Parade, other activities bring 4-day Oswego PrairieFest to a close

Oswego East High School senior Miles Mosher tried to not think about the sweltering temperatures on Sunday as he marched with his fellow students in the PrairieFest Parade.

Mosher plays trumpet in the Oswego East High School Band.

“Marching is like a mental game,” he said. “You have to keep going even though you are tired. You have to have that I can keep going kind of mindset.”

Sunday was the last day of the four-day PrairieFest, organized every year by the Oswegoland Park District.

The recent emergence of the 17-year cicada brood was a theme in the parade. The Oswego Area Chamber of Commerce’s parade entry urged people to join the Chamber “and be seen more than the cicadas.”

Oswego Public Library District library assistant Ben Iglar-Mobley and his fellow employees marched in the parade and wore T-shirts that read, “Cicada Invasion. The library is buzzing.”

The library’s campus in downtown Oswego has literally been buzzing with the sound of cicadas.

“Our Oswego location looks out onto the woods there at the Waubonsie Creek Park and they are all over in the trees there,” he said. “Even if you just stand at the windows, you can hear them buzzing through the glass. If you’re not hearing them in your neighborhood, come to the library, and we’ll share ours with you.”

Recent Oswego High School graduate Noah Mottet was happy to see some of his former classmates in the parade.

“It was good to see them again,” said Mottet, who was part of the baseball and football teams at Oswego High School. “My sister is on the Oswego High School cheer team, which just walked through in the parade.”

Mottet has lived in Oswego his whole life, and watching the parade is a longstanding tradition.

To cool off those who had been watching the parade, Oswego firefighters used one of their firetrucks to spray water on the crowd. That created a great deal of excitement among the youngsters in the crowd.

“She’s having a blast,” Oswego resident Anthony Hocking said, talking about his daughter.

Other activities Sunday included a car show next to Oswego High School. Oswego resident Daniel Falkos displayed his 1965 Chevrolet Malibu SS convertible at the show.

He has owned the car since 1991 and invested more than $20,000 restoring it.

“That was with me doing 90% of the [restoration] work,” Falkos said.

He owns another classic, a 1964 Chevrolet El Camino. Falkos likes being part of car shows.

“You can meet people and sometimes they come up to you and say, ‘Man, I used to have one of these.’ "

PrairieFest featured musical acts such as Cowboy Co. The Country Music Show and the Hog Diggity Dog Show.