As Michael Stewart looked around Scoville Park, flooded with tents and people June 3 during the A Day in Our Village festival, he remarked that a festival not focused on sales is rare these days.
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“What they’re hawking is information,” he said of the political, religious, business, cultural and not-for-profit organizations that filled the park at Oak Park Avenue and Lake Street. “They’re hawking Oak Park.”
About 170 booths filled Scoville Park for the 45th A Day in Our Village festival, which celebrates Oak Park’s diversity and community involvement, and is held the first Sunday in June. In honor of the milestone, an image of a 45 record spindle adapter was featured in the festival logo.
The fest also featured food from local vendors and live music. Activities for children were held at Rehm Park. Temperatures in the 70s and sunny skies helped draw thousands to the fest.
Planning for the event begins several months prior, Stewart said; he credited a strong volunteer committee with keeping the festival running over the years. Booth sign-up was so busy this year, festival organizers had to close registration a week earlier than usual.
Stewart noted they’re working around available park space when placing booths, as trees and bushes in Scoville Park continuously grow and landscaping changes. He said they try to avoid placing groups with opposing viewpoints, or who are competitors, next to each other to keep things friendly. A booth Bingo game encouraged fest-goers to check out a wide variety of booths.
The festival draws Oak Park newcomers as well as longtime residents. Mark Toth and Gabriela Machado took in the festival with their children Luiza, 1, and Enzo, 4, who, unsurprisingly, was a fan of the candy many booths gave out.
The family recently moved to Oak Park from Valparaiso, Ind., so the festival was a welcome opportunity to get to know the community.
“It’s our first year in Oak Park. This is great. It’s wonderful,” Toth said.
The same applied to Zainab Al-Qurashi, her husband Bakr Al-Bahri and their 5-year-old daughter, Lara. The couple are both doctoral students at the University of Illinois-Chicago and moved to Oak Park for the quality school system.
A friend told Al-Qurashi about the festival. Their daughter enjoyed the activities Geppetto’s Toy Box had set up, like a slackline children could attempt to walk across.
“We are very happy we came,” Al-Qurashi said.
On the other end of the spectrum, Linda and Chester Merchant have been Oak Parkers for 32 years. The festival highlights what the community has to offer, they said.
“It’s an ever-changing thing,” Linda Merchant said.
“We come to hang out, enjoy the music,” Chester Merchant said.
Uduak Udofia, a board member for the Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation, stood by the large piece of paper residents could fill with things that connect them to the community. He noted many responses are consistent with the values associated with Oak Park, like activism and volunteerism.
“It’s a good opportunity for us to introduce all the good things we do,” he said of the festival.
Representing the Oak Park Homelessness Coalition, Henry Fulkerson, also president of the board for Housing Forward, said many in the community are keen to address issues like a lack of affordable housing, and the fest offered a chance to reach an even wider audience.
“I think in Oak Park, it’s a community that’s intentional, right?” he said.
