BURLINGTON — Burlington’s quirky one-way street known as “The Loop” is the gateway to small-town charm.

This weekend the third annual Loop Day welcomes the community to explore the ever-growing Historic Downtown Burlington community by attending, and participating in, the upcoming street festival.

The event will shut down The Loop also known as E. Chesnut Street. The fun will take place in the street and stretch across the downtown area as 30 businesses will be open and participating in the annual event.

Loop Day will kick off at 10 a.m. and conclude at 9 p.m.

The day will be packed full of activities for children, adults and everyone in between.

Bernard Petersen, one of the event organizers and owner of The Runaway Micropub and Nanobrewery, shared key components of the day with the Racine County Eye, including all-day live music and entertainment.

Bringing the fun back to Burlington

“There used to be Street Dances years and years ago and they kind of died off,” said Petersen.

The town would close The Loop down and the Burlington community would come together. It was an event that was well-appreciated and missed by the community.

“When we opened The Runaway, a lot of people were like talking about it (Street Dances) and hearing how much fun it was and how cool it is when the street gets shut down and the party gets moved outside. We wanted to restart that tradition and get some street festivals going,” explained Petersen.

Fun in store at Loop Day

For art lovers, there will be a children’s art contest happening in the loop. Prior to the event, 50 young artists from the surrounding area submitted artwork to be included.

At the event, a panel of judges will select winners. Local businesses like Hansen’s Ice Cream and the Plaza Theater have donated prizes.

Other notable things to check out at this family-friendly event include connecting with the Burlington Historical Society, grabbing a cup of coffee from Burlington Coffee Company, chatting bad movies with the Bad Movies Rule hosts, attending a fire demonstration hosted by the Burlington Fire Department, connect with police from the Burlington Police Department, participate in a Burlington Burn Boot Camp pop-up exercise class, learn about bike safety, tackle obstacle courses with The Bike Room, and more.

Other games, activities, food, drinks, craft beer, and shopping will be available as well.

“Burlington is becoming a cool place. People come back and visit, and they’re like ‘Wow, the downtown’s really changed! There’s all this stuff to do!’ There’s breweries, there’s a wine bar, there’s ice cream shops, there’s new retail shops,” says Petersen.

To get in the loop of what’s happening this weekend visit the event’s Facebook page.

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