Bolingbrook Makes Plans To Celebrate the Big 5-0

Caption: 1) Bolingbrook’s first village hall and police station in 1965 is being turned into a town history museum, complete with the wire jail cells in the basement. 2) Residents will be seeing a lot of the village’s eye-popping 50th anniversary logo.

Fifty years ago, a few hundred voters went to the polls to officially create the municipality of Bolingbrook. A few years before that, the first modern subdivision was laid out and the first model homes opened to eager young homebuyers just of old Route 66.

Today, Bolingbrook has been named one of the best places to live for four consecutive years by Money magazine.

“Most towns around us are 100 to 150 years old, but Bolingbrook has played catch up beautifully,” Mayor Roger Claar said.

In honor of Bolingbrook’s big 5-0, a wide range of celebrations and events are planned for the coming summer centering on the village’s award-winning outdoor stage and grounds.

“We have a couple of themes,” says retired village trustee Sandy Swinkunas, who was named by the mayor to head up the 50th Anniversary Committee. “We’re focusing on the idea of people getting to know and recall things about their town.”

One fondly recalled tradition was the annual Cornfield Yacht Regattas, staged tongue-in-cheek in the 1970-‘80s by the infamous Commodore Terry Little of the Bolingbrook-by-the-Sea Yacht Club.

The regatta is being recreated this year. Landlubbers of every cut of the jib are invited to enter teams and boats to run the obstacle course over a wavy sea of grass to vie for the traditional Fabulous Flying Pink Flamingo trophy.

“We’re highlighting the early 1960s, up to 1965 when the town was incorporated,” Swinkunas says. “We built this city on rock ‘n roll. You’re going to be able to come to a series of free concerts and hear the music from all five of Bolingbrook’s decades. In 1965 alone, the big hits included ‘I Got You, Babe,’ ‘Can’t Get No Satisfaction, ’My Girl,’ ’Help,’ not to mention ‘Help Me, Rhonda,’ and on and on. The list is incredible, and we’ve got ‘em!”

Fireworks are about the most popular event every year, and this year two anniversary special fireworks shows are being planned for the summer months.

The village’s first police department and village hall is being renovated to open as a museum in the anniversary year, complete with its original homemade wire jail cells in the basement.

The Village of Bolingbrook Historic Preservation Commission is also working on a book featuring archival photographs and history of the town due this summer through Arcadia Publishing’s iconic “Images of America” series.

A new spin on the scavenger hunt will also encourage players of “Explore Bolingbrook” to find different places or objects scattered all around town, using an app on their mobile phones, with prizes to the finishers.

People can also celebrate online by posting their fondest memories and photos, play games and enter contests on a newly created Bolingbrook50 Facebook page.

An anniversary website – Bolingbrook50 – will serve as a one-stop reference site for anniversary events. There will be a little history, as well, plus a Brag Book about notable Bolingbrook achievers. There will even be souvenirs, among them a stunning commemorative coin, T-shirts and a book.

Submitted by the Bolingbrook 50th Anniversary Committee.