Volunteering at Grove Fest

This past weekend, I volunteered at the 1st Annual Rotary Grove Fest located here in town in Downers Grove, Illinois.

The Grove Fest is a community event bringing music, carnival rides, food and plenty of fun, right in the heart of downtown Downers Grove. The three nights of entertainment began on Friday, July 16th, my first night of volunteering responsibilities, and they put me right alongside with Downers Grove Mayor Ron Sandack. We spent several hours amongst 15 other community volunteers (including Damienne Souter, Assistant to the Dean of CCP) running the beverage garden in the entertainment area. My own children came for the ride and rode the many fun carnival rides, including my favorite the Freak Out. I'd never seen this ride in my many years of enjoying carnival rides every summer as a kid, but it was the most interesting looking ride.

Friday night was full of people and loud music. I noticed many Midwestern University students milling around enjoying food from the number of local restaurant vendors. My favorite was Orange Chicken w/ Vegetables & Rice from Lee Concessions and the lemonade from The Strawberry Patch.

On day two, I was told by Barb Wysocki, Director of Development & Alumni Relations, (check us out in the picture above) who also holds a seat on the Downers Grove Rotary Club that I had just missed Dean Malone, Vice President of Finance. Mr. Malone is the incoming Chairman of the Board for the Downers Grove Chamber of Commerce this term. The night was full of more laughs as I continued to meet business members that Midwestern University has partnerships and relationships with. It was great putting faces with the names and voices that you hear and speak to all the time. But more importantly, it was great to see many of us coming a volunteer our time for the city in which our business are in.

As the Grove Fest labeled it, it was a true community event. And it was phenomenal seeing members of the Midwestern University community come out and support the event.