Fiesta Days set for July 13 to 23 at McHenry parks, downtown venues

What Molly Ostap loves most about McHenry’s Fiesta Days isn’t the parade or the Cask and Barrel whiskey tasting at Petersen Park.

“I know it sounds cheesy, but what I love the best is how many businesses and community members get involved and excited about this,” said Ostap, McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce president.

The annual festival is the chamber’s biggest event of the year, drawing 25,000 people to McHenry, according to its website, mchenryfiestadays.com.

It takes many volunteers to pull it off, Ostap said.

“It is not something [Chamber members] do on our own. The whole community gets involved, with 70 sponsors and 300 volunteers. The community comes out” and gets involved, Ostap said.

That community involvement has been a staple of the annual event, now celebrating its 75th year, she added.

[W]hat I love the best is how many businesses and community members get involved and excited about this.”

—  McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce President Molly Ostap

Fiesta Days began in 1948 as Marine Days and was organized by community volunteers including Frank Lowq, according to Northwest Herald archives. In the early years, Marine Days centered on a boat race on the Fox River.

Later, it became Marine Festival Days with a queen contest, parade and drum and bugle corps. The boat race dropped in the 1960s – the boats were too big and fast to safely pass under bridges – and one person died in a 1970s boat crash. The water events were canceled.

With events moving off the water, the festival was renamed Fiesta Days.

Now, it runs over two weekends and includes the Music Fest Weekend, from July 14 to 16 at Petersen Park, and the Art and Street Fair Weekend, from July 20 to 23 at Veteran’s Memorial Park.

Other events during the 11-day event include a carnival the first weekend at Peterson Park, the River Run 5K, a car show, food booths, a radio-controlled car race, a Big Wheel race for children, a kayak race and fireworks.

The 2023 Fiesta Days Parade marshal will be Gary Lang. The former McHenry-area car dealership owner sold the Gary Lang Auto brand in September.

“Lang has sponsored several community events, such as Fiesta Days; RISE Up; Blues, Brews & BBQ; and Green Street Cruise Night. He purchased body cameras for our McHenry Police Department, provided vehicles for our local fire department and our driver’s education program. He has helped fund community projects like the dog park, splash pad, the Miller Point redevelopment and youth sports,” according to a news release from the McHenry Chamber.

Lang will be honored as the parade marshal during a ceremony beginning at 7 p.m. July 20 at Veteran’s Park. The Fiesta Days parade is set for 1:30 p.m. July 23 in downtown McHenry.

Ostap also hopes to include a ribbon-cutting July 21 for the McHenry Riverwalk Shoppes.

Construction on the tiny shops, set on Riverside Drive at the riverwalk, began May 1. Once open, the shops offer vendors a physical spot to sell their wares on weekends throughout the Christmas season.

A time for the ribbon-cutting has not been determined, Ostap said.