Winfield Good Old Days offers 3 days of family fun
Join in some old-fashioned fun with the 56th annual Winfield Good Old Days featuring a meatball-eating contest, a ladies shoe-kicking contest, car show, and a bags tournament.
The three-day festival on Sept. 8-10 also features live music on the main stage, activities and fun for the children, a variety of foods, activities for adults, and business booths on Church Street and Beecher Avenue.
The Winfield Knights of Columbus Council 8002 and Winfield Lions Club partner with the village of Winfield and Winfield Park District to host this free, family-friendly end-of-summer festival.
Festival hours are: 4 to 10 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Saturday, and 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Music lineup
The River 95.9 FM radio will open the festival broadcasting live from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Headlining Friday night's entertainment at 8:30 p.m. will be 7th heaven, who has charted No. 1 on the Midwest Billboard Charts three times and has had seven major radio hits.
The opener at 5:30 p.m. will be Sammy & The Knights. The hometown band, which includes members of the Knights of Columbus, loves to give back to the community through their musical performances.
A new addition to this year's festival will be a Youth Musician Showcase from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. It will feature young musicians from the Jerry Evans School of Music and School of Rock Glen Ellyn.
Saturday night's entertainment will start with local band Fueled by Emo from 3 to 5 p.m., playing music from bands such as My Chemical Romance, All Time Low, Yellowcard, Paramore, and Fall Out Boy to name a few.
Next up from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. will be the cover band SWAK (Sealed With A Kiss). Finishing up the night will be the classic rock band Hello Dave from 8 to 10:30 p.m.
From 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Vital Signs performs a variety of classic-to-current rock favorites.
Duck race
On Sunday, the Knights of Columbus and the Winfield Park District will be hosting the 29th annual duck race. At 10 a.m., hundreds of yellow rubber ducks will be released into the DuPage River and race downstream for a variety of prizes donated by local businesses. A $200 cash prize will be awarded to the first-place finisher. Ducks can be adopted in flocks of five for $20 or individually for $5. Ducks may be purchased at the information booth during Good Old Days.
Fun for kids
The Kids Zone will feature a petting zoo, bounce houses, face painting, a corn maze, and more from 5 p.m. to dusk Friday, 11 a.m. to dusk Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
At noon Saturday, Winfield Historical Society will announce the winners of the passport and coloring contest.
Be a winner at the Winfield Park District's Good Old Days Coin Carnival at 1 p.m. Saturday at Creekside Park. Kids can try their luck at games of skill and chance to win various special prizes. Tickets are 25 cents each.
On Saturday, there will be a petting zoo from noon to 4 p.m., go karts from 1 to 5 p.m., and interactive NASCAR racing from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 7 p.m.
Teens in sixth to eighth grade are invited to dance the night away with DJ Funky Stuff. The Teen Street Dance with a Dollar Booth will be 7:30 to 10 p.m. Saturday at the Liberty Street commuter lot. Bring a school ID to show for proof of age.
Bags tournament
Grab a partner, create a really cool team name, and enter yourselves into this year's Winfield Lions Club Bags Tournament from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. To learn more about registering your team, visit www.winfieldgoodolddays.com.
Farmers market and business expo
Each day, the festival will open with the farmers market and business expo tent from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Historic trolley tour
Take a tour around town with the Winfield Historical Society's Historic Trolley Tours on Saturday. Learn the history, view the sites, and enjoy the comfortable tour from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. There will be stops at Winfield Primary School at Winfield Road and Beecher Avenue; Church Street and Jewel Road; and Oakwood Park, off Winfield Road.
Meatball eating contest
On Saturday, Caliendo's Restaurant & Bar is back with its famous meatball-eating contest at 2 p.m. sharp near the main stage.
Ladies Shoe Kicking Contest
Join a long time tradition with the Winfield Historical Society's Ladies Shoe-Kicking Contest from 3 to 4 p.m. Saturday on Church Street.
Car show
On Sunday, check out some classic 1950s-style car, muscle cars, and vintage vehicles from 9 a.m. to noon at the Church Street Metra commuter lot.
Good Old Days Parade
Farming will be the theme of this year's Good Old Days Parade, with some local farmers and tractors leading the way, along with various special units, school bands, veterans groups, the color guard and more. The parade, which got rained out in 2022, returns at 1 p.m. Sunday at the intersection of Church Street and Sunnyside Avenue, heading east and north onto Winfield Road until the intersection of Winfield Road and Beecher Avenue. The parade turns left onto Beecher Avenue and ending at Summit Drive.
Food vendors
On Church Street, you'll find food vendors such as Mariano of Doggie Diner who will be selling fried chicken tenders, corn dogs, elotes, lemon shake-ups, funnel cakes, deep-fried Oreos, curly fries, fried mozzarella sticks and cheese curds. And back this year is La Birria Loca with its local favorites quesatacos, quesabirrias, Mexican sodas, and Mexican street corn.
On the sweet side, Kool Kat will return with ice cream and root beer floats, and there's a new vendor, Thassa Tony's Heavenly Ice selling Italian Ice. Another local favorite Manbot Coffee will be serving up hot and iced coffee.
The Knights will be firing up their wood burning grill to cook their popular cheeseburgers, hot dogs, sausages, deep fried pork chop sandwiches, corn on the cob, and pizza slices.
The Tony Reyes Family Foundation Beer Tents will be offering cold beers and seltzers for sale. Proceeds from the sales go toward the foundation's charities many of them local such as Ronald McDonald House Charities including the new gardens at the House near Central DuPage Hospital, Winfield In Action, disabled American veterans, and CASA DuPage County, just to name a few. For more, go to thetonyreyesfamilyfoundation.org.
For a schedule of events, visit winfieldgoodolddays.com.
Winfield Public Library Friends' Fall Book Sale is back. It opens with a preview sale from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, and continues from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the library, 0S291 Winfield Road. All proceeds go to the Winfield Library Friends, whose fundraising efforts directly benefit the library. Admission is free, including the preview sale. Payment is cash or check only. The book donations will be taken through Sept. 9.