McHenry, Illinois
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The biggest party of the year is Fiesta Days, a ten-day mid-July blowout featuring antique auto and boat shows, sidewalk sales, concerts, an arts and crafts fair, a Jaycees barbeque, and a parade complete with three-wheeling Shriners. Throughout the celebration, a Dixieland band makes the rounds of funnel-cake-munching locals; during the parade and sidewalk sale, crowds belly up to a makeshift bar behind the Foxhole Tap & Pizzeria (3308 W. Elm, 815-385-6710) for quarter beers. In September the annual Country Meadows Fall Craft Show brings in 200 exhibitors and 5,000 visitors; for more information on either event call 815-385-4300.
The boatless can also rent sailboats, canoes, rowboats, paddleboats, and kayaks at Petersen Park Beach (McCullom Lake Road west of Richmond Road, 815-363-2126), also a favorite swimming spot. The park is open daily from 11 to 5:30 June 2 through August 19; there’s a nominal admission fee for nonresidents.
The place for pancakes is down the street and across Route 120, at the Windhill Pancake Parlor (3307 W. Elm, 815-385-1172). The dining room, which features an extensive collection of Victorian china and other antiques, is open daily from 7 AM to 3 PM and on Friday evenings, when it hosts a fish fry from 5 to 9. At Zubrzycki’s Warsaw Inn (217 N. Front, 815-344-0330) there’s a Polish-American buffet with more than 80 items including homemade pierogies, blintzes, stuffed cabbage and peppers, and a huge array of desserts. An all-you-can-eat lunch is $6.50, dinner is $8.50, and brunch, offered weekends, is $10.50.
