The Lede
2008
I spent most of my day at Libertyville Days today, helping with the GOP float, manning the Lake County GOP booth, and even taking a ride on the Ferris Wheel.
2009
I spent the morning doing the Libertyville parade, which is always fun.
2010
I attended the Libertyville Days Parade yesterday and, as always, it was quite a show, as you can see below. It's known for having many awesome balloons and is always well-attended by the local politicians.
2011
Since I was marching and snapping photos, I can't say I saw the entire parade, but from what I did see, and many people that I asked, I did not see one Democrat organization or candidate marching.

The Republican Field
2008
Among the GOP candidates walking the parade route with supporters were 10th District Congressman Mark Kirk, Senate Candidates Dan Duffy and Keith Gray, State Representative Ed Sullivan Jr., State Rep. Candidate Dan Sugrue, and Judge Valerie Ceckowski.
2009
The local GOP was well-represented.
2010
The local GOP organizations and candidates made a strong display.
2011
This year saw a great GOP turnout, especially in a non-election year, with many new faces and candidates, such as Keith Brin for Circuit Court Clerk, Steve Newton for Coroner, and Judge Daniel B. Shanes running for Circuit Court Judge in the 3rd subcircuit. Other elected officials included Congressman Bob Dold, who led the Republican pack in the parade, and State Senator Dan Duffy. Local pols like County Board Member Carol Calabresa also attended.

The Democratic Field
2008
While there's no question the Dems were out in force (a commentor stated s/he saw only 15 people marching for Seals, but I thought it was considerably more, though not as many as Kirk), I have no question the GOP has better candidates.
2009
Strangely, there was nary a Dem to be seen in the parade (as far as TA could tell), although I heard they have a booth. I guess Dems figure they only have to come out during election years.
2010
10th District Democratic candidate Dan Seals was there with what looked like a strong contingent. At least that's what I thought, until someone told me that during parade line up, there was only a handful of Seals people there until two buses showed up to offload "supporters."
2011
I would be happy to be corrected, but I just saw nothing from them at all, which is perhaps unsurprising in an off-election year when they don't need anything from the voters. Probably, the 10th District Dems and such groups were resting up to sandbag Bob Dold later in the day at a townhall meeting.

The Closer
2008
Here are some pix, taken by yours truly and his trusty Blackberry:
2009
Here are some of my better pix, courtesy of my trusty Blackberry:
2010
Anyway, here's my photo recap of the day:
2011
In any case, here are some of my pix: