Northbrook Days Ends With a Bang, Lots of Mud

Like a punishing one-two punch, a pair of thunderstorms cut short the festival last Sunday, forcing cancelation of the final headline act and closing the downtown portion of Shermer Road for about five hours Monday morning as crews used heavy equipment to remove the biggest rides from the Village Green.

Though Shermer Road was reopened about 8 a.m., it was several hours later than planned.  

“When you’re in the carnival business, you become religious,” joked Paul Decker, head of the Northbrook Days festival. “There are many things that we can control. The weather isn’t one of them.” 

Heartless, the headliner scheduled to take the main stage at 7:15 p.m. last Sunday, could not perform because event organizers determined that rainwater from the late day storms made conditions on stage too dangerous. 

Decker noted, however, that the inclement weather at least held off until late on the final day of the festival. Many fairgoers rode out the first storm, which drenched the around 6 p.m. and lasted about an hour. That downpour was followed by sunshine. But a second storm about 8 p.m. turned the food court midway into “a quagmire,” he said, and convinced officials that Northbrook Days 2011 should shut down earlier than its scheduled 9 p.m. closing. 

The same band of storms responsible for drenching Northbrook Days also soaked Grant Park, the grounds of which also suffered severe damage under the feet of thousands of Lollapalooza music festival goers. 

In Northbrook, workers lugged in heavy-duty matting to support the trucks that hauled the carnival rides and trailers from the rain-soaked grounds. Because of the excessive water, extra help from Grosse Point Towing and at least one front-end loader from Northbrook Public Works were called in to assist.

By midday Thursday, Park District crews could still be seen working en masse to restore the grass by installing sod, planting seeds and spreading mulch in areas that appeared damaged by Sunday’s rains, including the outfield of the park’s baseball field. 

Restoring the fields is the easy part of the process, according to Ed Dalton, director of parks and properties for the Park District. What he is most concerned about is the ruts left due to the truck tires digging into the saturated ground, including around the old oak trees near the center of the park.

Some of the trees roots are close to the surface, and that concerns Dalton. “This year, the park received more rutting than I’ve seen before,” said Dalton, who is a veteran of six Northbrook Days festivals.

He estimated that the tire ruts were up to two inches deep in the baseball outfield, where the largest rides were located.

Nevertheless, there has been worse weather at previous Northbrook Days. “In 2009, we lost most of Sunday and a fair hunk of Friday. We just made a nominal amount of money. We were lucky to break even,” recalled Decker.

As for this year? The jury is still out. Members of are still counting the number of tickets sold and tallying up revenues.

Overall, however, Decker pronounced the event a success.

"It's safe to say we had a good Northbrook Days," he said.