While some Chicago suburbs scale back or drop festivals, Tinley Park Ribfest is expanding
TINLEY PARK, Ill. (CBS) -- Fireworks and festivals are in full swing days away from the July 4th holiday—yet as people get ready to celebrate, some communities have scaled back due to safety woes.
But Tinley Park is bucking that trend, with no plans whatsoever to cut festivities. Preparations were under Friday for the Tinley Park Ribfest.
"Where other towns are canceling, we are not," said Tinley Park Mayor Michael Glotz. "We're going forward with this event like we had last year."
Last year kicked off the inaugural four-day festival. Mayor Glotz said this second year, the festival is expanding.
"We had over 32,000 people last year, and we're expecting roughly 40,000 this year," Glotz said, "because we have more vendors than last year for the ribs because it was so successful."
The Tinley Park festival is growing at a time when other summer festivals are scaling back—or even being called off. The Naperville Ribfest, which has been held every year since 1988 except during the height of COVID-19 pandemic, will not return this year.
"I feel sad for them—the chain of events that happened that they had to cancel this," Glotz said.
Then there are security concerns surrounding outdoor festivals. At the start of June, the south suburban Posen Park Fest shut down abruptly, and police arrested several people, after large fights broke out and caused safety concerns.
"If you going to come here to Tinley Park, and you're going to try to disrupt anything, we're going to arrest you," said Tinley Park Village Manager Pat Carr.
The warning is meant for anyone thinking Tinley Park Ribfest is a place to act up. Carr said there has been a coordinated plan implemented to keep the thousands safe for the four-day event.
"We started planning for this the day after last year's event," Carr said.
And a year of strategic meetings has left Tinley Park confident that the fireworks will be the biggest roar for the fest. Extra-link fencing has been set up, and there are also security measures that festivalgoers won't see.
"We have eyes through cameras. We'll have eyes through drones," Carr said. "We are very well versed in the area."
The village will also check everyone at the gates.
"You're going to come through the metal detectors that will be there. There will be a bag search it's like," Carr said. "It's like any other major event in the city."
Yet most of all, there will ribs at the fest, and fun for the entire family over the four days. The 411 on the hours and who gets in free can be found at the festival website, and a schedule for the bands is below.