July 4 celebration, butterfly fest, other events in works in Charleston (2024)

CHARLESTON — A 2024 Red, White & Blue Days featuring an Ashley Cooke concert, a new Butterfly Festival at Lake Charleston, and other special events are in the works for this summer.

Various action items on the agenda for the Charleston City Council meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 17, in City Hall, 520 Jackson Ave., provide a preview of these events.

The agenda includes the Red, White & Blue Committee's request for a raffle license for the fundraising bingo games at 1-5 p.m. June 30 at VFW Post 1592 and the festivities on July 3-4 at Morton Park.

Proceeds help with the celebration's advertising andentertainment, such as headliner Cooke's free concert at 8 p.m. July 3 following Dylan Schneider at 6:30 p.m. Cooke scored a duet hit with Brett Young on "Never Til Now" and has performed on NBC's Today and ABC's The Bachelorette.

Street closures forColes County Habitat for Humanity's Four on the Fourth: Four-Mile Foot Race, the Fourth of July parade from the courthouse square to Morton Park, and for food trucks to set up on July 3-4 next to the park are also on the agenda.

City Tourism Director Lori Henderson wrote in her street closure request that the food trucks will be arranged on a small section of Second Street between Lincoln and Buchanan avenues.

Regarding Butterfly Festival, the council will consider the city Parks and Recreation Department's request for a $3,000 grant from the hotel/motel tax fund to help cover expenses for organizing this new event on Aug. 3. The Tourism Advisory Board has unanimously recommended approving this grant.

Henderson also has requested a street closure on the Lake Charleston Loop just south of the pavilion for this festival. She wrote that the Eastern Illinois University Panther Shuttle will provide rides to the loop for those who park at the Linder Sports Complex.

The new festival will help spotlight Charleston being named as the "Butterfly Capital" of Illinois by the Urban Butterfly Initiative in 2019for local habitat development efforts, particularly those at the lake.

Other agenda items include Coles County Memorial Airport's $2,500 tourism grant request for its 2024 Airshow on Aug. 17, and street closures on Aug. 24 on the courthouse square fortheEIU Squared community block party and on Sept. 14 on Second Street by Morton Park for theMatthew 25 homeless shelter fundraiser.