The Lincoln Highway Heritage Festival will again be held at Atwood Park in 2026 after the Flagg-Rochelle Community Park District Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a special-use permit for the event at its meeting Monday.
The festival, historically held in the downtown area, will take place Aug. 14-16. Last year, it was held at Atwood Park for the first time due to the city’s planned construction that will include a new stage, storage and bathrooms structure, parking lot restoration and utility undergrounding.
That work has begun and, along with a planned sewer construction project on Fourth Avenue, will again prevent the festival from being held downtown, LHHF Committee Member Pete Agnos said at the park district meeting.
LHHF’s committee had hoped to hold the event back in its typical space downtown this year. It now plans to return the festival to the downtown next year. The committee asked the park district board to rework its layout this year, utilizing more grass space to bring the different attractions close together, which the board said it would consider as the festival approaches and as the weather that weekend becomes more clear.
The LHHF committee considered other venues for the event, including the Rochelle Municipal Airport, the parking lot of the Caron Ridge Shopping Center (former site of Sullivan’s Foods), Memorial Park, and another area downtown. Those areas were decided against for reasons including parking, utility access, space, construction, impacts on businesses and area use restrictions.
VFW Park to get new shelter
The park district board unanimously approved a $25,865 expenditure for a new VFW Park shelter from Play Design Scapes. Park District Executive Director Jackee Ohlinger said the current shelter at the park is at the end of its useful life and will be torn down this winter.
The new shelter will be a similar size to the current one and its location will be slightly adjusted to be closer to the playground.
Spring Lake cleanup
Park District Risk Superintendent Brent Boardman provided an update to the board on happenings at Spring Lake Pool as the weather warms and summer approaches.
The city of Rochelle will be working with a contractor soon on repair and reconfiguration of the base of the waterfall at the facility, relating to an incident where a utility pole fell at Spring Lake on June 5.
A Rochelle Municipal Utilities pole and transformer fell into the waterfall area that day, which saw mineral oil get into the water and soil. The area has since been cleaned up and a dam was put in place to contain the initial spill. The city will be working to fully restore the area and RMU will also soon be inspecting all utility poles on park district property.
Boardman also said that work on new pool heaters and ADA stairs at Spring Lake is on track to be completed by the time the summer season starts.
Ohlinger announced during the meeting that there will be no price or fee increases for attendees at Spring Lake this summer. Daily admission and season pass prices will remain the same.
REC Center continues to see membership growth
Ohlinger provided an update to the board on usage numbers at The REC Center. The facility saw around 10,500 visits from members in both November and December before seeing 13,000 visits in January. She said February is on track to rival January’s numbers.
The REC Center is averaging about 1,000 one-time “drop-in” users per month, and is seeing continued membership growth, Ohlinger said.
“We continue to have sustained growth in membership,” Ohlinger said. “It’s not just seasonal spikes.”