Weekend heat no match for eager Glencoe festivalgoers

From live-edge wooden furniture to classic oil paintings to live music, the 13th annual Glencoe Festival of Art had it all to satisfy art enthusiasts who waited a year and a half for the event to come around again.

Bunches of residents gathered in downtown Glencoe at the intersection of Green Bay Road and Park Avenue to experience the free festival Saturday and Sunday, July 24-25. 

The harsh sun, which pushed temperatures into the mid-90s, was no match for festivalgoers.

Ladies lingered in jewelry booths, trying on and selecting items. Gentlemen joined each other in testing the strength of handmade furniture and flagging down friends and family across the street. Children cooed at the large cone of shaved-ice served at the Hometown Hut. Babies babbled in strollers, and artists agonized over where to place each piece of work in their displays.

The scene was just a slice of what has been missed in the past 16 months.

In 2020, the art festival was postponed because of COVID-19 and reimagined as a modified art walk with heavy COVID-19 protocols in October. 

But there is nothing like the real deal, according to Amy Amdur, the Glencoe Festival of Art director and lifelong resident of the village.

“What we try to do with this festival is give the community a cultural event to bring people downtown,” Amdur said. “Now, it’s more important than ever for people to see the businesses that are still here and the new businesses that have opened.”

Amdur said that this year is a “bridge year” for the festival as events re-establish, so the focus was primarily on art rather than interactive experiences or food and drink.

“We’re focusing on about 100 hundred artists from near and far,” Amdur said. “People come from coast to coast to see the show. You’ll see articles at all different price points from someone looking for a gift to someone looking for a major acquisition for their home or office.”

On top of the artwork from a wide variety of genres and styles, two Chicago-based music groups (Cirrus Falcon and David Dallison & Friends) played live music for festivalgoers. 

The festival also partnered with the Chicago Furniture Bank to collect gently used furniture and art pieces as donations that would go to people who were previously homeless and are beginning to get their feet off the ground in new homes.

Even though the Glencoe Festival of Art may not have been the same experience as it was in years past, Amdur said she is just “happy to be back.”