By Hope Holmberg, citizen contributor

The 64th annual Winnetka Children’s Fair took place June 11-12 on the Village Green in Winnetka.

The fair, which is a fundraiser for the Winnetka Community Nursery School, is a tradition that has grown over the years and remains close to the hearts of many in Winnetka and neighboring communities.

Patti Van Cleave, executive director of the Winnetka Historical Society, said the fair is both a family and a village tradition.

“It’s a school year-end tradition, which makes it really special for kids in the village,” Van Cleave said

According to Ann Smith, former chair of the Winnetka Community Nursery school, the nursery school was first opened during World War II to help mothers who needed child care while they were contributing to the war effort.

The first fair took place in the yard of a private home on Sheridan Road in August of 1946 because the school was in need of funds.

Consisting of a fishpond, a fashion show and the selling of puppies, the first fair was much smaller than it is today. The option of jumping off a stump and landing on a mattress was a main attraction in 1946.

Two changes that Smith has noticed since her time as chair of the nursery school in the mid-’90s are the growing number of inflatable rides and the elimination of the main show, a musical that was put on each year.

Since the main show was costly but did not end up bringing in much money, it was eliminated, Smith said.

She said that though the fair requires a great deal of work from 40 board members and about 1,000 volunteers, “that fair is so much fun, and kids get so excited. There are easier ways to make money but it is a community tradition.”

Mike Leonard, NBC feature correspondent and a Winnetka resident, said he would never miss the Winnetka Children’s Fair.

“No matter what is happening, I will never travel on this day,” Leonard said.

Leonard first attended the fair with his parents when he was 2 years old. After many years of accompanying his own children to the festivities on the Village Green, he now enjoys bringing his grandchildren to the fair.

“Its special because it’s pretty unique for a full-fledged amusement park just to move into a town for a couple days,” he said. “More than anything else, you can see the joy in the kids faces when they see this park transform that way. They can tell that its special because its not here all the time.”

Aware of the number of volunteers it takes for the fair to happen each year, Leonard hopes that the fair remains a Winnetka tradition so his family can continue to experience it together.

Karin Fink, spokeswoman for the Winnetka Community Nursery School, said that the fair still requires about 1,000 volunteers.

While an increasing number of rides have been apparent in recent years, Fink said the fair is pretty consistent with what it offers.

Two evacuations of the Village Green due to lighting came of no surprise to Fink this year. Joking about how it never fails to rain during the weekend of the fair, she said they were prepared for a storm.

Fink said she feels the mission of the fair s still true to what it was when it first began.

“It has always been about the children of Winnnetka, the North Shore, and the city of Chicago,” she said. ”Its their right of summer."