Buffalo Grove Days

Free to enter. There are various shuttles (bona-​fide school busses!) to bus you from parking lots to the fairgrounds and back.
Tip: Make sure to note whether your bus says COOK CO or LAKE CO on the side window so you can get back on the right bus route.
Bring chairs or blankets for the parade (starts at 1).
The north side of Lake Cook has craft fairs and food, while the south has rides and games (and a few food options — mostly cotton candy, elephant ears, corndogs).
Ride tickets amount to about $ 1.25, and kiddie rides are typically 2 – 3 tickets. There are two sections of rides: the kiddie ones and adult.
Food vendors included a lot of pizza (Nancy’s, Wapaghettis…), Jersey Mike’s, JD’s BBQ, Culvers. also mac and cheese, chicken tenders, burritos, pretzels, etc from various other vendors. There’s a covered picnic area to chill and take a break from the sun and heat, as well as a misting tent.
Prices weren’t TERRIBLE. My steak burrito was $ 7 and my custard sundae was $ 3. Pop cans are $ 1.50 and water is about $ 2.50. You can bring your own beverages, water, coolers, whatever (non-​alc), too.
There’s an abundance of portra johns, and we even saw some being cleaned! Clean sh! tters?! Score!

Not overly crowded — good music, good food, and great fireworks show on Sunday night!

Tips for surviving and enjoying BG days:
1. Get a soda or two from the boy scouts. It’s the same troop year after year.
2. Try something you don’t eat all the time (Lou’s, Yen Yen, Village Tavern, Doerfler’s.) There were tons of options, like The Tilted Kilt, Grande Jake’s, Pita Pita, and Oishii Thai.
3. After you’re done eating, clear out of the food tent.
4. If you see someone sitting in the food tent, don’t try to cram in right next to them, there’s plenty of space. (We had a lady cram three of her kids in at the end of the table right on top of us. We moved… but rude much?)
5. Don’t try to impress your friends by buying a gazillion beer tickets. You’ll never use them all, and if you get rowdy, the cops are carrying tasers.
6. Cap yourself at $ 20 for the carnival games. If you win something, awesome. Avoid the free throw game. They don’t even TRY to hide the fact that the hoops are miss-​shapen.
7. For the love of everything holy, shower before you arrive. You’re going to smell bad enough when you leave, I don’t need to smell you when you first get there.
8. Understand that there will be a lot of white trash. I legitimately saw a lady reach down, take off her shoe, and hit her crying child with it. I wish I was joking.

Had a wonderful time! Place was packed and we were still able to get beer and food with little wait. I love the fact that they had this great food tent with local fair which was freash and tasty. All the servers were friendly and we had a great time. The bands were sub-​par, but hey, it was free. Thanks BG!

A B. family tradition, and for good reason. Summer may be «officially» over, but Buffalo Grove celebrates its passing with a weekend-​long festival featuring tons o’ family fun!
Saturday:
Spend the afternoon wandering the booths examining the arts and crafts made by local artisans. I always manage to score a unique necklace or ring.
Speaking of crafts, there a craft tent for the kiddies over by the St. Mary’s football field. While I never participated myself, this tent gets two thumbs up from the grammar school-​aged kids who live across the street from my parents.
Sunday (the kingpin day):
First stop, the parade (check the website for the route). People set up chairs all along the route, but don’t fret, there’s always room for everyone. The parade features fire engines, the three nearby high school bands (Stevenson, Buffalo Grove, and Wheeling), girl and boy scouts, and a smattering of local politicians. Bring a bag with you — most floats throw candy (Insider Tip: Strategically place yourself near a group of kiddies & be ruthless — most float-​riders are kind of stingy when it comes to throwing candy to adults).
Next, to the beer tent! There’s always a group performing around 3PM.
Later that night, bring your lawn chairs and set up on St. Mary’s football field. There’s a band starting around 7:30, and it’s generally something the whole family can enjoy (read: oldies). While music choice this year was a touch questionable, I have faith that we will all be rockin’ to the oldies again in 2010. Grab dinner from the food tent — the tent takes up the entire parking lot of the village hall and features food from local restaurants.
Once the music is over (around 9:15), swivel your chair 90 degrees to face north and watch the fireworks go off over the golf course. The show this year was especially good. (Insider Tip #2: If you’d rather not attend the festivities at St. Mary’s, the fireworks are also quite visible from Willow Stream Park).
An additional plus: BG Days always has the cleanest port-​a-​potties I’ve ever seen. Good to know, even if you’d rather not partake.