For 49 years, the village of Bourbonnais has celebrated friendship. That tradition continues this year as flocks of Bourbonnais Friendship Festival attendees will descend upon the brand-new Bourbonnais Community Campus to celebrate the annual event.
Highlights of the five-day festival include a carnival, live music, the annual fish fry (from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday), and a fishing derby.
The grand parade is set for 1 p.m. Sunday, and this year’s grand marshal is Samantha Woodmaster, the director of community outreach at Fortitude Community Outreach. Fortitude serves area neighbors that are experiencing homelessness in Kankakee County.
Prior to this role, Woodmaster worked at Child Network for four years, she held multiple roles in her time there including Children’s Advocacy Center program director and forensic interviewer. Child Network serves children and intellectually disabled adults who have experienced sexual/physical abuse, neglect and interpersonal violence.
Woodmaster has also served as a volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocate since 2021, this is another program at Child Network. She recently signed up to be a JUMP mentor through the State’s Attorney’s office and is waiting to be matched with a mentee.
She has lived in Bourbonnais most of her life, moving here at age 6 to now raising her kids here. She is the mother of Soraya, Savanna, Romario, Sophia, and Rowen.
She was an early childhood teacher for eight years before deciding to go back to school and graduating with a bachelor’s degree in social work from Governors State University in 2020. Shortly after, she started her master’s in social work but she had to take a break and has recently enrolled at Aurora University to complete her graduate degree.
<strong>Children’s parade</strong>
The children’s parade is set for 6:30 p.m. Friday and will feature 15-year-old Levi Hamilton as the grand marshal. He is the son of Andy and Elisha Hamilton.
Like most boys his age, he enjoys video games and spending time with friends. In November of 2023, Levi had brain surgery to remove a tumor in his cerebellum. It was a medulloblastoma, which is a type of brain cancer. The surgery was successful, but he has a few deficits from the surgery itself- mainly altered balance, double vision and some right side weakness.
After two weeks recovering from surgery in Comer Children’s Hospital, he spent three weeks in an inpatient rehabilitation hospital, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, in Chicago. After various therapies and treatments at various facilities, he was able to come home at the end of January. His last day of radiation treatment was on his 15th birthday.
He’s now continuing rehab therapies three times a week in Homewood, and he is beginning round four of nine chemo treatments. He stays overnight at the hospital for the chemo and then has a couple weeks break in between rounds. If all goes well, he should finish all treatments in January 2025.
One of the chemo medications has really affected his ability to walk, and he’s lost his hair twice. Despite all these experiences over the past several months, Levi has never once complained. He continues to show his family, care team and others how to be a bright light in the midst of a dark time in his life.
Throughout major surgery and multiple treatments and procedures, Levi’s spirits remain high. He enjoys making others laugh and blessing their day. His faith in God and the many prayers of friends and family keep him strong.
For a schedule of events, see A7. For information on the Hidden in Plain Sight trailer, which will be on hand Saturday afternoon, see B1.
For more information, go to <a href="https://www.bourbonnaisfriendshipfestival.com" target="_blank">bourbonnaisfriendshipfestival.com</a>.