OTT-Riverfest-07-30-19

JULY 30 - AUGUST 5

FOOD MUSIC FUN

Times

THE

Riverfest

2 Monday, July 30, 2018

The Times - Delivering Your Community

Welcomeburger returns to Riverfest The Times Staff

The Times | file

Doug Billings (left), with The Cheese Shop, and Chris McGrogan, with Handy Foods, join forces in grilling the main attraction at the annual Welcomeburger in 2017 in downtown Ottawa.

One of Riverfest’s trademark events returns for its 53rd year Wednesday, Aug. 1.

Welcomeburger is set to take place rain or shine 5 to 8 p.m. at Washington Square in downtown Ottawa.

The outdoor picnic in the park featuring burgers and drinks cost $25 per person in advance before Monday, July 30, and $30 per person after noon Monday, July 30, and at

the gate.

Tickets are available at the Ottawa Area Chamber of Commerce, 633 La Salle St., Suite 401, until 4 p.m. Tuesday, July 31, or at Handy Foods, 604 W. Main St., Financial Plus Credit Union, 800 Chestnut St., or The Reddick Library, 1010 Canal St., or any local bank until noon Monday, July 30.

Live music will be performed

by CRASH from 5 to 8 p.m.

Call 815-433-0084 with any questions.

Annual book sale draws book lovers STEPHANIE JAQUINS sjaquins@shawmedia.com 815-431-4087

The time of year is approaching to stock up on books, CDs, DVDs and VHS tapes as the American Association of University Women annual used book sale is staged once again during Riverfest.

Donations to the AAUW have been generous as the storage unit for this year’s event is already full, said June Steder, a AAUW member. Anyone with books or materials to donate this year can bring them straight to Washington Square starting Thursday afternoon. If help is needed to transport them call Steder at 815-325-6417.

Prices are the same as in past years. Hardback books will be $1, paperbacks 50 cents, DVDs and tapes a quarter and magazines a dime. The official sale hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Friday, Aug. 3, and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 4.

Rented storage spaces hold all the donations, which annually are transported at no charge by Stevenson Transfer of Ottawa to the southwest corner of Washington Square in downtown Ottawa.

The books require more than 30 long picnic tables. This year, the Illinois Valley Labor Management donated use of

three 20x20 tents.

“This saves us about $700 — almost the amount of one of our annual scholarships,” Steder noted.

The book sale proceeds go toward scholarships for young women. In the past, the AAUW has been able to provide three or four scholarships of $1,000 each annually.

Last year, AAUW awarded three $1,000 college scholarships to Hannah Jenkins, an Ottawa HIgh School graduate and a student at Illinois Valley Community College; Ashley McCurdy, a Streator High School student; and Amy Vandervelde, an Ottawa High graduate and student at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn.

For more information, contact AAUW at aauwottawa@ yahoo.com.

Muscle needed for sale The many donations need many hands to help setup.

The group is looking for three to five people to help setup from noon to 3 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 2. The group meets at the storage unit at noon to move the books from the storage unit to the park.

Once the semi is loaded, they meet at the park to unload it.

Once at the park, the books are placed onto the picnic tables and arranged for sale. Once arranged, they are covered with

The Times | file

Book lovers rummage through the large selection of books for sale during the 2017 American Association of University Women’s annual used book sale in Washington Square. This year’s hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 3, and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 4. tarps to protect against rain and wind.

Three to five people also are needed to help with the tear down on Saturday, Aug. 4. One group will help load the truck with unsold books while another group will tear down the tents and move them to another

location for the festival.

Volunteers also are needed during the sale to help sort books by helping to make them easier to access and to put more books out.

If community organization members are interested in volunteering, the AAUW is open

to discussing ways to recognize their organization. Volunteers are welcome to wear their organization’s T-shirt while helping sort books. For those setting up, they can be photographed in their T-shirts and the AAUW will display recognition signage during the event.

Riverfest

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Monday, July 30, 2018 3

No carnival, swim meet this year There will be two less attractions at this year’s Riverfest: the carnival was canceled and the all-city swim meet is no more.

Mayor Bob Eschbach announced in June the fest couldn’t get any carnival businesses as takers due to a low attendance.

The annual Ottawa Lions Club carnival in June was the only carnival in Ottawa this summer.

Another Riverfest activity, the all-city swim meet, also is not on the Riverfest schedule this year. Tracy Bianchi, a past organizer, said low enrollment numbers and the Ottawa YMCA deciding not to participate caused the cancellation.

The swim meet was scheduled but later cancelled last year due to low enrollment as well.

New route, color run planned for this year’s SRRC 5K Pull out your running shoes because Starved Rock Regional Center for Therapy and Child Development’s (formerly Easter Seals of La Salle and Bureau Counties) annual 5K Run/Walk for the Kids will kick off during Ottawa’s Riverfest festivities Saturday, Aug. 4.

This year, the race has a new route and will be doing a color run.

The course starts and ends by the Ottawa River Rescue at 234 Albin Stevens Drive.

Check-in and race day registration begins at 6:30 a.m., runners start at 8 a.m followed by walkers. The run/walk follows a scenic course along portions of the Riverwalk, the historic Illinois & Michigan

See 5K, page 6

Children scramble for candy along the Riverfest parade route in 2017. This year’s parade is 1 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 5.

The Times | file

Ottawa Riverfest schedule Monday, July 30 u 10 A.M. TO 4 P.M.: Ottawa Historical and Scouting Heritage Museum present Letters from The Presidents, 1100 Canal St.

Tuesday, July 31 u NOON TO 3 P.M.: Founders’ Day Picnic for senior citizens, Festivities Unlimited, corner of Poplar Street and West Norris Drive.

Wednesday, Aug. 1 u 5 TO 8 P.M.: Welcomeburger picnic, Washington Square.

Thursday, Aug. 2 u 10 A.M. TO 4 P.M.: Downtown Ottawa sidewalk sales,

Ottawa downtown merchants. u 5 TO 7 P.M.: Kids fishing rodeo, where Fox and Illinois rivers meet. u 6 TO 11 P.M.: Taste of Ottawa, riverfront downtown Ottawa. u 6:45 TO 8:15 P.M.: Trophies For Tryin’ (formerly Snap Holiday), ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s rock. u 8:30 TO 10:30 P.M.: Southern Accents: The Ultimate Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Tribute Experience.

Friday, Aug. 3 u 8 A.M. TO 7 P.M.: American Association of University Women’s Annual Book Sale for College Scholarships, Washington Square. u 10 A.M. TO 4 P.M.: Down-

town Ottawa sidewalk sales, Ottawa downtown merchants.​ u 5:30 TO 6:30 P.M.: Gray’s School of Dance Variety Show, Jackson Street stage. u 6 TO 12:15 A.M.: Taste of Ottawa, riverfront downtown Ottawa. u 7 TO 7:45 P.M.: Ottawa Dance Academy, Jackson Street stage. u 7 TO 9 P.M.: Joe Bayer Band, country music. u 9:30 TO 11:30 P.M: Suburban Cowboys: The Ultimate Country Cover Band.

​S aturday, Aug. 4 u 8 A.M.: Starved Rock Regional Center 5K Run/Walk for the Kids, Ottawa River Rescue, 234 Albin Stevens

Drive, 6:30 a.m. registration. u 8 A.M. TO 2 P.M.: American Association of University Women’s Annual Book Sale for College Scholarships, Washington Square. u 9 A.M. TO NOON: Agricultural street fair, 100 block of East Jackson Street. u 9 A.M. TO 3 P.M.: Outdoor Vendors’ Market and Downtown Ottawa Farmers’ Market, 100 and 200 block of East Jackson Street. u 9 A.M. TO 4 P.M.: Art in the Park, Washington Square. u 10 A.M. TO NOON: Officer Hopkins with a Child Identification Kit, southwest corner of Washington Square.

See SCHEDULE, page 6

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4 Monday, July 30, 2018

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Everclear lead singer to give guest performance BRENT BADER bbader@shawmedia.com 815-431-4045 Riverfest entertainment will fearture some familiar faces as well as a few new faces this year.

One new face will be Everclear lead singer Art Alexakis who will give a guest performance Saturday night with the Chicago-based Maggie Speaks band performing before and serving as a backup band for Alexakis as he performs Everclear songs.

Everclear is a platinumselling rock band that rose to popularity in the ‘90s with hits, such as “Santa Monica” and “Everything

to Everyone.”

“We’re really looking forward to that night to get a big national name down here,” said Riverfest Music Committee member Mike Story.

The three-day festival will run from Thursday, Aug. 2, through Saturday, Aug. 4.

Bands Maggie Speaks and Final Say will take the stage at 10 p.m. Saturday and will perform a cover set to get the audience on its feet and singing along.

Alexakis will take the stage at some point during their performance to sing some Everclear songs with the bands.

Prior to that, one of Champaign’s top cover bands, 90s

Daughter, will perform a rendition of Top 40 songs at 6:15 p.m. Saturday, after playing in Ottawa five years ago, and Pearl Jam Tribute will take the stage at 7:45 p.m. with songs across Pearl Jam’s over 25-year library of music.

Added cover charge Saturday and shorter schedule The added talent will come at an added cost for guests.

Saturday’s festivities will come with a $5 cover charge compared to the $2 cover charge on Friday and the free admission on Thursday.

Mayor Bob Eschbach added the food and beverage ticket

Contributed

Everclear lead singer Art Alexakis, right, will give a guest performance Saturday night with the Chicagobased Maggie Speaks band performing before and serving as a backup band for Alexakis as he performs Everclear songs.

system has changed with $10 getting 10 tickets rather than nine.

“The reason we’re doing that is just to get the quality of music, particularly for Saturday night, and I think with the bonus of additional food and drink tickets it should work out fairly well,” Eschbach said.

The event has also been shortened to three days after experimenting with four days last year and hosting local

bands as well as children performances on Sunday.

“It really didn’t bring enough of a crowd to make it worthwhile,” Eschbach said.

“I think back in the days when Riverfest started, it was the only event all year-round so five days was no big deal, but now we’ve got so many more activities that it makes sense to condense it a bit.”

t s e f r e Riv

AUGUST 2nd to 4th 10 am - 4 pm

See BANDS, page 5

Riverfest

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Monday, July 30, 2018 5

Bands: Petty tribute band Southern Accents to perform Thursday, Nashville-based Joe Bayer Band on Friday From page 4

Heartbreakers tribute band.

FRIDAY, AUG. 3 WITH $2 ADMISSION u 7 TO 9 P.M.: Joe Bayer Band. The award-winning, Nashville-singer got his start in Ottawa and will bring his country band back home. u 9:30 TO 11:30 P.M.: Suburban Cowboys. The Chicagobased country cover band will play sets mixed with country and classic rock.

SATURDAY, AUG. 4 WITH $5 ADMISSION u 6:15 TO 7:30 P.M.: 90s Daughter. One of the top Champaign-Urbana cover bands will perform a variety

The ‘premiere’ Tom Petty band visits Thursday The music portion of the celebration kicks off at 6:45 p.m. Thursday with local band Trophies for Tryin’, which consists of many musicians from the Illinois Valley area playing rock music from the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s as well as more recent hits.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers tribute band Southern Accents will follow at 8:30 p.m. and Story said they’ve played sold-out shows at venues, such as the House of Blues in Chicago and New Orleans.

“They’re the premiere Tom Petty band that I’ve seen,” Story said. “We looked all over the internet for Tom Petty tribute bands. They’re the real deal.”

Country music is back on Friday Story also lamented the lack of country at the last couple festivals and Friday’s schedule is meant to make up for that.

The Nashville-based Joe Bayer Band will kick off the night at 7 p.m. by bringing his country band back to his hometown. The Ottawa-native and his band have won several awards in Nashville and has since performed around the country.

Bayer will lead for the country cover band Suburban Cowboys, which starts at 9:30 p.m. and plays a mix of country and classic rock.

The Silver Bullets STL band will not return this year after being a part of the festivity for the last four years. Story said the committee has worked hard to introduce almost entirely new talent to the music lineup this year in order to meet the community’s diverse tastes.

“You can pick up a sense you need to start fresh every once in awhile and we’re excited to be bringing back country on Friday,” Story said. “We’ve had a year or two break without country music and there’s a lot of country fans out here.”

Eschbach commended the

committee for their work aligning talent.

“They worked hard to come up with a good product and within budget,” Eschbach said. “I think we’ve gotten a really good lineup this year.”

Other committee members include Kim Stafford, Kevin Stiles, Aaron Batistelli, Linn VanDuzer and Michelle Ochsner.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS THURSDAY, AUG. 2 WITH FREE ADMISSION u 6:45 TO 8:15 P.M.: Trophies For Tryin’. Illinois Valley band performing rock music from the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s and some recent hits. u 8:30 TO 10:30 P.M.: Southern Accents. A Nashville based Tom Petty and the

of Top 40 songs. They previously played in Ottawa five years ago. u 7:45 TO 9:45 P.M.: Pearl Jam Tribute. The Chicago-based tribute band changes its setlist after every show and has a deep knowledge of the tracks throughout the band’s over 25year history. u 10 P.M. TO MIDNIGHT: Maggie Speaks and Final Say guest starring Art Alexakis of Everclear. Maggie Speaks and Final Say will play a high-energy set list while singer Art Alexakis of Everclear is expected to take the stage and sing some of Everclear’s songs.

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6 Monday, July 30, 2018

Schedule

From page 3

u 10 A.M. TO 4 P.M.: Downtown Ottawa sidewalk sales, Ottawa downtown merchants. u 9:45 TO 10:45 A.M.: Limitless body sculpting kettlebell presentation, 100 block of West Jackson Street. u 11 TO 11:45 A.M.: Duque Institute of Martial Arts demonstration, Jackson Street stage. u 1 TO 2:30 P.M.: Starved Rockers music rock school, Jackson Street stage. u 6 TO 10 P.M.: Taste of Ottawa, riverfront downtown Ottawa. u 6:15 TO 7:30 P.M.: 90s Daughter, cover band. u 7:45 TO 9:45 P.M.: Pearl Jam Tribute — Chicago. u 10 P.M. TO MIDNIGHT: Maggie Speaks and Final Say with special guest Art Alexakis, lead singer of Everclear.

Sunday, Aug. 5 u 8 A.M. TO 3 P.M.: La Salle County Cruisers’ 34th Annual Car Show, 800 block of Columbus Street, awards at 2:30 p.m. u 10 A.M. TO 4 P.M.: Art in the Park, Washington Square. u 11 A.M. TO 4 P.M.: Outdoor Vendors’ Market and Downtown Ottawa Farmers’ Market, 100 and 200 block of East Jackson Street. u 1 P.M.: Riverfest Parade, starts on West Madison Street, to West Lafayette Street and ends at Rigden Park, 625 W. Jackson St., lineup begins at 11:30 a.m. on Boyce Memorial Drive. u 11 A.M. TO 4 P.M.: 4th Annual Building Trades Cookout, 1001 Boyce Memorial Drive, free and public. u 2:30 TO 3:30 P.M.: Crossbridge Community Church Band , Jackson Street stage. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​

5k From page 3 Canal and along streets in the East Side.

You can register for $30 at https://runsignup.com/Race/IL/Ottawa/SRRC. The Kid’s Fun Run registration is $10.

Children and strollers are welcome to participate in the 5K for free with paying participants, but T-shirts will only be given to those who register for the 5K or Kid’s Race.

Runners will be timed and the top overall female and male runners will receive trophies. Also, runners placing first, second, or third in 13 age categories will receive medals.

There will be a kids’

race immediately following the 5K for children up to 12 years old.

Registered participants will receive a T-shirt and medal.

All of the proceeds from this event stay local within LaSalle and Bureau counties to help children to achieve their maximum potential. With the participants’ help last year, SRRC was able to add an occupational therapist to our staff to expand our therapy options for the area’s children.

The race may be canceled or delayed if the race director determines there is inclement weather. No refunds will be provided, since funds were already spent in preparation for race day.

The Times - Delivering Your Community

Mouths will water for Taste Of Ottawa

Sample some of Ottawa’s restaurants favorite menu items at Riverfest’s Taste of Ottawa will be the place to go.

The Taste of Ottawa will accompany the live entertainment at the downtown riverfront area, to the north of the Veterans Memorial Bridge.

The Taste is open 6 to 11 p.m.

Thursday, Aug. 2; 6 p.m. to midnight, Friday, Aug. 3, amd 6 p.m. to midinight Saturday, Aug. 4.

Advance sale of food and beverage tickets are available for $20 for 20 tickets. An option of buying 10 tickets for $10 also is available.

These may be purchased through Wednesday, Aug. 1, at City Hall, 301 W. Madison St., during regular office hours 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with cash, Visa, MasterCard or Discover only (no checks), or at the Ottawa Visitors Center, 100 W. Lafayette St., during office hours 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to

2 p.m. Sunday with cash, checks, Visa or MasterCard.

Tickets also can be bought online at cityofottawa.org.

Food and beverage tickets purchased at the gate are $10 for 10 tickets.

Admission at the gate is free Thursday, $2 per person Friday and $5 per person Saturday. Children 16 years old and younger are free Friday and Saturday.

Menu items (tickets) u Bottled water: 2 u Pop: 3 u Beer/ specialty beer/ IPA beer/ craft beer: 5 u Wine: 5 u Mixed drink: 5 u House drink: 5 u Call drink: 6

Tropical Sno u Watermelon slice: 2 u Small Hawaiian shaved ice: 3 u Medium Hawaiian shaved ice: 4 u Large Hawaiian shaved ice: 5

The Cheese Shop and Deli

u Mini pork tenderloin: 5 u Pulled pork sandwich: 5 u Fried chicken sandwich: 5 u Bratwurst: 4 u Hot Dog: 3 u Onion rings: 5 u Cheddar nuggets: 5 u Homemade chips: 3 u Gourmet cookie: 2

R Grotto’s u Slice of deep dish pizza: 5 u Slice of thin crust pizza: 5 u Nuggets: 5 u Wings: 6 u Canoli: 4 u Lemon shake up: 3 u Deep fried pickles: 2

JJ’s Pub/Ottawa Friendship House u Pork chop sandwich: 5 u Italian sausage sandwich with peppers and onion: 4 u Nachos with cheese and jalapenos: 3 u Snow cone: 2 u Popcorn: 1 u Arnold Palmer : 2 u Iced Tea: 2

Woody’s Steakhouse u Blackened duck breast with BBQBearnaise sauce: 9 u BBQ smoked pulled pork nachos with green onions, tomatoes, and cheddar cheese sauce: 8 u BBQ smoked pulled pork sliders with pickles and tortilla chips: 6 u Root Beer float with french vanilla ice cream: 3 u Cinnamon brown sugar ice The Times | file cream: 3 The Taste of Ottawa, which features local restaurant menu items, will again be a part of the u Strawberry Riverfest celebration, accompanying the live entertainment at the downtown riverfront area. shortcake: 2

Riverfest

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t s e f r e v i R

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E R E H s i N FU

Monday, July 30, 2018 7

Ottawa’s Annual Riverfest, celebrates summer with a BANG!

Art shows, craft & flea markets, kids activities, sidewalk sales, music & now the famous TASTE OF OTTAWA all come together at the fest.

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Riverfest

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