Ravinia’s Legacy & Future: A Conversation with Jeff Haydon

Aaron Masliansky (00:01)
Welcome to the Chicagoland Guide and I'm your host, Aaron Masliansky Today we are back with a new episode, speaking with Jeff Haydon from Ravinia, Ravinia Festival in Highland Park. I think if you know Chicagoland, you know Ravinia. So I don't need to get into too deep of an explanation of what Ravinia Festival is, but we're gonna talk about it. We're gonna talk about everything, the history, ⁓ what's going on there, ⁓ quite a bit going on there.

And for those of you who do not know where Viny is, you will know by the end of this episode. So Jeff, thank you so much for joining me today.

Jeff Haydon (00:37)
Great, thanks so much for having me on, Aaron.

Aaron Masliansky (00:39)
Yeah, this is like, we were just talking about this before we started. ⁓ It's super exciting to be able to meet you to learn more about Ravinia because Ravinia is such a huge part of the North shore of Chicago and just Chicagoland in general and music. There's nothing like it. I mean, you go there, it is just a magical experience and you have so many different things that go on there, all different types of music, which we'll talk about. you know, give us a little bit of background. Like how did Ravinia start?

Why does it exist?

Jeff Haydon (01:11)
Ravinia has always been a place to for people to gather from not only Chicagoland, but also Milwaukee as well. As many people know, Ravinia is right along the Union Pacific North Line train line. And before that, also the electric line that connected Chicago to Milwaukee. And so Ravinia was actually built originally as an amusement park by the investors of the railroad company that connected Milwaukee to Chicago.

as a way to be able to generate more fares on non-business hours. And so, Ravinia has long attracted families from many miles away as a destination when Highland Park was basically farmland at that point. ⁓ As part of the original amusement park, ⁓ there was the, what's now called the Martin Theater, which is that beautiful old ⁓ turn of the century.

theater arts and crafts theater that seats 800 people right there when you first walk through the gate that was actually originally part of the theater of Ravinia and those famous gates that you see ⁓ Coming off the train are still original and everything else has evolved since then

Aaron Masliansky (02:11)
Yes.

Well, you feel like it is an amusement park when you get off the train there and it's a magical type of place. It gives you that setting. ⁓ Is it still a private stop for the train line?

Jeff Haydon (02:36)
So it's a private stop ⁓ that Ravinia Festival owns, but it's on the Union Pacific North Line train. ⁓ I should also mention that as part of the history, apparently the amusement park business wasn't very good because after a few years, ⁓ those investors, the business collapsed. And there was actually a couple of community leaders that ended up buying the shares of the collapsed amusement park.

and then turned it into a music festival and leaned into its music heritage of it. And it had a really nice run of being actually the opera destination for the country up until the crash of 2029. And like a lot of things, it went bankrupt at that point as well and closed down for a while and then reopened after the depression.

Aaron Masliansky (03:30)
Yeah, and just to clarify, 1929 during the Depression. Yeah, let's not predict things four years from now. Oh, that's funny. Yeah, I guess when you look at the area and it was an amusement park and it was made to be that way, one of the things I've noticed as a real estate agent in the area that there are a lot of

Jeff Haydon (03:33)
Yes, sorry. No, I'm not going to predict anything here. There's no stock advice being given.

Aaron Masliansky (03:56)
little houses around there. And I was told that the history of those houses was that people would have it as kind of like a summer home. They take the train, they go to the amusement park, and then they go back to wherever they live, whether it be closer in towards Chicago or Milwaukee. So it totally fits in line with that.

Jeff Haydon (04:14)
Yeah, the neighborhood definitely was first and foremost a summer destination. And ⁓ as the train service ⁓ became more dependable as all communities on the North shore ⁓ resident, full-time residents has ended up being established. And to this day, ⁓ I understand there's actually a premium on houses within walking distance of Ravinia because you can access this world-class community right here.

Aaron Masliansky (04:39)
Yeah. And ⁓ you get free parking as well for your friends. Yeah, exactly. I mean, that's something I definitely want to talk about when we talk a little bit more about the community, about how everything is kept so well ⁓ in terms of the traffic management. But you bring in so much different music. You have classical music that comes. You have ⁓ festivals for Mexican heritage that was at the end of the season.

Jeff Haydon (04:42)
You get to sell your parking. ⁓

Aaron Masliansky (05:08)
that I got to go through, which was really incredible. You have huge pop bands that come through. mean, the gamut. How does Ravinia attract all those different types of musical acts? And was it always like that?

Jeff Haydon (05:25)
So, Ravinia has definitely diversified its musical offerings over the year. Classical music, you know, always has been its foundation and always will be the foundation of its program going forward, starting with the residency of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which will celebrate 90 years in 2026. So, it's very impressive friendship that we've had over the years. But to augment all of that, ⁓ we have always had...

some different jazz and different pop over time, but I would say right now it's probably ⁓ fully developed as far as ⁓ really supporting a lot of different types of genres, as you said. So even the world of pop music has changed quite a bit. Classic rock, once a big staple of Ravinia, a lot of those artists have now retired or are retiring. And so just like with music, Ravinia evolves as well ⁓ with those different trends. And so we do see a lot of great pop music, a lot of rock.

⁓ Latin artists that are coming through here, R &B artists coming through here, country, then still jazz, classical, and a lot of others as well.

Aaron Masliansky (06:30)
Yeah. I mean, I remember some of the people who unfortunately are not around anymore, like Aretha Franklin, I remember seeing at Ravinia or Crosby, Stills and Nash. ⁓ mean, just you name it, like some of these bands that have been around and are huge names come through there. But, you know, how did you get involved? When did you start at Ravinia?

Jeff Haydon (06:40)
Yeah.

So I started at Ravinia in September of 2020.

Aaron Masliansky (06:56)
Great timing.

Jeff Haydon (06:59)
⁓

so, ⁓ like everything in Chicago, it was closed, during that summer. And, ⁓ really the, the, the main purpose was how do we reopen Ravinia for the summer of 2021? ⁓ by that point, ⁓ you know, Home Depot was open and, and a lot of other places were open, but there weren't public gathering places that were open. were all commercial enterprises. ⁓ and so we really felt strongly that.

We have 36 acres here. We can spread out or outdoors. This should be the place where Chicago should be able to gather as one of the first events. And so it was Revinia and the Cubs that were the first to reopen in 2021. it was ever since then, we've basically been rebuilding the business as we go. Some of our peers didn't make it. A lot of our industry has had to.

retool because the business models have changed, audience patterns have changed. ⁓ But we've had some really successful seasons and it's been exciting to welcome back returning audiences and a lot of new audiences as well the last five years.

Aaron Masliansky (08:12)
Yeah, I'm sure. And you do see it at different concerts that some things where you think it would be busier or not, it just helped buying patterns of tickets, I'm sure something that's changed since COVID. Would you agree with that?

Jeff Haydon (08:27)
absolutely. All those things have changed and it was, you know, it's been hard to know for a long time, you know, what's the new normal. And I think we're, we're starting to establish how the business, you know, runs financially and operationally and what artists are out there. And, ⁓ you know, just like, ⁓ all of your costs at home have increased, all the artists costs have increased to go on the road. ⁓ and those have been a lot of adjustments for both us as a presenter and the artists as well.

to be able to rebalance. we had a record number of large shows this year and sellout shows, so certainly the demand is strong and the interest is strong in all kinds of music.

Aaron Masliansky (09:06)
Right. And something that makes Revinia unique is that it is owned by a nonprofit ⁓ as opposed to say the United Center or one of these other types of venues. ⁓ It operates on a different model.

Jeff Haydon (09:19)
Absolutely. ⁓ It is a nonprofit organization, ⁓ which makes it a very strong organization. It's truly independent. ⁓ You know, we're not ⁓ on any kind of public land. We're not owned or operated by an orchestra or another presenter. ⁓ We also, you know, choose all of our own shows ⁓ that come through here. We also have a massive music education program.

We have a massive ⁓ early professional development conservatory program, and I dare say we have the most beautiful grounds of any place you'd go to hear music in the country.

Aaron Masliansky (09:55)
without a doubt, hands down. And for some reason there are not a lot of bugs out there at night. So I don't know how you do that, but it ⁓ is a beautiful, beautiful place. for those who haven't been there, you have a beautiful amphitheater where you can sit, it's covered, you buy a seat, then most of the grounds are just ⁓ seating where people have picnics and bring a lot of friends. Everyone sits around, you bring your own food or you can buy it at the

inside the venue. ⁓ But it's just, a party. It's one of the coolest experiences you can have for listening to music, really.

Jeff Haydon (10:35)
It's a fun, people always ⁓ wait to plan their summer for when Rovinas announces its season. So we always announce in the middle of March and everybody kind of holds off on making their vacation plans until that big schedule comes out. ⁓ And then they unfold it and then they immediately start ⁓ coordinating with their family members and their friends and just how the whole summer is going to work. And it is so much fun to walk, to stand at the front of the gates and just to see.

Aaron Masliansky (10:41)
Right.

Jeff Haydon (11:03)
All the different groups of people that come in and for many of them, this is their one time of year where they're all together. They're all seeing each other. ⁓ sometimes they're coming back to reminisce about an important milestone that they celebrated at Ravinia earlier in their life. ⁓ sometimes they're coming to, you know, really celebrate an artist, ⁓ that they may be hearing in person for the first time, or they may have tracked this artist in their entire career. And, ⁓ you know, everybody's coming here.

I'm inspired and grateful and I feel like if we can ⁓ let that go out in the world more, that makes it a better place.

Aaron Masliansky (11:40)
for sure. And with the schedule, one thing that I've done for the past couple of years is actually create a magnet with the schedule. I send it out to all my clients with the Ravignia schedule. So a lot of people do the sports. I've got Ravignia. I know how important that is. And with you being here, do you have a big background in music or in management of these places? How did you end up at Ravignia? Where were you before?

Jeff Haydon (11:51)
Great.

⁓ Yes to all the above. So I've had a career in working at summer music festivals, which I started actually in college, ⁓ running the performing arts ⁓ organization of my college, and then having the opportunity to work at both a few orchestras and then the Ojai Music Festival outside of Santa Barbara, and then also the Caramor Music Festival, which is outside of New York City.

And ⁓ my wife is a lifelong Chicagoan and Ravinia also being the best music festival and the oldest music festival in North America. It was a win-win to be able to come and move here and to be able to run this.

Aaron Masliansky (12:46)
Oh, absolutely. mean, you've that that worked out perfectly for you for sure. And and oh, hi. mean, I have some friends who go out there every year, too. So it's a it's a small world. You get to know people from all over the place here in Chicago.

Jeff Haydon (12:50)
You

You really do. And yes, you know, all the railroads and all the airlines and all the interstates come through here, but all the music comes through here as well. And Chicago is the busiest music market in the summer of any marketplace in the entire country. And so all the artists come through here and it's just so much fun to be able to hear such a wide variety of artists. know, at Ravinia, could have the Chicago Symphony Orchestra one night, you could have Sting another night, and then Lenny Kravitz another night.

Aaron Masliansky (13:08)
Yep.

Jeff Haydon (13:31)
And you realize these are all just incredible musicians at the top of their game, each inspiring the world in their own way. And so, you know, for me also, as someone who studied music, it's really fun to be able to see what each of them ends up bringing ⁓ with them and how they keep evolving, you know, their second, third, fourth time here at Ravinia.

Aaron Masliansky (13:53)
Yeah, it's a special experience to be able to see that. know, Ravignia, it is right in the middle of a neighborhood. The neighborhood is Ravignia in Highland Park, which is totally unique. And, you know, the way that the traffic is managed, I mentioned this is amazing. So it doesn't upset the neighbors. And, you know, you could be sitting out in your backyard and you could hear the concert if you live close by. And it's really woven into the fabric. You have parking lots that

where you have shuttles coming from all over so people can get there easily. You have the train. I happen to live in Skokie, Skevenson area. So if you take the train from, from Evanston, you can get right off over there. But how does that all work? How does, how does Ravinia really had such a wonderful relationship or, or is it such a wonderful relationship? Everything that goes on with Highland Park. Yeah.

Jeff Haydon (14:45)
It is. Yeah, it is.

It's a massive operation. It's done with a lot of thought. mean, think about other major events that you go to in Chicago. I won't name names, but we've all been in those big parking lots or those city ⁓ lots. And after a big game, it just looks like there is just no thought of any kind of traffic direction or plan at all. It's just sort of a free for all. And we're really fortunate at Ravinia to have a very close partnership with the city of Highland Park.

Aaron Masliansky (14:59)
Hmph.

Jeff Haydon (15:15)
⁓ and also with Metra, ⁓ and, others. And so we worked very closely to try to figure out how to move people in and out as efficiently and as gracefully as we can. ⁓ anytime you're moving 14,000 people in and out of one spot, ⁓ it's, you know, it's never going to be perfect. It's never going to be as fast as you want it to be. ⁓ but, you know, with the city, ⁓ taking their public works officers and just.

Blocking the key intersections so that the shuttle bus can get to the parking lot without having to stop going back and forth with pace providing the buses with Metra working with us on train times as much as they can and how they can work with us to be able to offer Revinia patrons rides for free that Revinia ends up paying for at a discount ⁓ and then working with, you know, the local police just to make sure that

Green Bay Road and Lake Cook Road can operate as efficiently as possible. So we spend a lot of extra time and money ⁓ making sure that this works as best as possible. And I think that's part of what makes Ravine a classy place.

Aaron Masliansky (16:28)
for sure. I mean, it is a shining example of how to manage a facility and how to integrate within the community. have to say, like hats off to you and all your staff. everyone does a great job. ⁓ you really, really do. Incredible. And I know that, know, Revinia is so important to the local community. It brings people out there. I mean, it's great people, you know,

Jeff Haydon (16:43)
Thank you, I have a great team.

Aaron Masliansky (16:55)
go to the businesses, want to live close by. All those types of factors are a great bonus to being near Ravinia. But you also do a lot of engagement with the community with education, musical education you had mentioned. ⁓ So how does that work and what types of programs do you have?

Jeff Haydon (17:16)
Sure, well we believe that music has the power to inspire not only ourselves but our communities and so of course you know we do that with all of our performances but we strongly believe in that with music education as well and so we are in 120 schools throughout Chicagoland that includes some in know in Lake County and a lot in Cook County. We're primarily on the west side of Chicago and also in Waukegan.

⁓ with some El Sistema Youth Orchestras that we started. And so we're literally putting instruments in kids' hands, giving them lessons, giving them opportunity to rehearse in youth orchestras, and then giving them the opportunity to both perform and go to performances and meet artists. And there are some students that really demonstrate a lot of talent, and we've actually helped them.

go on and continue their studies in college as well and even hired some of them back later on to work for us. And so it's really exciting to be able to see, you know, certainly during times like the pandemic where, you know, this was the kids main outlet was to be able to, you know, interact with music and to play and. ⁓

Another thing that we end up doing as well is we end up providing a lot of free tickets for social service organizations so that they can bring their clients or their staff to a concert for free. And that's just sort of our gift back to the community as well. There are lots of different ways in our education program. We have about 12 different programs within it, but those are just two of our most popular programs. And it's become a major part of what Revinia does.

Aaron Masliansky (18:59)
Yeah, I think that's so key. And I think if you look at the Chicagoland area, how important music is, you talk about how it's the center for all the concerts that come through. But music is just important in all these schools. My daughter is in eighth grade in Evanston and today is band day. So it's band day for dad and band day for daughter. she's a percussion and she's in the band at Shute Elementary.

Jeff Haydon (19:18)
What is she going to play? What instruments is she going to pick?

Aaron Masliansky (19:25)
and they are over at Ebbinson, ETHS, Ebbinson Township High School today, meeting with the band, going through everything. Tonight there's something. So it's like everything is music and ⁓ I love it. Like people really value the arts in this area.

Jeff Haydon (19:40)
Well, it's what makes the North Shore really special. I the arts are thriving here. mean, look at, Ravinia obviously is the oldest, but you have the Botanic Garden, you have the Writer's Theater, you have the Cole Children's Museum, you have space down in Evanston. I mean, I could just go on. There's so many wonderful places to be able to experience the arts. And I think that makes our community better. And certainly it gives students an opportunity to develop a lot of personal skills as well.

Aaron Masliansky (20:09)
No, absolutely. And I mean, some of the things that you also have done to make ⁓ Ravinia more of a premier place is you bring in different legends to help lead things. So one of them, brought in jazz legend, Kurt Elling as your jazz advisor, and you have these people to really elevate the space. How do you get these people to come? Is it because Ravinia is just such an amazing place?

Jeff Haydon (20:32)
Yeah, they want to come. know, Ravinia is legendary and to be able to have a sandbox that we can produce something, you know, smallest for a hundred people ⁓ in our...

Black Box Theater, the Sandra K. Crown Theater, or we can produce something for 15,000 people ⁓ on a big scale and we can cross music, we can cross genres together. ⁓ If somebody can imagine it and we think we can make it work financially, we can do it. ⁓ And Kurt Ellin is Chicago home and grown, know, success. And ⁓ we're just so thrilled to be able to work with him. ⁓

also helped, worked very closely with him and a number of leaders in Chicagoland to actually attract a very famous event that takes place every April called the International Jazz Day, which is produced in partnership with UNESCO. And so we are for the, you know, US's 250th anniversary. We can't think of a better place for International Jazz Day to be than in Chicago and not someplace else in the country or in the world. And so Rovina is very happy to be part of that with.

hurts leadership.

Aaron Masliansky (21:41)
That's amazing. I mean, you have all these different types of festivals. You also have the Breaking Barriers Festival, which has been a platform for highlighting women leaders in classical music. ⁓ Has that inspired a lot of people, a lot of musicians because of those types of programs?

Jeff Haydon (21:58)
Yeah, these are great opportunities that Ravinia has to focus on something for a period of time. And so we have been able to welcome ⁓ probably 30 different ⁓ prominent female conductors over the course of the Breaking Barriers Festival.

⁓ to be able to come and do workshops and in some cases conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to network with each other and as well as a lot of female composers ⁓ and other leaders. And so this is really one other way that Ravinia provides a sense of community and these conductors get a chance to women business leaders, women civic leaders, women patron of the arts, and just to create another sense of community.

around that. Ameren Alsop, of course, has been incredibly inspiring for us as well as the industry.

Aaron Masliansky (22:48)
Yeah. And I think the fact that it crosses so many genres is what brings so many people together. So if you may like a pop band that comes through, ⁓ you may say, well, you know what, maybe we should go check out that classical concert that's coming up on Thursday night. And then you start to learn about more music. You meet different people. It's ⁓ it is a melting pot.

Jeff Haydon (23:12)
Yeah, we see that with the pop artists that come through here as well. ⁓ They're like, for instance, this last year Beck came and performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. came and performed with Chicago Philharmonic. ⁓ We had ⁓ Violin Femmes performed last year with the orchestra. ⁓ A lot of these rock stars, they actually started off, you know, just like your daughter playing in, you know, high school band.

And they ended up becoming big in their pop realm and they want to actually come back and reconnect with their ⁓ earlier music roots and to show a different side of them as a musician. so it's really fun to be able to blend those different audiences together. And we've actually seen where if somebody's come to Ravinia three different years in a row and bought a ticket to a pop show.

At some, 50 % of those audience members during those three years will buy a ticket to a classical music performance as well.

Aaron Masliansky (24:11)
That's so cool. It's a great way for people to educate themselves on different music and to enjoy it. And one of the things though that I'm sure that you noticed as you came into this role during COVID, and there was a time where things were shut down, you could kind of take a look at the equipment and what you had there to work with. And ⁓ one of the things that ⁓ I know that is a big ⁓ push right now, big campaign, is the Setting the Stage campaign ⁓ to renovate Ravinia.

That's a $75 million campaign. So that's not chump change. Tell us about that.

Jeff Haydon (24:46)
Sure, so this is a beautiful property, 36 acres. We're almost like a small college campus with the number of buildings that we have. But what we do is we present music. And as we were walking around during the pandemic and looking at all of our facilities, we realized that all of our stages were at least 40 years old, and many of them hadn't been renovated in 30 years, 50 years, 75 years.

And while there have been updates, no massive renovation. so particularly the pavilion, the mechanics of it being outside in all the Chicago winters just didn't quite work as well as it should work. A lot of the technology in there was from 1990 and even 1970 in there and rock shows are well beyond all of that now. We still have incandescent lights instead of LED lights.

Aaron Masliansky (25:26)
No.

Jeff Haydon (25:41)
All the seats were a mere 17 inches wide. I don't know anybody's behind that 17 inches wide So, you know, we just we kind of needed to update everything and so We we've been planning for the last several years for a massive gut renovation and upgrade to The seats the lighting the sound the backstage on the stage the loading docks you name it It's being renovated and just trying to identify

you know, literally what are all the pinch points that ⁓ we could fix to make the pavilion feel better, function better and look better. And we're so pleased. We've been working with architect Michael Barnes, who's been coming to Ravinia for a long time. And he loves the iconicness of the pavilion and Ravinia as much as we do. And ⁓ his solution to all of it basically is like taking a new model of an old car that you love.

And it just now has all the tricked out Bluetooth and LED lights and all those things now. So we're very excited about it. As you said, it's the biggest fundraising undertaking that we've ever.

Aaron Masliansky (26:38)
⁓

Jeff Haydon (26:55)
We've raised ⁓ over $57 billion from our trustees and board and women's board, but we're now going out to the rest of the public to ask for their support as well. And I think everybody has some kind of memory of Ravinia, know, a date, a family, a first job, a favorite concert. And even if you're a lawn person, the pavilion helps you because that's where all the music starts and that's what's needed to produce the music. And so...

Aaron Masliansky (27:00)
you

Thanks for watching.

Of course.

Jeff Haydon (27:24)
we're asking people to go on our website and to consider naming a seat, buying a brick. If you have the ability to actually help us underwrite a dressing room or do something else that's a little more significant backstage, ⁓ we'd be very grateful for everybody's consideration.

Aaron Masliansky (27:42)
And has any of the work actually started yet or are you waiting for the campaign?

Jeff Haydon (27:45)
Yes, very much so. ⁓ This is a

two year project. ⁓ And so we actually started this a year ago and we actually tore out everything ⁓ to our entrance and our loading dock and all the electrical, all the stuff that homeowners hate to do, all the infrastructure work. And yeah, if you've ever done a home remodel times this by like a thousand and that's how complicated it is. And remind yourself that

Aaron Masliansky (27:54)
Mm-hmm.

the

yeah.

Jeff Haydon (28:14)
Our lot line is right next to our neighbors too, so we need to be very, very mindful of our noise. ⁓ And so we actually finished all of kind of the artist's entrance and the loading dock and the electricity and whatnot last year and new sound system. And then we ended a few weeks early this year. And so we actually are completely done with all the demo work. All the seats are out of the pavilion, all the backstage is gutted and all the stage floor is taken out.

We did save some of the stage and we did save some of the seats and we're actually working with some artists and we're going to turn around and sell them as memorabilia starting in a couple weeks for the holidays. ⁓ But all of this work will be done ⁓ in time for us to open a little bit later next year in the middle of July.

Aaron Masliansky (29:02)
that's very good to know. So nothing in June this year or next year.

Jeff Haydon (29:07)
So we will have

a couple of things in June, not in the pavilion. The Martin Theater, which I mentioned, which is our oldest theater, 121 years old. ⁓ We will have some concerts at the very beginning of June. have some big concerts in there. And then our Staines Institute will also be going starting in June through the whole summer. And we have concerts in there sort of throughout the summer. And this is where we actually train the next generation of classical musicians, jazz musicians, and vocalists. And so...

We invite people to come and join us there, but the pavilion itself with Chicago Symphony and the big pop shows won't start up until July 11th.

Aaron Masliansky (29:46)
And when is the schedule going to be released? Can you give us a teaser?

Jeff Haydon (29:48)
Same time, middle

of March, everybody still has to play in their summer, they're not gonna wait.

Aaron Masliansky (29:51)
Okay.

All right. Well, we will wait with bated breath to find out that schedule for sure. I'm looking forward to that. I mean, there is so much going on here with what you have with setting the stage and whatnot. mean, what should people take away from Ravinia? how, if you've never been there or you want to just scratch more than the surface, how do you learn more about it, get involved in

get involved in some of these programs that you have.

Jeff Haydon (30:23)
Sure, I appreciate that. ⁓ think the big thing is, know, Ravignia has long been a source of inspiration for people for generations. We've had people that have come from many generations and people still discover us every single day. ⁓ It's hard to imagine stepping off the train and, you know, within 30 feet you're at the entrance to the venue and you walk inside the gates and you have the most beautiful park with lush green grass, tall trees, ⁓ ice cream being sold.

⁓ you know, kids running around and, and, and playing in the little sound garden. ⁓ and then just listening to music that you love, whether it's unfolding your blanket and just listening to it under the stars or in the newly renovated Hunter family pavilion, ⁓ in 2026. ⁓ and it's just a great place to go, you know, obviously if you know what the program is and you're excited about it, but it's also a great place to discover something new. ⁓ you can't go wrong by, you know, a beautiful evening out at Ravinia.

And I think lastly, as you said earlier, you know, this is a nonprofit organization. This is not a big commercial organization. I could name names of big music corporations that you may know of that produce big concerts. ⁓ This is not one of them. This is your neighbors ⁓ here for many generations just trying to bring the best music possible to Chicago, oftentimes at a loss. ⁓ And it's subsidized by annual donations by people coming here.

⁓ And it's just for the enjoyment of everybody. So we appreciate everybody's generosity in giving on an annual basis to support it and then considering helping us with investing into our facilities as well. We're very fortunate to have Ravinia in our own backyards here in the North Shore.

Aaron Masliansky (32:08)
We are, and we need to keep it here for another 100 or so and more years. I think that if you live in Chicago or you come through the Midwest, this has to be on your bucket list. mean, it is so

Beautiful. mean, it's so different than any other type of place. I mean, I will say Millennium Park being in the pavilion there is absolutely stunning. I mean, what they've done there is gorgeous and you have the skyline. I mean, we are so lucky to live in Chicago. Well, I cannot stress that enough. ⁓ But Ravinia, my God, it is so beautiful and such a wonderful experience.

Jeff Haydon (32:39)
Yeah.

Yeah, and it's easy to get to. It's off the highway. It's off the train line. You can walk, can bike, and we get people that experience Rovina all those different ways. And it's a place where you can send your kids and feel comfortable and they can have their first jobs here as well.

Aaron Masliansky (33:04)
a good point. have an almost 16-year-old. next summer. Yeah, he's looking for a job, so we might be talking. Glad you mentioned it.

Jeff Haydon (33:06)
When you're 16. When your daughter's 16.

We've had

future Fortune 500 company CEOs have their first job here at Ravinia. So it's not a bad starting point on a resume.

Aaron Masliansky (33:24)
Not at all. That's a great, great point. Thank you for saying that for sure. Well, Jeff, I appreciate you taking the time to share with the audience everything about Ravignia. ⁓ I wish you great success in this campaign. And those who can, you know, go to ravignia.org and you can find the information on setting the stage campaign to help raise money, to keep this great gem that we have here in the community going and renovated.

Jeff Haydon (33:28)
Hahaha!

Well, thank you. And if you're missing Ravinia now, we do have a fall festival coming up this weekend and a winter series coming up right after Thanksgiving. So you can come over and enjoy a little bit more music before the end of the year. So thanks so much for having me and look forward to seeing you at Ravinia.

Aaron Masliansky (34:10)
Looking forward to it too. Thanks so much.

Jeff Haydon (34:12)
All right, thanks so much.