Car cruise, food sampling highlight the month’s O’Fallon Downtown District event

Lynn Venhaus
·4 min read

Introduced last year to showcase the O’Fallon Downtown District in a fun outdoor event the first Thursday of each summer month, the next District Night is set for Thursday, July 11.

“They have worked hard to offer something for everyone so the entire family can come and have a fun night,” said Andrew Dallner, director of the parks and recreation department.

It starts at 5 p.m. and continues through 9 p.m., with more than 20 downtown businesses, bars and restaurants offering food, drinks and activities. A car cruise-in and summer concert series are also part of the evening.

The festive fun will take place on First Street, from O’Fallon Station to Toast and Table. The event is free, but food and beverages cost, as do some activities. There will be five free water stations set up throughout the area.

All beverages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, must be in an event cup, which is orange. The event cup is $5 and all drink vendors will have them available. These funds go towards supporting this event and others produced downtown.

All kid-friendly drink vendors will have cup toppers and straws to help the little ones keep their beverages within the cup, which is new this time.

Organizers ask that people leave the coolers, bottles, and all other food and drink at home.

Two bands will entertain – RetroNerds on the main stage and Steel Creek on the second stage.

Food and Drink, Activities

The Parks and Recreation Department will offer games and the city of O’Fallon will dispense free popsicles. Dallner said the Bubble Bus is parked there, too.

Activities include Courage & Grace providing chalk for the kids to draw on the street; Furchild will feature cool stuff for pets, and Crossfit Voyage will sponsor a crossfit challenge. The Muse Room will have group painting and art for sale, and Refinery Salon will open its Merchant Parlor.

Among the food and drink items:

  • Boarding House Bistro - charcuterie boxes, juice box, wine, beer, sharkuterie boxes and kiddie cocktails;

  • 1st Street Lounge - cheeseburgers, bacon-wrapped hot dogs, jumbo pickles, chips and candy;

  • Gears Bar and Cafe - frozen drinks, margaritas, daiquiris and frozen strawberry lemonade;

  • Gia’s Pizza - pizza and drinks;

  • Harriett’s Sweet Treats - cookies, cakes and pies;

  • Juice Heal Thrive - vegan nachos, smoothie bowls, sorbet and fresh juice drinks;

  • Le Ono - Hawaiian plates and cocktails;

  • O’Fallon Moose Lodge 2608 - wings and ribbon fries;

  • Nitro Salsa - Southwest chicken eggroll, pizza eggroll, Southwest chicken nachos, S’more cookie and popsicles;

  • Outdoorsman Lounge - beer;

  • Peel Brewing Company - Italian beef sandwiches, mac & cheese; beer and sodas;

  • Seasons Of Spice - Gus’s pretzels, ice cream, candy and Olympics tattoos;

  • Shooter’s Bar & BBQ - beer on the patio;

  • Sweet Katie Bee’s Sustainable Bakery-Café - chicken salad croissant sandwiches, Tuscan salad, cupcakes and pastries; signature lattes and mocktails;

  • Toast and Table - frozen mint lemonade, frozen blueberry mint lemonade, pulled pork sliders with coleslaw and loaded pulled pork baked potatoes;

  • The Upright Pub & Music Parlor – cocktails;

  • Sgt Charles A Fricke VFW Post 805 – beer outside.

Special notes for the evening

Event organizers encourage attendees to bring a lawn chair. There will be limited tables throughout the event but no additional seating.

Furry friends are welcome. All dogs must be on a leash and well socialized to attend the event. Clean up after your dog is required, and there are doggie bags in green dispensers downtown but please bring your own, organizers say.

The streets closed for this event include 1st Street, Lincoln Avenue and Cherry Street from State Street to 2nd Street starting at 2 p.m. People will be able to walk in the corridor.

For more information, visit Downtown District’s Facebook page. The next one is set for Aug. 1. The first was June 6.

Dallner said other park department events coming up include two that are part of “Unplug Illinois,” which includes the Cardboard Boat Regatta in the Community Pool as well as a mediation and movement class in the Community Park on July 13.

Car Cruise details

A car “cruise in” sponsored by Newbold Toyota/BMW, will be located next to the caboose and the VFW Post. A variety of antique and sporty new cars will be on display in a two-block area of the event.

Registration is closed and sold out. Cars will be in place at 4:30 p.m.

There are two locations for cars during the event:

1) The Caboose Lane: 1st Street between Lincoln Ave and Cherry St. In the Caboose Lane all cars are stationary. Cars are not permitted to leave until the end of the event at 9 p.m.

2) The VFW Lane: 1st Street between Cherry Street and Oak Street. In the VFW lane cars may leave at an idle and will be escorted out by a volunteer.

The cruise will not be a judged show but a place where car owners can show off their prized cars and the community can have fun looking at them and talking to the owners, Dallner said.

Visitors can purchase tickets to vote for their favorite car and the People’s Choice Champion will be announced by 8:30 p.m.

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