Woodstock renaming bandstand, roadway in honor of former Mayor Brian Sager

Since 1989 through Tuesday, Brian Sager helped steer policy, development and cultural events in Woodstock as the the city’s mayor and a member of the City Council.

He earned much credit for helping bring the film crew for the 1993 classic movie “Groundhog Day” to film in Woodstock, a moment in city history still celebrated annually each winter, as well as his dogged pursuit of an expansion project for the Route 47 corridor through the city, which the state recently decided to fund with more than $50 million dollars with work slated to begin as soon as next year.

Sager’s 32-year run on the City Council, including the last 16 as mayor, came to end Tuesday as he was showered with praise for his dedication to public service by the new mayor, Mike Turner, who served as a councilman alongside Sager for years, as well as members of the public.

“I’ve learned a great deal from Brian, not just about the role, not just about politics, but about seeing his skills and his traits in actions, and for me as a person, working to emulate them,” Turner said. “Brian has made me a better person, and I know his influence and lessons will help me as a mayor.”

To honor Sager’s leadership of the city, the bandstand in the Historic Park in the Square in downtown Woodstock is being renamed the Sager Bandstand, Turner announced.

The facility will be adorned with a plaque describing Sager’s service to the city and a portrait of him on a copper plate, with a public reception planned to dedicate it to the longtime leader on June 30.

Main Street, where it enters the square, will also be renamed as Dr. Brian Sager Way in an honorary fashion.

Sager was unsuccessful with his bid to head to Springfield as the representative for Illinois House District 63, covering western and northern McHenry County, when he lost as a Democrat to Republican incumbent Rep. Steve Reick in the November election.

But his career in public service is not yet over, as he remains a director for the Regional Transportation Authority, a body overseeing public transit operations for a system serving millions of riders each weekday in six counties.

Most of Sager’s career has been in higher education.

He worked 12 years with the University of Illinois Cooperative Extension Service before moving into the Illinois Community College System in 1990.

He was a professor at McHenry County College for 18 years, teaching animal and plant sciences, as well as economics. He was recognized as one of the colleges outstanding faculty members.

He later served as vice president of academic and student affairs and acting president of McHenry County College. Following his work with McHenry County College, he served as provost of Rockford’s Rock Valley College until 2015.

“He started his terms as mayor in the Great Recession and is ending it in our great pandemic. And the leadership that he has provided to us has obviously been very well articulated, but I don’t know that he has really gotten credit for the challenges that he has led this city through so admirably and so well. I’m going to miss him very much,” Councilwoman Wendy Piersall said.

Sager moved from southern Illinois to Woodstock 40 years ago. He said both he and his family initially questioned the decision to come to McHenry County, which, like the rest of the swath of the state north of Interstate 80, Sager said, is all considered part of Chicago by many living in the southern part of the state.

“The truth of the matter is, about that first year and a half, I thought to myself, ‘Why on Earth did I move to Chicago? But the fact is I truly fell in love with this community and I fell in love with its people. And the reason is, it’s such an embracing community, it’s such a historic community, that has values,” Sager said. “We have an unbelievable sense of commitment to our history, a commitment to our environment, a commitment to education and social and cultural awareness.”

Several former city council members attended Tuesday’s meeting, at which Sager was thanked by Turner as well as members of the public, before he stepped onto a dolly and was rolled out of the meeting by a city staffer like a piece of furniture, a maneuver that concluded with Sager dropping the microphone as he disappeared from the public stage.

That was only for Sager to return seconds later to be thanked again by Woodstock police before departing the council chambers the last time as an elected city leader.

“It has been my privilege to work with so many of you,” Sager said. “It is my honor to turn it over to others that I know will do a fantastic job.”