Every summer, Downers Grove had Heritage Fest. Downtown would be roped off and the carnival would set up rides etc. Local bands (Dipole Moment, Insane War Tomatoes) would get to play, but they had bigger names too. I saw Tom Chapin one year, and The Rock-Afire Explosion another year.
We lived close enough that I was able to film them installing the Gondola Carousel from my bedroom window. That footage is gone, but I used to watch it every year in anticipation of next year. People passed our house on the way to the fair, and we'd sell lemonade to them and use the proceeds to buy tickets for the rides-
The Rides! That was the real reason to go back then. We weren't brave or crazy enough to ride the zipper, but the scrambler was always fun. One year, I brought a mixtape and got the graviton operator to play Napoleon XIV!
The years have gone by. I no longer live there, and Heritage Fest is no more. They might have brought it back and called it something else, but nothing will replace those lemonade days.
This video is not Heritage Fest, but going to any carnival at night brings back those memories.
4 авг 2024
