Buffalo Grove Days Parade Award-Winners Announced

BUFFALO GROVE, IL — Following a nearly four-year hiatus, the Buffalo Grove Days Parade triumphantly returned earlier this month. Recently, parade judges Jeff and Jane Berman presented awards for the top four entries in four categories at the Sept. 18 Buffalo Grove Village Board meeting.

Here are the entries in four categories, according to the Village of Buffalo Grove:

• "Rollin' Buffalo" — recognizing the best effort to decorate a float or vehicle of any kind: ALL IN Athletics.
• "Groovin’ Buffalo" — recognizing the musical entry that best captures the spirit of Buffalo Grove and the reason why we celebrate BG Days: Buffalo Grove High School Marching Band.
• "Young Buff" — recognizing the best youth entry, either a unit comprised of young persons or incorporating youth in a way that best represents the future of BG: Buffalo Grove Park District Studio 83 Dance Academy.
• "Best in Show Buffalo" — recognizing the best overall entry that rates high in originality, appeal, spirit/engagement and appearance: Stevenson High School Marching Band.

"It was not an easy task," Jeff Berman said regarding the process of selecting winners. "The quality of the competition in each category was outstanding."

For the first time since 2019, the five-day included a parade, which ran on Sunday, Sept. 3. The parade was not held in 2020 due to the pandemic. Buffalo Grove Days returned, scaled down in 2021, under a new partnership between the Village and Park District. Last year's parade was canceled following the July 4 tragedy in Highland Park.

The route of the parade headed south on Buffalo Grove Road (from LaSalle), west on Deerfield Parkway, ended at Mike Rylko Community Park where the rest of the BG Days activities were held. The festival kicked off Thursday, Aug. 31, and ran through Monday, Sept. 4.

"[The event] doesn't happen without hard work and planning. There's a tremendous amount of planning and work during and after the event of staff from both the Park District and the Village," Buffalo Grove Village President Eric Smith said.

The parade included local businesses, organizations, community groups, the Buffalo Grove and Stevenson High School marching bands, the Jesse White Tumbling Team and more.

A video of all the winning parade entries can be found here, and view a full video of the parade here.

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