Bryan Boyer of Elburn and his wife Melissa always look forward to Elburn Days, the town’s annual summer celebration held last weekend.
“We come every year. It’s a big deal every year. Everyone from Elburn gets busy and doesn’t get to see each other and so it’s a good place where everyone comes in and gets reacquainted. All the kids get one last hurrah before school really gets going,” Bryan Boyer said. “It brings the community together. This is a small town, but still you can’t see everyone as much as you’d like, and this is where everyone comes together and catches up before the craziness starts.”
The Elburn Lions Club organized the three-day Elburn Days celebration, which ran last Friday through Sunday. The event is the largest fundraiser of the year for the organization which is involved in a number of charitable projects including eye screenings, service dogs, programs aiding the visually and hearing impaired, juvenile diabetes research and other local community aid, club officials said.
Begun in 1930 when it was a one-day event known as A Day in the Park, the celebration now includes a main stage and beer garden, community stage, carnival rides, bingo, a pie-baking contest, mud volleyball, a livestock and craft show and more.
Current Elburn Lions Club President Chet Cybulski of Elburn said the celebration, which is nearing a century old, remains focused “on fundraising and getting people together for different causes.”
“The charities have evolved since way back when, but as things moved on, it became a community celebration and the Lions Club was the entity that kept this thing going,” he said.
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He said Elburn Days is a special event in the community.
“I think this is important. We have a lot of people who might have moved out from Elburn but they come back to help out and work different parts of the festival and then meet up with their friends,” he said.
Ashley Krueger of Sugar Grove came with her daughter Gwen, 9, to the festival on Saturday and elected to stop at one of the many craft vendors before moving on to the carnival rides and more.
“We’re here for the whole day,” Krueger said. “I think these festivals are a good way to bring everybody out. All the school kids get to see their friends as the year kicks off.”
Bethani Vickert of Elburn and her family came to Elburn Days on Saturday and said they have lived in town for nine years and “come every year” to the fest.
“This is a small town and this brings people together,” Vickert said.
Alisha Leuer-Arce of Sugar Grove and her husband Steven waited by one of the carnival rides on Saturday and enjoy coming to Elburn Days.
“I grew up coming here, so this is a special place for me. It’s almost like home,” Leuer-Arce said.
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.