5 things to do in McHenry County: Woodstock PrideFest, vintage baseball and biking with your neighbors

1. The Wonder Lake Water Show Ski Team continues its free Friday shows this week.

The ski team kicked off its season Memorial Day weekend and will take to the waves at 7 p.m. most Fridays through August, according to its website.

The show can be watched from the private beach owned by the Wonder Center Property Owners Association at Hancock and East Lake Shore drives. On-street parking is available and donations are accepted and appreciated. Team apparel also is available to buy through the boosters.

Attendees can bring a chair or blanket.

For information, go to wonderlakeskiteam.org.

2. Woodstock PrideFest returns this weekend with live music, a festival, a parade and new this year, a color run at Emricson Park.

The Rainbow Run will take place Saturday at Emricson Park. Check in begins at 10 a.m., with staggered starts beginning at 10:30 a.m. The race includes one loop with three color stations. The cost is $20 and includes an event T-shirt for the first 200 people who register.

Pride Promenade will take place from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday around town. A reverse parade will take place, in which participants check out the celebratory displays at local homes and businesses. A map can be found on the Facebook event page Saturday morning.

A pub crawl will take place from 6 to 10 p.m. Saturday with check-in at the bandstand on the historic Woodstock Square. Tickets are $20 and include two drink tokens. The first 200 tickets come with a pair of Woodstock Pride sunglasses and stickers. Participating locations include Chop Suey Hut, Napoli’s Pizza, Ortmann’s, Red Iron, D.C. Cobb’s, The Cabin, Benton Street Tap and Public House of Woodstock.

Woodstock’s PrideFest will follow on Sunday with a parade, music and other entertainment, vendors and food on the historic Woodstock Square. The parade begins at 11 a.m. followed by an opening ceremony at noon and vendors and food trucks from noon to 5 p.m.

For information, go to facebook.com/woodstockpride.

3. Check out some very old-school baseball Saturday afternoon with a vintage baseball match featuring the McHenry County Historical Society’s 1858 base ball club.

The team will host the Chicago Salmon at 2 p.m. Saturday at Algonquin Road Elementary School, 975 Algonquin Road in Fox River Grove.

Formed in 2013, the McHenry County “Independants” (spelled that way in a newspaper article more than 150 years ago) follow 1858 rules.

That means no gloves, lemon-peel baseballs where the stitches meet at the top, no pitched balls from the “hurler” and called strikes only if “striker” swings and misses. A ball caught on the first bounce is considered an out and a ball is ruled fair or foul based solely on where it first touches the ground.

Attendees can bring their own blanket or chairs to sit on. Refreshments will available for sale.

4. Hit the streets of Crystal Lake for the annual Bike with Your Neighbor event, hosted by the city’s Sustainability Committee.

The ride, a free, family friendly event open to all ages, begins at 12:30 p.m. Sunday at the Main Beach parking lot, 300 Lakeshore Drive. Three routes of varying lengths are offered.

The shortest at 5 miles travels from Main Beach to Lippold Park where it loops and returns to the starting point.

The second route is 10 miles in length and travels south along the Country Club Road bike path, eventually passing Four Colonies Park, Crystal Lake South High School and the wastewater treatment plant as it travels east toward Main Street. The route follows Main Street north to Veterans Acre Park before making its way back via Dole Avenue to Main Beach.

The third route, at 20 miles, matches the second except for an extra leg from Veterans Acres Park along the Ridgefield Trace bike trail marks the third route.

Find a map at bit.ly/CLBikeNeighbor2022.

5. The National Alliance on Mental Illness McHenry County’s Cookout for a Cause will take place from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Fel-Pro RRR Conservation Area in Cary.

The free event will include an auction, a scavenger hunt, music and door prizes in addition to food from Taylor Street Pizza Algonquin.

Space at the event is limited, so registration is required at www.namimch.org.

Would you like your event featured in this weekly feature? The first step is submitting your events to the Northwest Herald’s community calendar at shawlocal.com/northwest-herald/local-events/ where they are then considered for inclusion in this feature.