McHenry’s inaugural 815 Day on 8/15 brings shoppers, visitors

Darius Pfeifer remembers growing up in the 1970s and ‘80s in McHenry, getting on his bike to go downtown for the annual sidewalk sale.

That is what 815 Day felt like to him, Pfeifer, now the manager at Ace Hardware, said. He and the Laskowski family that operate the store offered up its parking lot for a craft fair of local small businesses as part of the event.

“They are busier than we are inside,” Pfeifer said. “Ace has been in McHenry for 76 years and are part of the community. This is a celebration of us coming together.”

Sloane Bescher is one of the small businesses with a booth at Ace Hardware’s contribution to 815 Day. It was the first time she’d set up a booth to sell Scrumptious Scrubs, a sugar scrub business she started with her stepmother, Andrea Diaz.

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She’s wanted to start her own business for about seven years. “My dad started his own business, Addison’s Steakhouse, and that kind of inspired me to start my own business,” said Sloane, age 10.

“She is really into beauty products and skincare. A lot of her time is dedicated to self care,” Diaz explained.

They started with a do-it-yourself body scrub kit and have expanded from there, making body and lip scrubs and a salve for cuts. “We might start doing a beard balm,” Sloane added.

All of the lavender body scrub sales from their tent at Ace will go to Rhett’s Syndrome research. They are a five-girl blended family, and Sloane’s sister Margo was born with the disorder.

Pfeifer said he doesn’t mind if more customers buy from Sloane or the other businesses set up in the parking lot and don’t come inside, because “it’s about building relationships in the community.”

Relationships – particularly romantic ones – are also everything for Tina Lawrence. Also known as Crystal Lake’s WZSR Star 105.5-FM‘s Tina Bree, Lawrence is proprietor of one of McHenry’s Riverwalk Shoppes, Hello Darling Books & Beyond.

For 815 Day, she had mystery book bags and trucker caps for sale for $8.15.

“I like it. There is something going on for everyone and a place for everything,” Lawrence said of the event that celebrates the nexus between the date and the area code.

Lawrence has been hosting special events at the shop since opening in early May, including an author event recently that brought in 200 people. On Friday, she noticed a steady stream of people stopping in.

One of them was Caitlin Gering, who came down on her lunch break. She’d missed the author event – one of her favorites – and was still able to get a signed copy from Lawrence while also picking up a cap and mystery book bag.

The idea of hosting an 815 Day in McHenry came from Julie Skaggs. Her Mad Soyentist Candle Co. was one of the first Riverwalk Shoppes in 2023. She now shares Shop 3430 at 3430 Elm Street with two other former “tiny shop” residents, David Badgley of Lumber & Twine and Julie Vahos of Hair Flextensions.

Hearing how the event reminded Pfeifer, her business’s landlord, of growing up in McHenry brought a wave of emotion on her.

“I didn’t grow up in an area that had that sense of community. I have longed for that my whole life, and to hear him say that was amazing,” Skaggs said.

As a small business owner in McHenry, one of the first things she noticed was how welcoming and accepting the community it.

“That is why I am here. I live in McHenry County but McHenry is very welcoming. As soon as we opened our doors, I felt that and I knew I wanted to stay in the McHenry business community,” Skaggs said.

Once she decided to run with the 815 Day idea, Skaggs worked with McHenry’s economic development department. It offered up its online business directory, a free online listing of all 1,590 businesses in town, to promote the event. In total, 70 McHenry businesses used the site to promote their 815 Day events.

Other small businesses that want a start in McHenry are also invited to apply for the 2026 Riverwalk Shoppes season. Amy Humbracht, the McHenry Area Chamber of Commerce shoppes manager, was set up with a table advertising that the application season has now opened. Applications are being taken through Nov. 1, Humbracht said.