With deadlines approaching, the Orland Park Lions Club still doesn’t have a home for this year’s Orland Days festival.
Ravinia Avenue is the only feasible site for the 2000 edition of Orland Days, Lions Club member Mike Carroll told the Village Board this week, but trustees are hesitant to shut down part of the street for the festival without assurance that major traffic and parking problems can be avoided.
Orland Days is the Lions Club’s “primary source of fundraising,” said Carroll, who asked the board to shut down Ravinia Avenue between 149th and 151st Streets for the duration of the festival.
“Where do you see these hundreds and hundreds of cars parking?” Mayor Dan McLaughlin asked.
Carroll said club members have permission from two nearby shopping plazas and Metra to use their parking lots. Talks are also planned with Andrew Corp. and Palos Community Hospital for use of their lots, he said.
Buses could be used to shuttle festival-goers from offsite parking areas.
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The Police Department and Fire Protection District see the Lions plans as acceptable, Carroll said.
“I want to see (the approvals) in writing,” McLaughlin said.
The mayor also called for a list of events scheduled for the Orland Park Civic Center during Orland Days to avoid parking problems for those events.
Another concern is avoiding disturbances in nearby residential areas, trustee Brad O’Halloran said. “I just don’t see how you’re going to do this without the neighborhood to the south and the immediate southwest going crazy,” O’Halloran said.
Trustee Bernard Murphy said Orland Days is a tradition that deserves continuity. The club’s donations benefit the community, he said. “Any request that’s ever been made, they’ve honored it,” Murphy said.
Carroll said the club is downsizing the festival this year, so there will be fewer games, rides and food booths.
“We’re hoping (using Ravinia Avenue) is a one-time shot,” he said, but it is this year’s only option. “Really, if it doesn’t happen here, it’s not going to happen this year.”
McLaughlin and the trustees said they will give the Lions an answer at the April 3 meeting.