwhile, personnel began clearing the parade route of safety cones.
Robert Frank of Lake Villa made sure to keep larger American flags secure in the back seat of a 1967 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport. The collectible car was supposed to appear in the parade.
'It's gonna ride the storm out,' Frank said of the dark mustard yellow classic wheels. 'We've seen a few hailstorms in our lives. She's been around for a while.'
Frank was there to volunteer at the beverage station staffed by the National Exchange Club. The club has a program that offers children complimentary American flags to wave. Those smaller 2,000 flags reserved for the parade will be saved for another day. No word yet whether the chamber's summer parade will be rescheduled.
'We never let them go to waste,' Frank said. 'Oh, they'll be handed out.'
