If you already live here, you know the postcard version of a Libertyville summer: the four-day Libertyville Days festival in mid-June, the parade down Milwaukee Avenue, the carnival lights at Cook Park. It is the version that shows up on regional roundups and on the highway signage north of Route 60.
The version residents actually build a season around is quieter, longer, and almost entirely centered on one weekday. From late May through mid-October, downtown Libertyville runs on a Thursday spine at Cook Park. Most people tap into one end of it or the other. The trick, once you notice it, is that the morning and the evening were designed to stack.
The Thursday That Runs From May 28 To October 15
The Thursday routine has two anchors, both free, both walking distance from anywhere in the downtown core.
The morning anchor is the
