FoxFireFest 2009
Early evening entertainment at Elgin FoxFireFest 2009 (Photo by The Elginite).
Elgin’s FoxFireFest will be held this weekend at Festival Park in downtown Elgin.
FoxFireFest, as the name implies, is an event focused around the glow of fire on the water, including a mystical night-time fire and light show on the river, accompanied by unique theatre, art, dance and musical performers.
August 1-2, 2009
Noon- 11:00 p.m. Saturday
Noon- 7:00 p.m. SundayTwo day arts and culture festival, featuring juried art show, street theater and music, childrens’ activities and evening stage shows. Featuring Creedence Clearwater Revisited on Saturday and Elgin Symphony Orchestra on Sunday.
ADMISSION: General entry fee at gate $5 day/$10 evening
Festival Park
136 South Grove Ave
Downtown ElginFree parking
or ride your bike and use the free bike corral.FoxFireFest incorporates the best elements of the previous Fine Arts Fest, but has expanded to showcase the wide variety of cultural amenities and performing arts groups centered in the Elgin area, with two stages offering non-stop entertainment. The food and beverage area will also feature an eclectic mix for all ages, including a beer garden.
The fireworks for this event should be pretty good. Have fun. Check out the schedule.
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Saturday night was great! NO pit bulls, gang trash, and best of all, no illegals and their wake of ugliness (half-dozen or so anchor babies under the age of nine, cousins, grandpas & grandmas, etc.) THANK GOD the city charged for this event! The best way to keep illegals and their attached cloud of sewage away from a decent event is to charge an admission fee.
I saw happy people, well-fed and well-behaved and great fireworks at the end. It is clear to me that if you want a good event free of gangs, pit bulls and the undeserving filth of illegal aliens you MUST charge a fee to attend!
I heard the Friday Gifford Park picnic was proof of what happens when you DON’T charge a fee. Abuse and a virtual illegal alien convention all because everything was free including a parent grabbing the groin of an anchor who was bad-mouthing her.
The city got it right this time for once.
I thought it was a shame that they charged for this event. It was not only gang members who were excluded….good citizens of Elgin, the under and temporarily un-employed and families that could have used a nice event to attend without raping their pocket book. I’m glad you enjoyed a “sanitized” version of Fire Fox Fest. I got to see it from the back of a big green exclusive fence. See pics of how the average Joe saw FFF this year at http://www.lovinelgin.com - Paula
Your anger is best served at our previous leaders who allowed Elgin to become infested with illegal aliens and gangs and, no, that’s not redundant all the time.
This is what happens when you allow the city you love to open their hearts only to be bending over for abuse by illegal aliens. Be thankful that your city can even DO things like this and have to charge for them. Would you prefer to live in Carpentersville or, perhaps, Hanover Park?
In a few weeks take a drive to Carpenter Park in C’ville for their festival which will serve alcohol and NOT charge an admission fee. Think there will be illegals and gang members THERE?!
You will see more cowboy hats and boots, hot pants and lips that have been lined with eye-liner there than at a downtown Elgin carnival. Plus, all the machismo you want thanks to the free admission and alcohol.
What a way to abuse your olfactory system!
Hm…cowboy boots and lip liner aren’t indicators of citizenship status.
I might just become one of those who stops reading comments on the Elginite. It is not a forum for discussion, because most of all people who know how to have a true discussion have left.
So, ummmmmm….that means YOU’LL be the first in line to get in at the C’ville festival?
I know! Ride your bike there, let’s say, after dark! What a way to make new friends!
Maybe, just maybe, opposing observations and predictions CAN be part of a blog and may not HAVE to be a “discussion”. Especially if they may be different than ones own observations and predictions.
I would have to agree with Jessica that most have left who know how to have a true discussion. I have not gone to Elginite.org much in the past. Recently I have been checking it out more and I am trying to figure out just what the focus of this site is. It seems like there is not a consistent theme of topics and whatever topics there are, they come up very sporadically. It seems to me if you are going to have a sight like this you would have at least one or two topics a week at the minimum to discuss.
I was always thinking a blog might be a way to make some extra money. Does anyone know if this sight is profitable for the owner? Who is the owner and what is his or her profile?
Common Sense Clarence Hayward
Jessica, you’ve posted twice in this thread on FoxFireFest and neither post was written to enhance discussion. It seems quite disingenuous for you to then talk about “true discussion” Both of your posts were offensive in that they were CLEARLY written with the sole purpose of trying to ridicule and disparage Boxcar. That you utterly failed in both attempts is probably the reasoning behind your implied threat of taking your ball and going home if Boxcar isn’t censured. Your problem is that though Boxcar’s format maybe wrong his logic is precise. That the link between FoxFireFest and illegal immigration is extremely weak is where he set his trap for which you eagerly jumped into. It is difficult to support illegal activity. And calling or implying that those against illegal activities are racist without any basis says more about you than it does them.
How do you have a “true discussion” when you won’t speak truthfully? As an elected official do you support or condone illegal activity? Am I a racist if I’m against illegal immigration?
Making fun of me for riding a bike for transportation? I guess that could be funny because….people who bike are poor? Or you saw a Mexican guy ride a bicycle once so now you assume all bicyclists are illegal immigrants? Not grasping your humor here… Maybe it’s just another zinger like that time you made fun of the birthmark on my face.
All I know is that you read my blog and watch my Youtube videos, and that says something.
I’m done with the comments on Elginite. Will no longer read them, just as I stopped with the newspaper comments. If you have something to say to me “Boxcar,” you’ll have to email me personally. And if you expect me to respond, it’ll have to have a name at the bottom. I see no reason to feed into what lately has been nothing but negativity, or even subject myself to being aware of it.
I know people say don’t acknowledge “trolls,” don’t let them feel they have power, but I do not see a point in lying. You are the main reason I am giving up on this forum and I don’t see a reason to hide that. If you feel happy or power knowing you chased me away, that’s your issue to deal with and I won’t be around to discuss it.
RE: Paul
I am not “threatening” to leave the comments of this blog, I am leaving. Unless the climate drastically changes (and I probably won’t be checking any time soon), this will be the last one.
Never asked that Boxcar be censored. I actually hoped he would become aware of how negative he is, how obsessed and fixated he is on one topic only, how it quickly ends each discussion or turns it into mud slinging, and change the tone of his comments on his own accord.
You write that I won’t speak truthfully and I can truthfully say I don’t know what you’re talking about and cannot think of any lies I’ve written here.
You bring up me being an elected official. I’m elected as a library trustee. The only way I can think citizenship would apply would be in terms of library cards. I support the current forms of ID needed to get a library card. If someone can get one of those forms while being here illegally, then I believe the issue is with that level of government, not the library. (Ex: Driver’s license & DMV) I do not see residents supporting the library district’s tax dollars going toward detective work to determine citizenship status instead of toward books and computers. If you think otherwise I encourage you to come speak during the public forum period of one of our monthly board meetings–dates are listed on library website.
“Making fun of me for riding a bike for transportation? ”
No, he did not. But it is the classic standard Jessica mode of argument: Stand the discussion on its head, take someone else’s word completely out of context WITH the overall intent being to ridicule and demean them, and completely ignore the real subject matter of the thread and try to make into something else. Proof? - You’ve had 4 posts on this FoxFirefest thread. Have you even mention FoxFireFest? You certainly haven’t discussed it. And yet you are the one complaining about the inability to have “true discussion” here!
“I am not “threatening” to leave”. Clearly, CLEARLY, you were. >>I am leaving. Unless the climate drastically changes…<<
“Never asked that Boxcar be censored.” I never said you did. But it was clearly CLEARLY implied, as I said. Boxcar probably won’t being leaving of his own accord and it is extremely doubtful your “true discussion” on logic, reason, principle and ethics of pro illegal immigration has changed his mind.
“You write that I won’t speak truthfully and I can truthfully say I don’t know what you’re talking about and cannot think of any lies I’ve written here.”
I just provided you 3 excellent examples. But I did not say you lied. A lie would be intentional. I don’t think you intentionally speak untruthfully. It is becoming the essence of our liberal culture. Anyone against illegal immigration is a racist. End of “true discussion”. And racists must be censured, banned, terminated, exterminated (unless you are a Hispanic female nominated to the US Supreme Court- then it’s the virtue of empathy taking prescidence over principle, ethics, and morality). If that isn’t the bottom line in this thread in replies to Boxcar’s posts, I’ll eat my Cubs hat.
P.S. Kudos to RS for having the courage and fortitude to resist the clearly implied pressure to ban, censure, and/or terminate Boxcar because of his “tone” or his lack of his ability to engage in “true discussion”.
You couldn’t afford $5 to see $30 music entertainment and you think city services come free at no cost to taxpayers!!! But you probably voted to increase my taxes for ECC in April!!!
Other than CCR or ESO which you’d have to pay to see any place else, what do you think you missed? The $4 12 ounce cup of beer or the $4 slice of pizza? Did you miss the Davy Tree Service downed tree limb exhibit? I have some in my neighborhood you can see for free. Speaking of free, all the art exhibits were free being they were outside the fenced area on Grove Avenue and Dupage Court.
Average Joe saw CCR just fine from inside the fenced area.
Average Joe isn’t whining about $5-$10 coverage charge to see a $30+ venue.
You are not average Joe.
I don’t understand why everybody is being so mean lately. Has something fallen into the Elgin water supply?
I assume your reference to being mean was to me. I wasn’t going to respond but in the interest of enhancing “true discussion”, felt a response was necessary. I wasn’t being mean. I was being liberally honest. In this new age society where no one has the right to offend anyone, I was offended. I thought it wrong that the poster thought they could assume the authority, wear the mantle, and speak for average Joe because they didn’t want to pay a nominal fee to see CCR at the FoxFireFest and thus had to stand outside the fenced-in area to see the fireworks. How is a tiny minority handful of people outside the fence looking upon hundreds(thousand?) of people inside the fence the “average Joe”?
Clearly they were not the average Joe. I was offended. And I’m tired of being liberally offended. And evidently others are getting tired of being liberally offended too. What goes around comes around, eh?
Attendance plunges for FoxFireFestival
Comments
August 8, 2009
By MIKE DANAHEY mdanahey@scn1.com
Average daily attendance was down 43 percent compared to 2008 figures for the two-day FoxFireFestival held Aug. 1-2.
“Attendance numbers are 8,680 for the entire weekend,” Parks and Recreation Director Randy Reopelle said. “This compares to 22,800 for last year’s event,” which ran three days, he said.
That puts average daily attendance at 4,340 for this year, compared to 7,600 people per day in 2008.
“Staff believes reduced numbers are due to the (rainy) weather on Saturday, no Friday night, the economy, and charging for the event,” Reopelle said.
With the recession, the city decided to cut back the festival from three days to two and to charge admission. Daytime admission was $5 for anyone older than 5, and $10 to attend after 5 p.m.
Boxcar, please refrain from making offensive comments. You are smart enough to know that you cannot eyeball illegal aliens, and if you could, it is inappropriate anyway to be using the terms that you used to describe them.
As for FoxFireFest, the fireworks were, as in previous years, really really great. I could hear people saying afterwards that it was the best fireworks show they’d ever seen. And I would agree with them, because while other shows may be larger, I can’t think of anywhere else where the fireworks are directly in front of you and above you. They are so close that when you look up at times you feel like you’re actually in the sky in the midst of fireworks. And the huge flame throwers that literally spit out great big balls of fire and burning heat would please even the most discerning pyromaniac.
Weather did not help turnout so much, and I think the city made a mistake in not clearly communicating that portions of the festival would be open to the public without any admission fee. As a result, I think a lot of people decided to skip the event, which was very bad for the vendors who had booths on Grove Avenue. It also didn’t help that they were in one direction and the gated festival was in another direction. If you parked in the parking deck, you could have easily overlooked the fact that vendors were lined up along South Grove Avenue from the ex-Crocker Theater to Mad Maggies.
I can see that there are some benefits to putting the vendors up there rather than on the street in front of the townhouses. With the vendors further down the street, you could put the portolets in a convenient, well-lit place, and also use the space for the aerial motocross thing. But they should have kept the booths going in a continuous line from the festival grounds all the way to Mad Maggies, rather than having two distinct sections bridged by Rain Barrels on Parade.
I don’t think they charged admission in previous years, so the jump from free to $10 (evening) is a fairly steep jump. It might have been better to do $5, and I think they should have said the fee was just for the concert, so that people can still go and check out the vendors. I was talking to a vendor who drove down from Green Bay, and was told to expect 15,000-20,000 people for this event. He said he won’t be back next year. So organizers will need to make sure that vendors get the foot traffic they need to make it profitable for them.
So charging admission is something that needs to be carefully weighed. This year was probably an experiment to see how much you could charge, and how it would affect traffic and so on. Ideally the event can be self supporting, and if charging admission is the best way to keep it going, then that could be the way to go.
Does anyone want to make suggestions for next year’s band?
I vote for Violent Femmes :)
Nothing offensive in my remarks at all. Perhaps my choice of words are different than some. I routinely refer to most who break our laws in a much different fashion than those who do not.
Shouldn’t we all?
Your comments are more and more just “Trolling”. That means (to those who are not familiar with the term) you provoke controversy by being offense to elicit a response and get attention. Truthfully, I’m losing interest in this blog because of your rants.
Of course, calling people have a “cloud of sewage” is offensive. Would you like it if someone said that you spewed a cloud of sewage? NO! You try to hide and rationalize your racism by pretending it is about immigration. It’s not working.
I did not attend Foxfirefest this weekend, primarily because of the $10 fee. This spring, our family bought an American Foursquare in NENA, and our budget is tight. The Faerie Festival in Vasa Park was cheaper, and my family chose that event instead.
Am I a cloud of sewage?
While you are free to post your stupid rants, I think I’ll boycott Elginite.org. It isn’t nice to feed the Troll.
It’s ALL about illegal aliens and never about immigration.
“Would you like it if someone said that you spewed a cloud of sewage?”
Nope. But I would EXPECT to be called worse if I broke into someone’s country and depleted their resources and broke their laws.
“Am I a cloud of sewage?”
Did YOU break into this country?
Are YOU depleting our resources?
Are YOU breaking our laws?
If you answer “yes” to all of these, then yes, you are. But not for what you did this weekend. LOL.
Wonderful you supported NENA as they are extremely tolerant of illegal aliens ruining their own neighborhood with gang murders and violence.
Great post Todd Martin. Tell it like it is. I too stayed away from the Foxfire this year because of the admission price. I wonder if Boxcar is also Herguth? They sound a lot alike and both hide behind anonymous names. I can’t remember my password for this site so I sign my name at the bottom.
I am proud to say that Herguth loves to criticize me.
Common Sense Clarence Hayward
It’s actually not necessary to sign in in order to have your name show up in the right place. Just type your name into the name field and it will show up.
“I routinely refer to most who break our laws in a much different fashion than those who do not.”
I got a ticket for turning right on red where it was illegal. I broke a law. Does that mean I have sewage trailing me or whatever?
You do not refer to “people who break laws.” You refer to people who break one law, and that is regarding citizenship. The only time I’ve seen you write about other laws is when you are assuming an illegal immigrant is the one who broke the law.
& yes, I know many people who have told me they do not read the Elginite or want anything to do with it, and that is because of the comments. I am sure they were probably specifically referring to your comments, “Boxcar.”
You sure you weren’t at the Gifford Park Party? Or maybe it was a friend of yours. There was someone saying some very very similar comments there in person to the bike folks. Couldn’t have a conversation about bicycles, or anything at all, because he was so fixated on illegal immigrants and every sentence out of his mouth referred to that one issue. Sounds familiar.
The key word I used is, “most” and here’s an example of why.
You broke the law once and assumedly paid a price for that and probably will not do it again. However, if you were to CONTINUE EVERY DAY to make that illegal right turn on red with no regard to whom you are putting at risk, then, YES, I would refer to you with the sewage reference because you willfully break the law everyday despite knowing it’s wrong to do.
Just like illegal aliens do.
Illegal aliens are breaking the law every day they are within our borders. They broke into our house (country) first, then their being here is a continuation of that crime and actually makes them criminals on the run. Now throw in driving without a license or insurance, using stolen Social Security numbers, illegally overcrowding a home, portraying themselves as entitled and you have a completely justifiable term.
FoxFire Fest was a success and the city should be proud. I believe illegal aliens do not and will not attend events like this because they are not used to paying for anything or feel their money is best used for themselves or others in THEIR country. Want proof? Go to the post office on Saturday morning and watch the money orders getting tucked into envelopes and mailed to a foreign land. The strong police presence at this festival probably helped, too.
We need more of these events and less illegal aliens ASAP.
My wife and I have been Bee Gee fans since 1971. I say we get the two remaining Gibb brothers to come do a concert backed by the Elgin Sypmphony Orchestra. I would venture to say the park would not be big enough to hold all who would come for this. I would even pay $20 per admission if they could get the Bee Gees and have the orchestra with the.
If not the Bee Gees then lead singer Dennis Deyoung of Styxx backed by the Elgin Symphony Orchestra. My wife and I were boyfriend and girlfriend in 1974 when Styxx with Dennis sang at Larkin High School’s prom at the Blue Moon Ball Room on Larkin Ave in Elgin.
He has done concerts at Rosemount Theatre with an orchestra that we attended and he has done out door shows In Arlington Heights that we went to as well. I would pay $20 admission for Dennis and the orchestra as well.
Common Sense Clarence Hayward
Correction:
Styxx played in 1973 at the Blue Moon Ball Room. We got married in 1974.
Common Sense Clarence Hayward
A whole $20, huh? Wow. $20 for 2 of the Bee Gees PLUS, the ESO? Or, Dennis DeYoung PLUS, the ESO??
I bet you would pay a whole $25 to see Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, too. Would you pay another $5 if the city could talk Mick Jagger into coming?
I saw Mick Jagger in his prime and he wasn’t that good.
Common Sense Clarence Hayward
I was there last night and thought everything was laid out perfectly. I think the artisan portion of the fest should be moved to another date and become a fest on its own. My personal observation is that typical fest-goers tend to go down there for the music and food and as great as it is the artists get overlooked. Most people going to a fest to watch a band and have a few beers are not prepared to drop some money on art. I would love to strictly spotlight the art aspect on another weekend so it gets the attention it deserves.
I think the festival should be free as it is with other communities but if we must charge I think it should be no more that five bucks.
I think the fireworks are outstanding. If the city decides to have 4th of July fireworks again I think having the show in festival park is a great way to go. The argument would be the logistics of having all of the traffic downtown and how to effectively get people in and out. But the benefit would be having all that traffic downtown spending money at all the bars and restaurants. Other communities do it- namely Palatine and the entire downtown fills up with people on sidewalks, patios, restaurants, rooftops, condo balconies etc. and it feels like a real community.
My vote for a band next year would be Counting Crows (The Femmes would be ok too).
Credence Clearwater was easily worth the $10 admission. What a great concert. We paid $5 before 5 pm. You could have gone down there at noon, bought your admission for $5 and come back at 8 pm.
The cool cloudy weather put a damper on attendance and beer sales. Your Green Bay vendor should have been selling hot drinks.
But then, if you weren’t there for the music, who would pay admission for $4 slices of pizza?
P.S. It would have cost you minimum $40 to see CCR at the Hemmens!!!!!!! If you are too cheap to pay $10 for a $40 venue, stay home. We didn’t miss you. You missed GREAT entertainment at a dirt cheap price.
I am not disagreeing with you that the show was awesome or that it was a great value at $10. My issue is with a city that already has high taxes compared to other Northwest suburban municipalities and we have a riverboat (even though revenues are down)yet we can’t get fireworks on the 4th of July and we pay for our fest whereas most others can pull it off free. I think it makes us look bad.
As for the racist comments. I’m tired of hearing them. I know too many hard working illegals first hand that work hard doing jobs that us citizens would never apply for because it is beneath us and we can make more money on unemployment. I still don’t understand why the state will sell an illegal alien license plates but not give them a license? Is it about money? Why is it perfectly legal for an insurance company to insure a motorist without a license? Is it about money? Why was it perfectly legal for a bank to make a mortgage to an illegal? Is that about money too? Sounds like we have been complacent for a long time and now we are crying foul about what we have let happen over time. Yes, we have allowed this to happen not vice versa I am not going to sit here and say that I am o.k. with overcrowding, gangs, etc. or illegals breaking non immigration laws because I am not. I just know too many illegals personally as law abiding, church going hard working, personal friends to accept the term “sewage” when referring to them.
P.S. the paragraph about racism is directed toward boxcar not you paul.
“I just know too many illegals personally as law abiding…”
LOL.
LOL.
Could there be a more rediculous, contradictory statement?
Those words remind me of the 4th grade English tests I used to take where I had to identify which of the following sentences made absolutely no sense at all.
This is the 2009 Post of the Year. No more entries accepted.
LOL.
I was working a shift for a friend so I did not get off work until 920pm. If I had been able to get there at a decent time I was going to either sit or stand outside the fenced area and listen for free.
I know from past Foxfire Fests that Elgin does not enforce the loud music ordinance there and if I wanted to I could have sit on the sloping property along Route 31 that Charlene Sligting wanted to city to consider for a dog park and here the music.
Common Sense Clarence Hayward
I have my hopes up for a combination Elgin Symphony Orchestra backing either Dennis DeYoung - former lead singer of Styxx or the orchestra with the two remaining Gibb Brothers - The Bee Gees.
Both acts would help get more people to come and listen to the Elgin Symphony Orchestra and it would certainly be a media event that would be carried in the local media I believe both before and after.
I won the Courier News “Why I want a second chance makeover essay contest” with a romantic essay writing about thinking my girlfriend was the most beautiful girl at the prom as Dennis sang Lady at Larkin’s prom in 1973 and how I want a makeover to get thin and trim again for my Lady. I was motivated to enter the contest because I could win a new suit from Gus Clothing as one of the total of $5000 worth of prizes. The Second Chance Makeover Winner had visions of making over the Elgin City Council and needed a suit that fit.
My girl friend and I were in the fifth row of the Aerie Crown Theatre when Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees smiled at my girl friend back in the early 70’s.
My girl friend went on to be my wife of almost 35 years now, Lord willing, this September 14.
To Love Somebody is my favorite Bee Gees song and Lady is my favorite Styxx song.
Did I ever mention that my patriotic poem I wrote for Elgin Symphony first ever patriotic poetry contest was given runner up status and displayed in the Hemmons lobby alongside the winning poems.
It was the first poem I ever wrote. I wanted the free tickets you got for first 100 entries submitted, to hear the symphony.
Common Sense Clarence Hayward
My compliments to the photographer at the Elginite for capturing that motorcyclist in mid air above the townhouses. Great picture.
Common Sense Clarence Hayward
Great photos. I love the balloons.
Here’s a youtube video of the pyrotechnics show from that night. It doesn’t look like Part 2 is up yet, though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiSFJx4SBiQ
YOU made fun of city council candidate Shane Nowak’s youthful appearance during a forum and assumed he would be an ineffective leader based on that. That’s childish and inexcusable and deserved a response of the same ilk. You didn’t like it. Too bad.
My reference to riding a bike to a Carpentersville festival is a way to illustrate how unsafe and vulnerable ANY bike rider will be when you have an outdoor, open-to-the-public festival that serves alcohol held in a town ravaged by the disease of illegal aliens. I wouldn’t even drive there.
“Or you saw a Mexican guy ride a bicycle once so now you assume all bicyclists are illegal immigrants?”
Nice try for inflammatory sympathy. I believe there are more illegal aliens DRIVING CARS than riding bikes in this county. And, why shouldn’t they? No need for a license, no need for insurance. Heck, it’s fun to drive illegally and not get caught. Besides, how can you tell a guy is Mexican by looking at him on a bike? I sure can’t tell.
Special powers you have?
Firefest was great. I got hammered. Sorry for making so much noise during CCR everyone. Looking forward to next year! Definitely worth the $5. I don’t know about the beer and food prices though, they were pretty ridiculous. I thought the tacos were a pretty good deal, but I’m sure the guys serving them were illegal that’s why they were so cheap. I’m glad I walked down there instead of riding my bike. Probably would have gotten a BUI.