Overview Buffalo Grove Days is the Chicago suburb's Labor Day festival, five days from Thursday night to Monday afternoon at Mike Rylko Community Park, with a carnival, a music stage, a parade down Buffalo Grove Road and a program that runs from Rotary bingo to a dog show. It was first held in 1962 and is the largest of the village's annual events. The Village of Buffalo Grove and the Buffalo Grove Park District put it on, and the Rotary Club, the Buffalo Grove Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce and the Rick Kahen Commission for Residents with Disabilities each run parts of it. Buffalo Grove is a village of about 43,000 people, 30 miles northwest of downtown Chicago. On site The carnival runs every day, and a Megaband wristband covers unlimited rides for the whole festival. The main stage runs cover and tribute bands into the night; the 2026 bill carried Hi Infidelity, The Brothers Gibb, 7th Heaven, Sound of Seattle, 16 Candles, Nashville Electric Company, LP Vinyl and Rod Tuffcurls and the Bench Press, and people bring blankets and lawn chairs to the lawn. A beverage tent pours beer, wine and hard seltzer, and no outside alcohol comes in. Food trucks work the carnival area, the Chamber's Business and Craft Fair fills Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and the parade steps off on Saturday morning and ends at the park. Shuttle buses run throughout the festival, and a water and cooling pavilion sits on the grounds. Audience Much of the program is aimed at residents and their families. Saturday brings face painting, a petting zoo and a police K9 demonstration for children; Sunday has an amateur dog show judged on costume, trick and waggiest tail, a 90-minute team puzzle contest and a bags tournament. The commission for residents with disabilities stages a Buddy Baseball exhibition for 50 to 60 players, and on Monday morning it hosts a free carnival-area lunch for up to 400 residents with disabilities and their families. Local businesses, organizations and entertainment groups march in the parade. Brand presence More than 40 local and regional businesses appeared on the festival's 2026 sponsor wall, from GEICO, ComEd and Dick's Sporting Goods to Nino's Pizza and Buffalo Grove Bank. Sponsors can attach to single pieces of the weekend: McDonald's and Kona Ice backed the 2026 Monday lunch, Rotary runs bingo and a duck race streamed on its Facebook page, and the parade and the craft fair take business entries.