text: Septemberfest Is Season Finale - tribunedigital-chicagotribune
  Schaumburg Puts In Group Effort For 30th Anniversary
  August 31, 2000|By Walter Gottesman. Special to the Tribune.
  After a year of planning by 15 dedicated volunteers and with the hands-on help of more than 150 others, Schaumburg is set to be the host for 250,000 expected visitors at its 30th annual Septemberfest gala over Labor Day weekend.
  "Everybody gets involved," said Mike Daniels, chairman of the organizing committee for the past seven years. "It's truly a community festival. Without volunteers, the expense would be phenomenal. Most have volunteered for over 15 years. They're very good at what they do."
  Festivities will begin Friday with the crowning of Miss Septemberfest at a luncheon in Poplar Creek Country Club in Hoffman Estates, followed by a free public kickoff party from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m in the Schaumburg Marriott's lakeside tents, 50 N. Martingale Rd.
  The carnival will take place Saturday, Sunday and Monday at the village's Municipal Center grounds, Schaumburg Road and Summit Drive. It includes 18 rides, 10 games, live entertainment, a bingo tent, nightly fireworks displays, pony rides, an arts and crafts fair, and a 2-mile "Time Marches On" parade, among other activities.
  Food will be available at the Taste of Schaumburg, catered by 20 top area restaurants, Saturday and Sunday and at a food sale by not-for-profit organizations to benefit local agencies, Monday.
  "We always anticipate 250,000 people," said Roxane Benvenuti. "It's tough [to know the attendance] because admission is free. ...But when you're up on top of the Ferris wheel and see all areas of grass in sight covered, that's about 250,000."
  Benvenuti said that though the schedule for the three-day event is the same as in past years, the budget for the parade, which begins at 10 a.m. Monday, has been increased to include a performance by the Naperville-based Lima Lima Flight Team.
  Daniels said the parade theme, Time Marches On, was chosen "to allow the parade participants to wear costumes and have their floats reflect anything in the 20th Century."
  Other new features of this year's Septemberfest include nationally and internationally known performers such as J.T. Taylor, former lead singer for R&B group Kool and the Gang, on Saturday night; Davy Jones of the Monkees on Sunday night; and Chicago jazz great Ramsey Lewis and the Ramsey Lewis Trio at 7:45 p.m. Monday.
  The 40 not-for-profit groups that will participate in the festival could raise up to $100,000 on Monday from food and drink sales and games.
  "The money they make goes directly back into the community," Daniels said. "It has a healthy impact on the quality of life in Schaumburg."
  Although there is no admission charge and Septemberfest only seeks to break even, the festival has achieved a surplus averaging over $16,000 for the past four years in a row.
  Septemberfest got its start in 1970 when former Schaumburg mayor, the late Robert O. Atcher, received a $5,000 donation from the builders of the Woodfield shopping center, which had recently been completed.
  Atcher, after a discussion with the Jaycees, decided the money should be used to sponsor a local community gathering on Labor Day weekend, a potentially dangerous day for driving long distances.
  Atcher sang country and western at the first 25 Septemberfests.
  Live entertainment throughout the weekend will include local school bands and orchestras, dance groups, choirs, country, pop and rock groups, strolling performers and magicians, among others.
  There will be a 10K and a 3K fun run Sunday morning and a boat race on the municipal pond at 3 p.m. Monday.
  Free shuttle buses that can be boarded at neighborhood street corners will transport residents to and from the festival grounds from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Sunday, and 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday.
  Shuttle buses will also serve remote parking lots at Schaumburg High School, Conant High School in Hoffman Estates, and Aldrin, Blackwell and Campanelli Elementary Schools, all in Schaumburg.
  Though animals, in-line skates, skateboards and bicycles are not allowed on Septemberfest grounds, a bike rack will be available near the bike path on Summit.
  From 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, free carnival rides will be offered to people with disabilities. To register for those rides, call Schaumburg Township Disabled Services at 847-884-0030.