announcements during the 2014 Flossmoor Fest. The
festival returns Saturday for an all-day opportunity to
enjoy good food, fun activites and socializing with
neighbors. (Photo provided by the Village of Flossmoor)
As community celebrations go, Flossmoor Fest is a relatively modest affair.
There are no parades and no fireworks. School choirs sing during the afternoon and bands perform at night. A handful of local restaurants sell food and there are few vendors. Most of the main events take place on a one-block stretch of downtown Flossmoor.
That’s the way its organizers like it, Flossmoor Fest Chairman Tom Tomaszewski says.
“I like seeing it geared toward our community,” he said. “Over the years we have talked about having more publicity and a bigger fest. But we always go back to the original idea. We want Flossmoor people to be at the event.”
That doesn’t mean people from outside Flossmoor aren’t welcome, Tomaszewski said.
“If you want to bring friends from outside Flossmoor, that’s great,” he said. “They’ll get to see what our community is like. I think that’s especially true for kids. What could be better than to be a youngster and to bring your friends to Flossmoor Fest?”
Flossmoor Fest returns Saturday with a full day of events for all ages in the village’s downtown area and at Flossmoor Park.
Tomaszewski has been on the Flossmoor Fest Committee for 10 years and its chairman for the last three village celebrations.
“We’ve done it so many years that it doesn’t seem that hard anymore,” he said, adding that village staff members take care of many of the details that make the fest work so well.
“They do the leg work and they do a fine job of it,” he said. Tomaszewski said four village staffers deserve the most credit: Kimberly Richardson, assistant to the village manager; Josephine Armsbury, executive assistant in the manager’s office; Assistant Public Works Director Tony Anczer; and Dawn Lencioni, public works secretary.
Tomaszewski said he has seen some changes over the years. For a while, some musical acts performed in Flossmoor Park but patrons said they preferred to see the bands and choirs along Sterling Avenue in the downtown area.
“We decided it was better to have interactive events at Flossmoor Park,” he said. “So that’s where you’ll find a lot of the activities for kids – the horses and the bouncy things and the train.”
Tomaszewski said his main concern on the day of the fest is making sure “that things come off when they are supposed to.”
“We have a schedule and it is important that entertainment is taking place at the right time and that the people know what’s going on.”
It’s fun putting on a celebration for Flossmoor and its people, he says.
“We like seeing them have a good time. We also like talking to them at the event to see what they like and if there is anything else they’d like at Flossmoor Fest.
“All in all, I like to see it work.”
A full schedule of this year’s events is posted on the Flossmoor Fest website at http://www.flossmoor.org/308/Flossmoor-Fest.