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Rib Cook Off, pet pageant are new events at annual Libertyville festival
Kids enjoy some thrills aboard a carnival ride at last year’s Libertyville Days Festival. | Photo courtesy of Jill Harkaway/Libertyville Days Committee
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Updated: July 8, 2012 8:14AM
The Libertyville Days Festival will feature new attractions and traditional favorites during its run June 14-17.
“Our goal all along has been to create a real hometown festival that people in Libertyville and the surrounding communities can enjoy,” said Dee Cox, co-chair of Libertyville Days.
A new event is a Rib Cook Off on June 16 in the Beer Garden. Sponsored by Mickey Finn’s Brewery and the Libertyville Fire Department, the event will feature ribs made by local firefighters. Fire Chief Rich Carani said Libertyville will have a team of firefighters cooking ribs and he hopes to get teams from four other area departments competing the event.
One of the other new Libertyville Days events is the pet pageant which will be held on June 17 in Cook Park. The festival started a pet parade for the first time last year, which proved popular. The pet pageant will expand on the pet parade with other activities such as pet costumes, pet tricks and pet posing photos.
Libertyville Days also will include a variety of children’s activities, including a children’s party, a children’s cookie bake-off, a juggler and stilt walker and a watermelon eating contest. There will be carnival rides and games all four days.
The Libertyville pageants will help kick off the festival the evening of June 14, with girls competing in the Miss, Junior Miss and Little Miss categories. Libertyville’s Got Talent will be held on June 15.
The Libertyville Days Parade will go through downtown Libertyville the morning of June 16. One of Lake County’s largest parades, it will feature marching bands, Shriners groups, clowns, horses, floats and large helium balloon characters.
On June 17, a Community Photo Exhibition featuring the artwork of local artists will be held in conjunction with the Brainerd Community Center in the Jackson gym of the Brainerd building.
Live music will be performed all four days at the festival.
