The Beverly Area Planning Association and the Beverly/Morgan Park/Mount Greenwood Memorial Day Parade committee will host a fundraiser to support the 2015 Memorial Day parade.
The event is scheduled for 3 to 7 p.m. Saturday at Cork & Kerry, 10614 Western Ave., Chicago. Admission is $30 and includes food, an open bar and live entertainment by the Billy Gorman Band.
Raffle baskets will include gift certificates and gift cards from local businesses. There’s a $500 gift certificate for airline tickets, committee member Karolyn Kuehner said, and White Sox tickets, a baseball bat autographed by Mickey Mantle, a 24-inch road bike and a 40-inch flat screen television as raffle items. Raffle baskets were donated by several area businesses. “The Steve Harvey Show” donated tickets and a photo opportunity with Harvey for the raffle, she said.
New at the fundraiser this year will be a special beer brewed by Horse Thief Hollow Brewing Co., of Chicago, to honor veterans, Kuehner said, and a T-shirt sale to help buy a 50-foot American flag to be carried on the parade route by local eighth-graders. The parade logo, the 2015 grand marshal and crests of all five branches of military service will be printed on the T-shirt, Kuehner said.
She said a tour of the U.S. Capitol with former U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms Terry Gainer will be featured in a special raffle.
Proceeds from the benefit also will help fund prizes for the house-decorating contest held on parade day and supplies for elementary schools that enter the Memorial Day Parade banner contest.
The 2015 grand marshal will be World War II veterans, led by 96-year-old retired Army Sgt. 1st Class Frederick Rennix.
Committee member and BAPA spokeswoman Grace Kuikman said the parade will continue to have a “very good presence of veterans” but that World War II veterans will be especially honored this year.
“We lose so many vets every day from World War II (that) we just thought it was time to call as many as we can who have the good health to join us at the parade this year,” she said.
Kuehner said the number of entries in the Memorial Day parade, scheduled for May 25, has been growing in recent years. Last year’s tally was 45 entries, she said, and this year the number is “well on our way to go beyond that.
“We’ve worked pretty hard to educate the community about the meaning of Memorial Day and the importance of participation (and) the importance of sharing this with our children so they understand the meaning behind the holiday,” Kuehner said. “It’s not just a barbecue holiday; it’s not just a sunny day off school, but that there are people … who worked together … that have secured our freedom and continue to serve in order to maintain the life we’ve all come to know as Americans.”
Ginger Brashinger is a freelance reporter.
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If you go …
What: Beverly/Morgan Park/Mount Greenwood Memorial Day Parade fundraiser
When: 3 to 7 p.m. March 21
Where: Cork & Kerry, 10614 S. Western Ave., Chicago
Etc.: Tickets are $30 and include food, drink and live entertainment
Information: To make raffle item donations, contact Karolyn Kuehner at (773) 718-7608 or email [email protected]. For fundraiser information or to participate in the parade, call the Beverly Area Planning Association at (773) 233-3100 or email [email protected].