Community Contributions Allow Residents To Celebrate Lake Forest's 150th For Free

Saturday’s Heritage Day Festival will be an opportunity for all Lake Forest residents to participate in their hometown’s 150th anniversary celebration — at no charge.

In addition, the grand-scale event comes at no charge to the city of itself.

“We wanted it to be special, but didn’t want the city to pay for it,” explained Debbie Saran, a member of the Lake Forest 150th Committee, adding that Lake Forest, like all other municipalities, is struggling to maintain a balanced budget in the down economy.

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So two years ago, the 150th Committee came up with other ways to raise the money to fund Heritage Day, and all the other celebratory events throughout the past year.

According to Saran, the committee made a list of families in the community; some who have lived in Lake Forest for generations, some who are newer to town. All had one thing in common — a history of contributing to Lake Forest and the betterment of the community.

Over the past two years, the 150th Committee has approached these community members, along with all former Lake Forest mayors, and asked them for a financial or material donation to the monumental celebration.

“What we found when we went out into the community was that we were overwhelmed with support,” said Saran. “This allowed us to create a community event that everyone could celebrate — free for everyone.”

Committee members divided the entire 150th celebration, including parts of the Heritage Day Festival, into separate portions, and asked residents if they would contribute to a certain event.

“Everyone found a niche that they were able to support,” Saran said.

About $200,000 was raised to fund the yearlong sesquicentennial celebration, from the in November last year to Saturday's Heritage Festival, and every event in between — all through private donations.

Given today’s economic climate, committee members were unsure if the commonly known generosity of Lake Forest residents would be enough to sustain such a grand-scale event.

“We were prepared to scale back if we needed to,” Saran explained, adding that nothing was trimmed from the year's events.

“So many families who have been here for generations were happy to contribute,” she said.

Although some of the donors chose to remain anonymous, their generosity soon will be permanently memorialized with a plaque to be affixed to to honor their contributions.

“That’s probably the nicest piece about living here,” Saran said. “Everyone is willing to share for the benefit of all of our residents.”