Chicagoland West ECD

English country dancing is held in the western suburbs, generally on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month September to June (with some exceptions — see dates below).

Next dance:
Sunday, January 4, 2026
International folk dance: 1:00 to 3:15 p.m.
English country dance: 3:30 to 6 p.m.

Grace Lutheran Church
493 Forest Avenue
Glen Ellyn, IL 60137

Grace Lutheran Church is on the southeast corner of Forest and Pennsylvania in downtown Glen Ellyn.

Parking information (click to show more)

The church has a small parking lot, which they try to leave open for people with limited mobility. (Note that access to that parking lot is from Forest, which is one-way going north.) There is also ample street parking nearby. Train station parking is free, as is a small lot just west of Grace on Pennsylvania, plus there is available street parking on Forest Avenue. You can find out more about Glen Ellyn downtown parking here, or download a PDF map here..

It is an easy one-block walk north of the Glen Ellyn Metra station.
We use the 2nd floor gymnasium for our dancing. The gymnasium has a wood floor and adjoining kitchen and bathroom facilities. There is an elevator located near the door by the ramp at the inside corner of the parking lot, and there are stairs by the door at the west end of the building.

We prefer any donated treats to be bite-sized and easy to consume neatly.
We recommend bringing your own water bottle.

Suggested donation is $5-$10 for all or part of the afternoon.

We have relaxed our previous COVID-19 policy but are requesting that newcomers review the participant information and conditions page and fill out the relevant form before coming.

Upcoming dates

  • Upcoming dates at Glen Ellyn’s Grace Lutheran Church
    • Sunday, January 4 – usual times IFD and ECD, 1 to 6 p.m.
    • Sunday, January 18 – usual times IFD and ECD, 1 to 6 p.m.
    • Sunday, February 1 – usual times IFD and ECD, 1 to 6 p.m.
    • continuing on 1st and 3rd Sundays in 2026
  • Special Event in honor of the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth — Thank you for coming!

A Bit of History

English country dancing in Chicago’s Western suburbs was held beginning in 2006 at Fermilab’s Kuhn Barn, and beginning in 2011 on at the Nineteenth Century Club in Oak Park, called by Mady Newfield and Tammy Bretscher, with occasional other guests, including Tom Senior, Bruce Hamilton, Colin Hume, Tom Amessé, Louise Siddons, and Nikki Herbst.  Unfortunately, since the pandemic, neither venue is possible.

While we are happy with this venue for now, we may still consider other locations for dancing in the Western suburbs. Suggestions of possible venues are welcome. Please contact us.

We enjoy having live music as often as it is possible. Our “house band” at Fermilab was Old Fezziwig’s Band, organized by Dan van Loon. Since then we have also enjoyed the music of other musicians such as the Cosmic Otters (Jonathan Whitall and Meg Dedolph), Tim Macdonald and Jeremy Ward, Rare Privilege (Maria Terres and Amy McFarland), Liz Donaldson, Mara Shea, and Mary Vanhoozer, in addition to the musicians we bring in yearly for our Harvest Moon Dance Weekend.

Additional resources

List of dances done by Chicagoland West IFD, 2022 on

List of dances done by Chicagoland West ECD, 2021 on
(includes dances done at Oak Park gatherings during the pandemic)

List of dances done at Fermilab ECD, 2006 – 2020

List of dances done at Oak Park ECD, 2011 – 2020