After a year full of festivities in 2025, Riverside’s sesquicentennial year has drawn to a close.
Village officials and residents sent off the 150th anniversary year of Riverside’s official incorporation in 1875 at a gathering held Friday, Feb. 20, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Riverside Public Library.
The event featured speeches from Village President Doug Pollock and trustees Alex Gallegos and Aberdeen Marsh-Ozga, who were co-chairs of the village’s sesquicentennial planning committee.
State Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid of the 21st District was present to read a proclamation from the Illinois House of Representatives. State Sen. Javier Cervantes was supposed to be in attendance to read a similar proclamation from the Illinois Senate, but Pollock read it in his place due to unforeseen circumstances.
Patty García, the chief of staff of Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García who is running to succeed him, was present to read a proclamation honoring Riverside that the Congressman had read into the congressional record in January.
The program continued with a dramatic reading of “Riverside Home” by Gabriella Galloway, the winning poem of the village’s poetry contest, by local actor Carli Ruggless before a silent auction featuring paintings and lithographs inspired by Riverside opened, a final fundraising effort before the sesquicentennial committee is set to donate its remaining funds to the village to be used toward the renovations coming to Turtle Park.
Riverside resident David Oppenheimer said he and his family attended to celebrate the special moment in recognition of the importance of civic participation.
“I brought my son here tonight. He’s wandering around, and to think the things that he’ll see as a participant in the community as well, even if he may or may not remember this evening,” he said. “As he goes forward to the 200th or 225th year anniversary, I think that it’ll be nice for him to be able to say, ‘My dad was there. I was there.’ A wonderful thing about Riverside is the carrying forward of the generations. Many people come back to Riverside.”
Gallegos described the evening as the “culmination of every aspect of the Riverside universe” and said he hoped future generations of residents understand that family, blood and chosen, is at the heart of the village.
“We are such a tight-knit community, friends and neighbors become family,” he said.
Pollock told the Landmark that the celebrations marked the importance of self-government and volunteerism found in Riverside.
“As a city planner [by trade], I know I could do the best plan for a project, and it’s meaningless unless there are residents who are willing to go out there and make it alive, and that’s what happened in Riverside,” he said. “It was a great year, a lot of fun, and now we move onto other things.”
Marsh-Ozga said she was proud of her committee’s ability to spread the sesquicentennial cheer throughout the last year.
“When you’re with certain people, ideas sparked and people got excited and motivated to do things, and that energy carried through the year. Even though certain people couldn’t obviously do things on a sustained basis all the way through, it was a synergistic effect. We made some remarkable memories for people, and I think we kept the sesquicentennial present in people’s consciousness throughout the year, and we sustained it,” she said.
Turning an eye from Riverside’s past to its future, Pollock said he expects the community’s reverence for the village’s green space to continue.
“I think the beauty of Riverside is that it’s ageless. New residents come here, and they’re changed when they come here,” he said. “They don’t always realize it, but a large part of that is because of what Olmsted did to combine nature and everyday living.”
Marsh-Ozga said she had similar hopes and emphasized the power of collectivity.
“I would want [future Riversiders] to have the same sense of care for one another and for their environment that we do. I want them to care deeply,” she said. “I want them to be inspired by all of that and to know that, together, they can accomplish more than perhaps they think they can.”
