In partnership with
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🎉 The Naperville FunTimes
YOUR WEEKLY FAMILY ACTIVITY GUIDE
Issue #19 · Friday, July 17, 2026
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Happy Friday, Naperville families! 🏴☠️
This weekend reads like a kids' storybook: three nights of live music with a build-your-own cardboard castle studio in Central Park, a swashbuckling pirate show where the audience joins the crew, and Latin art taking over downtown's shop windows. Total admission cost for all of it? Zero dollars.
Pack the picnic blanket — it's going to earn its keep this weekend. 🧺
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🗓️ This Week's Top 3 Family Picks
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Park After Dark — Puppets, Live Music & a Cardboard Castle Studio! 🎶
Three nights, one blanket, zero tickets. Downtown's Park After Dark takes over Central Park Friday through Sunday: each evening opens at 6:30 with games, music, and puppets from family entertainers Adventure Sandwich, plus a Cardboard Creative Studio where kids build their own forts, crowns, and stage props. Then the headliners take over at 7:30 — Paul Simon favorites Friday, The Lovettes' '50s–'60s girl-group hits Saturday, and soulful Stevie Wonder-style grooves Sunday. Downtown restaurants like Fiammé and Cookie Dough Creations are even selling picnic-pack dinners to go.
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Sherwood's Merry Mateys — A Pirate Show Where Kids Join the Crew! 🏴☠️
Robin Hood meets the high seas at the McAninch Arts Center's outdoor Lakeside Pavilion. In this hour-long original show, Robin and a crew of swashbuckling pirates take on a greedy sea captain — and here's the hook: it's built on audience participation, so your kids won't just watch the adventure, they'll be drafted into it. Cheering, calling out warnings, joining the crew — expect full pirate immersion. It's free, it's exactly one hour (the perfect kid-attention-span length), and the lakeside lawn means fidgety little ones have room to be fidgety.
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Latin Art Walk — A Free Art Treasure Hunt Through Downtown! 🖼️
Saturday afternoon, downtown Naperville becomes a self-guided gallery celebrating the work of acclaimed Latin American artists, with pieces displayed throughout the shops and restaurants you already know. Our tip for doing this with kids: turn it into a treasure hunt — who can spot the next artwork first? The 1–4 PM window slots perfectly between lunch and the 5 PM pirate show in Glen Ellyn, and free downtown parking decks mean you park once for the whole afternoon.
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🤝 A quick word from this week's partner
Sponsors like this keep The FunTimes free for Naperville families. Thanks for checking them out!
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🍽️ Kids Eat Free This Week!
Our Top Pick is good Saturday AND Sunday — perfect between pirate shows and park concerts — and the second covers weekday lunches, Monday through Friday.
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Cardboard castles, pirate crews, an art treasure hunt — and dinner where the kids eat free. Some weekends just line up right. If your little matey walks the plank (or builds one), we want to see it. 🏴☠️
Anchors aweigh,
The Naperville FunTimes Team 🧡
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