Event draws rave reviews under new management

Lydia Loveless plays a late afternoon set at the 49th Orton Park Festival.

The Orton Park Festival was the same as just about every other year and to many that was just fine. After many wonderful years under the management of a few dedicated volunteers, the Marquette Neighborhood Association has spread out the roles in the past two years and guess what?

No one noticed, and that is a good thing.

From the music, to the food, to the activities, the festival was a familiar, comfortable and felt a bit more like the original picnic that started it all nearly five decades ago. While much did not change, at least one change did stand out a bit, the music did end much earlier but no one seemed to mind.

The subtle changes will have their own review when the fundraising receipts are tallied; but we have tallied images that show that many had a great time, which is by far the most important benchmark.