Highwood: The Small City With Big Festivals

Redheads, garlic and bloody marys may seem like a random array, but they all have one pretty specific thing in common.

They are all the theme of a yearly festival held in a small Lake Michigan town that’s home to only about 5,400 people.

Despite the small area it encompasses, the city of Highwood has become the cool festival capital of the North Shore.

It wasn’t always that way, but when a new Mayor and City Council were elected in 2009, there came an urge to make the small town that sits between Lake Forest and Highland Park stick out.

In came the “Celebrate Highwood” brand and an evening market, called “Not Your Ordinary Farmer’s Market.”

The “not your ordinary” theme would continue, and months later the village would break a national record for most pumpkins in one festival when more than 1,000 were put along one wall in a matter of hours.

Read More: Highwood Continues Theme of Cool Festivals with Rockin’ 2015 Slate

“The city really wanted to piggyback on that success, so the next year we had a full blown Pumpkin Fest, an evening market and added the first Bloody Mary fest,” said Ilyse Strongin Bombicino, a representative with Ripple Public Relations, which has worked with the city since 2009.

“And it was fabulous,” Strongin Bombicino said of the first Bloody Mary fest. “So we added Garlic Fest the next year and now are planning all of these in addition to the evening markets.”

Earlier this year, the owner of local restaurant Alex’s Washington Gardens added another fun one at the corner of Green Bay Road and City Hall: A Festival of Redheads.

Although run by a private business, Strongin Bombicino says the city will “definitely” see that one again, making Highwood the place for unique festivals all summer long.

Read More: 1st Day of Redhead Festival in Highwood is a Success

“Our goal was to generate more awareness for the city, but also to increase home value which has definitely happened,” said Strongin Bombicino. “We’ve seen pop-up business turn into brick and mortar and the residents are thrilled. We see people from all across the country come out.”

The city also hosts a Craft Beer Fest and a Girls Night Out in early September, an event Strongin Bombicino describes as “a bi-annual event that has become so popular we have a couple hundred women every time.”

So for a fun night out with the ladies, a gingerrific get together, or to take the train from the city and enjoy the best bloody marys on the market, there really is only one place to go.

Highwood, Illinois.