Elawa Farm in Lake Forest, Illinois is celebrating its centennial anniversary throughout the summer of 2017. This gorgeous restored gentleman’s farm and garden established by A. Watson Armour in 1917 is a stunning representative example of estate farm architecture. Virtually unaltered from its original design, Elawa Farm is unique to Lake Forest and the North Shore, and the buildings forming the main farm group have been preserved and adaptively reused to benefit the entire community.
Celebrating 100 years of gardening, healthy living, and historic preservation, Elawa has events planned all summer long. Kicking-of the celebration with “Elawa Farm’s 100th Summer” on June 16, 2017 invites guests for an evening of cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and fun! Starting at 6 p.m. will open the “Living History of Elawa Farm” exhibit on the farm at 1401 Middlefork Drive, Lake Forest, Illinois. Tickets are $100.
Celebrate Independence Day with Elawa Farm and activities for the whole family at the annual Lake Bluff 4th of July Parade on July 4, 2017. Rounding out the summer months Elawa Farm presents Family Day on the Farm on July 23, a presentation by the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Historical Society on “Gentleman Farms in Lake Forest & Lake Bluff” on July 26, and the Lake Forest Parade on August 2, 2017.
The Farm caps off the season cap on September 9, 2017 with a special celebration, Diamonds and Dahlias. Drawing inspiration from this Diamond Anniversary and Mrs. Armour’s prize-winning Dahlias grown on the farm, a delicious dinner, cocktails, and entertainment will provide the perfect end to Elawa’s centennial.
To learn more about Elawa Farm, Elawa Farm Foundation, and upcoming events celebrating Lake Forest & Lake Bluff visit www.elawafarm.org.
Special Thank you to Elawa Farm’s Centennial Anniversary Sponsors:
Thank you to our many generous sponsors as of June 9, 2017: Forest & Bluff Magazine, Sheridan Road Magazine, Packaging Corporation of America, Northwestern Medicine, Lake Forest Bank & Trust Company, Sunset Foods, Indestructo Party Rental, Froggy’s French Café, and more!
About Elawa Farm
The Elawa Farm Group was built in 1917 for A. Watson Armour, a member of one of Chicago’s oldest and most distinguished families, and is considered architecturally significant as a rare representative example of a Lake Forest gentleman’s farm. It is also noteworthy for its fine design and for its association with two very significant architects: David Adler and Alfred Hopkins. Adler and Howard Van Doren Shaw are generally considered the North Shore’s premier estate architects. Hopkins, a New York architect who is known to have designed only two farm groups in Illinois, is the acknowledged authority on estate farm complexes, and has been called the “unquestioned dean of Farm group architecture.” Historically the farm group built for Armour was known as ELAWA FARM, a composite of ELsa and A. Watson Armour and subsequently as LeWa Farm, named for Lelia and Wallace Carroll, who purchased the property in 1954.
A historic gentleman’s farm and garden acquired by the City of Lake Forest in 1998, Elawa Farm is a public-private partnership dedicated to the preservation and stewardship of a unique combination of natural setting, designed landscapes and buildings of architectural and historic significance. www.elawafarm.org
