At the end of next July, area residents and visitors will be able to gather in Spella Park for a new Algonquin festival.

Village President Debby Sosine announced the new festival at a recent Algonquin/Lake in the Hills Chamber of Commerce membership breakfast.

Algonquin Fest is set to take place around the same time and place that Algonquin Founders Days was held. That festival went on hiatus this past year, with organizers saying they wanted to reimagine the festivities for 2026. Algonquin Fest will be July 30 to Aug. 2, Sosine said.

“This event will celebrate the village of Algonquin,” Sosine said, encouraging attendees to stay tuned for more details.

When asked if the new Algonquin Fest was a successor to Founders Days, Sosine said she wouldn’t say that, but “it’s our opportunity to offer” citizens a quality festival at Spella Park.

Founders Days was in Towne Park before outgrowing it, but that location has experienced flooding during the festival.

The village is planning to work with a private company to put on the new fest, Sosine said.

She was asked during the breakfast if the new festival would be downtown, and she said it would be at Spella Park because festival companies don’t want to work in flood zones.

In addition to the festival news, Sosine also mentioned the sale of the Algonquin Commons shopping center and new businesses in the area. She said the River Point Center shopping center at the southeast corner of the Randall and Algonquin roads would be completely filled for the first time with new additions including Fleet Feet, Wing Snob, Burlington and 7-Brew.

Sosine said four subdivisions are also under development and touted the village’s new telehealth program.

Also new in 2025, the revived Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Chamber foundation has delivered checks to local businesses through its emergency grant program, including BrewHaus 31 and The Annex Restaurant & Lounge, to help them get back up and running after an underground water main break and damage from a break-in, respectively.

The foundation also gave $1,350 this fall to the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Northwest Suburbs to send some of the staff to a midwest leadership conference, Chamber Foundation Chair Mark Krueger said.