Kenny Loggins Headlines Lake Forest's 4th of July

Take Kenny Loggins off the list.

The popular singer best known for his movie soundtrack hits for Top Gun and Footloose is coming to Lake Forest on July 4 for the city's annual Festival and Fireworks show at .

Loggins has been one of the musical acts sought by the Friends of Lake Forest Parks and Recreation Foundation since the Festival and Fireworks show began in 2006.

Last year, attracted nearly 10,000 people to the event, according to Mary Van Arsdale, director of the city's .

Loggins could draw more because July 4 lands at midweek, a Wednesday, which could keep more people in town, according to Rick Amos, the event coordinator of Festival and Fireworks for the foundation.

Like Springfield, Loggins made his mark as a solo act in the 1980s after partnering with Jim Messina to form Loggins and Messina in the 1970s.

"We do have a process" of putting together a prospective list of music acts, Amos said. "We look at who our demographic is, and mostly it's families with two, three kids and adults. Most of the acts we've chosen were from the '70s and '80s, when many of those adults were growing up."

As Amos has discovered, even his 13-year-old daughter knows Loggins' music because of TV shows like Glee, which have popularized many songs from the 1970s and '80s and exposed them to a whole new generation of fans.

The other attraction of booking acts like Loggins is the price tag, Amos said. As an example, Amos said that when country star Taylor Swift first began performing, her fee was $75,000. Now it's $1.5 million.

The impetus to starting the Festival and Fireworks was to raise funds for the to purchase items that did not fall within its budget. Last year's Fireworks and Festival raised in the neighborhood of $50,000, Amos said.

For concertgoers, admission to the event will stay at $10 for Lake Forest and Lake Bluff residents. Nonresidents will pay $15 per ticket. Parking will stay at $20 for basic and $50 for preferred parking.

New this year are special VIP packages starting at $25 for children and $75 for adults, which include admission, food and beverages. A family VIP package of up to two adults and four kids runs $200.

"The family receives food from Lovell's of Lake Forest and are taken to a special viewing section near the stage," Amos said.

If you want to meet Loggins and have your photo taken with him, it's $350.

The VIP packages were added this year in response to previous years, when they were available only to corporate sponsors, their employees and clients, Amos said.

The closing fireworks show will be back, but the fireworks will be shot off from the rather than as in the past, according to Van Arsdale. "We're doing this in response to the size of the crowd," she said.

The will not be open to the public July 4, Van Arsdale said.

Sixteen Candles will be back to open the music portion of the festival, followed by Loggins' opening act, the Blue Sky Riders.

This year's main sponsor will be .

For ticket information, visit http://friendslfpr.org/wp27/.