Canceled last year due to the pandemic, Yorkville River Fest this weekend offered residents a chance to enjoy getting together along the Fox River.
John Burke of Yorkville said he just moved to the community this year but that because his sister “has lived here for more than 30 years I’ve been here more than once.”
“There’s always good music, good food – they’ve got a lot of entertainment,” he said Friday night. “They’re having a country band tonight and the boat races and I’ll be here two days for sure.”
The Yorkville Parks and Recreation Department organized the two-day River Fest which ran Friday and Saturday and featured music, food, family activities, a craft beer tasting and more.
Formerly co-organized by the department and the local Chamber of Commerce, the event has been run annually since 2007 with the exception of last year, when it wasn’t held due to the pandemic.
Yorkville Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sherri Farley said the chamber had to step away this year due to an earlier event that was to be held in February that had to be rescheduled.
“We started this event in 2007 and ran it ourselves for a number of years,” she said. “We then partnered with another group for a few years and then the city maybe five years ago.”
Farley said due to the pandemic, “an annual dinner held in February had to be rescheduled this summer in late June” and that staff restrictions prevented the chamber from having the time or manpower to handle both the dinner and the festival.
“We didn’t have staff to organize both,” she said. “This is really one of the big events for the city in the summer – Hometown Days are much bigger, but that’s held in September.”
Shay Remus, superintendent of recreation for the Yorkville Parks and Recreation Department, admitted it was a busy week getting the festival organized and that people in Yorkville were excited about its return.
“I think everyone is kind of ready to get out and celebrate and have a good time and just be together and resume normal life,” she said. “Fortunately Yorkville has already done several events this summer, but there’s been a lot of excitement and anticipation about bringing this back.”
Traditions like selling ribs through the Knight of Columbus returned along with the country bands and the popular cardboard boat regatta which was scheduled for Saturday night this year instead of Friday.
A new offering for kids included the chance to go on a Jack Sparrow treasure hunt Saturday afternoon.
While Friday’s attendance was expected to be lighter than Saturday, clearing skies and mild temperatures offered visitors a perfect evening to reconnect with their community’s annual festival.
Nancy Voise and her husband Roger of Yorkville said they recently became residents, having moved to Yorkville “just two weeks ago.”
“We’re here for a band that’s playing tonight at 7 p.m.,” Voise explained on Friday. “We’re going to have some ribs and hang out.”
Ribs were indeed one of the big attractions. John Neville, Grand Knight for the local Knights of Columbus 14463, said the group has been supplying grilled meat to the festival “for eight to 10 years.”
Neville said he knows ribs are one of the staples of the fest.
“We bought 750 racks of ribs – they wanted to buy more, but after canceling the festival last year, we’re trying to make up for lost time,” Neville said. “We have a chef on our council who helps us with our recipe for this. We spend several days pre-cooking them at St. Patrick’s Church. We sell them for a little above cost so we have money to buy things like turkeys we give away.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
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Yorkville River Fest offers chance for community to come together - Chicago Tribune
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