Happy 100th Birthday Lincoln Highway!

The Lincoln Highway turns 100 years old in 2013.  To celebrate, the Illinois Chapter of the Lincoln Highway Association has several activities planned along the Lincoln Highway the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, May 18 and 19, and everybody is invited!

Starting at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, May 18th, a driving tour will begin on the west side of the state in Fulton, featuring a 1913-style tour.  Leave the GPS at home!  At 1:00 p.m., the tour will stop at the Lincoln-Manahan Home in Sterling.  Then in Franklin Grove, there will be a car show and the Lincoln Highway Association National Tourism Headquarters to see in the afternoon.  A dinner from Headon's Catering will greet the travelers at the Creston Opera House at 5:00 p.m. followed by a talk on the Lincoln Highway in Creston given by Lyle Headon at 6:00 p.m.  To order dinner by the deadline of May 1, please see:  http://illinoislincolnhighwayassociation.org/ for a registration form.  The talk at 6:00 p.m. at the Creston Opera House is free, does not require registration, and is open to everyone.  Included in the driving tour throughout the day are Morrison, Dixon, Ashton, Rochelle, and Malta.

Next, the tour will travel to DeKalb, for an evening car show in the Frank Van Buer Plaza on the corner of Locust and N. 2nd Streets.  The car show is free for participants and visitors and begins at 6:00 p.m. and ends at 7:30 p.m.  At 7:30 p.m., there will be a special concert at the Egyptian Theatre opening with the band MahaRa; then the story of the Lincoln Highway will be told through the music of the Celtic and American band Switchback, with a little help from some special guest narrators, including an actor playing the role of Carl Fisher, the mastermind behind the Lincoln Highway and the Indianapolis 500.  With Switchback, dancers from Colleen's School of Clogging and Celtic Dance from Sterling will perform.  Switchback opened for Gaelic Storm in the past.  What is the Irish connection to the Lincoln Highway?  Come to the concert and find out!  Tickets can be purchased directly from the Egyptian Theatre's Website at:  egyptiantheatre.org. 

For the driving tour on Sunday, May 19, the touring will start at 9:00 a.m. at the parking lot of the Best Western, 1212 W. Lincoln Highway in DeKalb.  The tour will continue eastward at a leisurely pace through Cortland, Maple Park, Elburn, Geneva, Batavia, North Aurora, Joliet,  Plainfield, and New Lenox, including a stop at the Joliet Area Historical Museum in the afternoon. 

On Sunday night, May 19th, Cynthia Ogorek will talk about her award-winning book "The Lincoln Highway Around Chicago" and Matthew Luzi will give a presentation about his riveting book about Prohibition Era bootleggers and mafia entitled, "The Boys of Chicago Heights:  The Forgotten Crew of the Chicago Outfit" at 7:30 in the Frankfort Park District's main building on 140 Oak Street.  The presentation Sunday is open to the public and does not require advance registration.  Everyone is welcome to attend!