1975-76 Horse Shows

In 1975 the Infant Welfare Society hosted the "Great American Horse Show" at McGAw Hall.

In August 11, 1975 several residents signed a letter to the Mayor, listing their complaints about the show.

1. Noise from the outside loud-speakers continued late in the night
2. Show participants threw parties on the stadium property after the show's conclusion
3. Horses kicked the stable walls constantly throughout the night
4. The show's extensive electrical power use drained residential power availability
5. Concern was raised about a potential horse stampede

A second Horse Show was scheduled for 1976.

Below is the The Infant Welfare Society letter to Evanston Mayor, Edgar Vanneman , dated February 24 1976

Donald J. O'Meara sent a letter and a memorandum to the Planning and Development Committee and City Council stating his opposition to the 2nd Horse Show.

He justified his opposition by stating that

• the ordinance did not include horse shows as permitted uses
• according to Section V-24 of the City Code it was forbidden "to keep, or allow to be kept, any animal of the species of horse, mule, swine , sheep, goat, cattle, poultry, skunks or poisonous reptiles within the corporate limits of the City of Evanston."
• Since NU in its application 4-76-D(R) for a zoning variance that would allow among other things, "horse shows, "Any action by the City Council at this time which would give the color of official approval to the horse show would unfairly prejudge the outcome of the zoning proceedings."

On March 29, 1976 the ZBA stated that the 1975 horse show was a legal use of Northwestern property under the Evanston Zoning Ordinance, and that the 1976 horse show was scheduled to be held on July 13 through July 18.

An appeal was filed on March 31 contesting the City's interpretation of the Zoning ordinance

On April 12, Barbara and Robert VanderBosch filed a lawsuit against Northwestern re. the horse show.

"Upon completion of a six day trial in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Judge Daniel Covelli determined the scheduled horse show was a private nuisance and violated Evanston ordinance 5-24. and the Evanston zoning code pertaining to the U2 zoning districts."

Below is the transcription of newspaper articles regarding the 1976 horse show.

Evanston Review - [April 3?], 1976

...opposes horse show

Group seeks help of appeals

[...] trying to prevent a horse show from performing in McGaw in July [...] asked the Evanston Board of Appeals to rule the performances [...] - a ruling that would contradict the opinion of Evanston corporation counsel Jack Siegel.

The Great American Horse Show, which is scheduled to perform in McGaw Hall July 13-18 violates the city zoning ordinance, which specifically prohibits horse. stabling at the Hall, Donald O'Meara 1312 Isabella St., said Monday.

Further O'Meara's request for a hearing before the zoning board argued that the Evanston city code outlaws the stabling of horses within the city limits [....] practice the ordinance.

IN HIS REQUEST for a zoning board hearing, O'Meara deleted a contention that the show was further outlawed because of zoning bans against commercial events in McGaw Hall.

[...] had used that argument March 8 when he asked the city council's planning and development committee to discourage the staging of the show.

Also on March 8 the committee heard Siegel render his opinion that the horse show was not a commercial event because proceeds from it will go to the Evanston Infant Welfare Society, a nonprofit organization.

On March 15 that committee formally avoided assuming a position on the legality or illegality of the horse show while vowing support for Siegel and City Mgr. Edward A. Martin if this controversy leads to legal action against the City of Evanston.

O'MEARA LEADER OF a group of persons living near McGaw Hall who object to the horse show, is arguing that whether or not the horse show is a commercial event, it is still prohibited by the zoning ordinance and the city code.

O'Meara believes Jack Siegel and Martin have painted themselves into a corner because the horse show performed last year without challenge and without official city approval or disapproval. In effect Martin and Siegel now are in a position of defending a precedent, said O'Meara.

"They're kind of winking this year, because they let the show go last year," said O'Meara.

No date has been set for a hearing on O'Meara's appeal.

Meantime, the Zoning board altered its agenda for April 20, when it was scheduled to hear a request from Northwestern University, owner of McGaw Hall and Dyche Stadium, for relief from zoning bans against commercial and professional events at the two arenas.

Instead the zoning board will discuss subpoenas it issued to the university and two consultants. The university is defying the subpoenas.

The subpoenas requested by a group led by O'Meara, sought documents from Northwestern and the two consultants as well as oral testimony from the consultants.

The university had said it will make available to O'Meara and two other opposition leaders evidence the school will introduce when its request for variation comes up for hearing.

After first learning of the university's intention to ignore the subpoenas O'Meara planned to appear before the zoning board at its meeting Tuesday. The appearance was cancelled.

At the time for the horse show draws near, this zoning battle may end up where four other fights over McGaw Hall zoning have ended up-in Cook County Circuit Court, O'Meara said.

Chicago Daily News - April 1 [5?], 1976

Lawsuit seeks to block McGaw Hall horse show

Robert and Barbara Vander-Bosch and Donald O'Meara do not want 400 to 500 horses in their back yard.

So, with O'Meara as one of the attorneys and the VanDerBosch as complainants, they filed suit in Circuit Court Monday seeking to prevent the Great American Horse Show from performing in Northwestern University McGaw Hall July 13-18.

The suit seeks a permanent injunction, charging the show violates the city code and zoning laws, despite the fact that proceeds go to the Infant Welfare Society of Evanston.

The suit, which in part of a campaign to prevent many commercial uses of McGaw Hall and Dyche Stadium, contends the horse show caused many problems for the adjoining neighborhood last year. Some of the problems included late night loudspeaker announcements, flies, manure, foul odors. fire hazards and noise from horse kicking their stalls.

Evanston Review - April 15, 1976

Residents sue to block horse show

Northwestern University, the City of Evanston and the Infant Welfare Society of Evanston, Inc., were named in a suit filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court by an Evanston couple trying to block scheduled performances of a horse show in university-owned McGaw Hall.

Robert and Barbara VanDerBosch, whose home at 1321 Chancellor St. lies just east of the hall, charge in the suit that both city zoning laws and the city code will be violated if The Great American Horse show performs, as scheduled, July 13 to 18.

Further, the suit complained that problems generated when the horse show played McGaw Hall in July, 1975, will recur. Also, the couple complained of plans to serve liquor without a license - as was the case at last year's show, when liquor was sold without a license in a tent called the "Silver Saddle" club.

SOUGHT IN THE suit are injunctions barring the university from providing McGaw Hall for the show; barring the Infant Welfare Society from keeping between 400 and 500 horses in McGaw Hall area; and prohibiting the city from issuing various building, safety and health permits that may be needed.

"Public and private nuisances" created by the 1975 show and expected in 1976, include animal manure, flies, foul odors, loud speaker announcements late at night, the noise of horses kicking against stalls, spotlights "crating a circus atmosphere," and possible fire hazards and electrical power failures, according to the suit.

"The aims and objectives of the defendants aren't being impugned in any manner," Donald O'Meara, one of the VanDerBosch's attorneys, explained Monday, "The purpose of this suit is simply to enjoin an illegal use of property."

O'Meara, whose home at 1312 Isabella St., Evanston, is in the McGaw Hall area has been a key figure among residents in the area who oppose not only the horse show, but the university's efforts to seek relief, through the city's two zoning bodies, from bans on professional and commercial events at McGaw Hall and nearby Dyche Stadium.

REFLECTED IN THE VanDerBosch's suit is O'Meara's own argument that the city zoning ordinance does not specifically list horse shows as permitted uses on the university property, so they are illegal.

Keeping of horses within the city limits is outlawed by a section of the city code which terms such stabling "a nuisance."

On March 15, the Evanston City Council's Planning and Development Commission formally refused to take a position on the legality or illegality of the horse show while vowing support of City Mgr. Edward A. martin and Corporation Counsel Jack Siegel if the horse show controversy resulted in legal action.

O'Meara's first visible opposition in the horse show came at a meeting of the committee on March 8, when O'Meara rebutted Siegel's opinion that the horse show is permissible because it is a non-commercial event.

SIEGEL BASED HIS opinion on the fact that the proceeds of the 1975 show, and those of the 1976 show, are for the Infant Welfare Society, a nonproft organization.

O'Meara later abandoned his commercial-noncommercial argument focusing on the specific permitted uses of the property in question. He said Monday that if her were to borrow horses from the show to offer rides in his back yard with proceeds going to charity, the city would step in and stop the activity.

"The mere fact that the proceeds go to the Evanston Infant Welfare Society doesn't make the horse show a permitted use," he said.

Meantime, one of the city's two zoning bodies, the zoning board of appeals, is scheduled to hold a hearing Tuesday to focus on subpoenas issued against Northwestern" and two consultants at the request of the opponents led by O'Meara.

The university is defying the subpoenas, which the zoning board issued so the opponents could gather documents and oral testimony in their bid to block the schools' request that bans against professional and commercial events be lifted.

David McCarthy

April 1976

Neighbors seek to put reins on horse show at university

Opponents of a repeat of last year's Great American Horse Show in Evanston filed suit Monday to block the event.

The show, a benefit for the Infant Welfare Society of Evanston, Inc., is set for July 13 through 18 in Northwestern University's McGaw Hall.

The suit was filed in Cook County Circuit Court by attorneys for Robert and Barbara Venderbosch, 1323 Chancellor St., whose house adjoins parking lots near Dyche Stadium and McGaw Hall. The lots would be used to table and estimated 400-500 horses during the week of the show.

THE SUIT SEEKS an injunction against Northwestern University, the Infant Welfare Society, and the City of Evanston, to prevent the show.

The complaint charges that the show would violate zoning ordinances and create a nuisance for neighbors. It also charges that the Silver Saddle Club, a tent in the horse show area last year, served liquor without a license.

Manure, odors, flies, late-nite loudspeaker announcements, bright spotlights, and fire hazards are among the annoyances cited in the complaint, which was filed by attorneys Donald O'Meara and William J. Holloway who also are residents of the area near the proposed show site. Plaintiff Barbara Vanderbosch is an Infant Welfare Society member.

THE PLAINTIFF WILL seek an early decision the case, O'Meara,said."We have nothing against Northwestern University or the Infant Welfare Society. This is't the issue. The issue is use of the property.."

Show preparations have proceeded "full steam ahead" since authorization in March by the city, show superintendent Donald Fergusson said Monday. Arrangements to stable the horses farther from neighboring residents are being worked out, he said.

The city remaining role in show preparations is to issue the tent and electrical permits and approve seating arrangements for the show.

THE PROPOSED HORSE show site is part of a group of Northwestern University properties that have sparked controversy for several years over whether they may be put to commercial use by the university. Requests by the university for zoning changes to permit commercial activities such as professional sporting events on its properties are pending before Evanston's Zoning Board and Zoning Amendment Committee.

Evanston Review - May 27, 1976

McGaw ruled out - Seek new horse show site

The Infant Welfare Society of Evanston, Inc., barred by court order from staging a benefit horse show in McGaw Hall, Evanston, this week was negotiating to present the show in Northbrook.

Jim Bernhard, manager of the Blue Ribbon Horse Complex, 4475 lake Cook Rd., Northbrook, told Pioneer Press Tuesday the prospect of presenting The Great American horse Show at the complex "looks good"."

Sue Camins, benefit chairman for the welfare society, confirmed Tuesday that a North Shore site for the show was under consideration and would be the subject of a vote Wednesday by the society's 15 member executive committee. She refused to disclose further details.

THE RESULT OF Wednesday's vote was unavailable by press time, Mrs. Camins said the show, scheduled to perform July 13-18, will feature between 350 and 400 horses; is expected to net the society $25,000 to $30,000; and probably will draw close to the 40,000 persons who attended the nine performances in five days at McGaw Hall in July, 1975.

The 1975 event netted the society $15,000, said Mrs. Camins, but the show was ousted from that site this year when Cook County Circuit Judge Daniel A. Covelli last Thursday concluded a six-day bench trial by ruling the show a private nuisance.

The trial stemmed from a law suit filed April 12 by Barbara and Robert VanderBosch, whose home at 1323 Chancellor St. Evanston, lies due east of the fieldhouse and a parking lot where the horses where stabled last year and would have been kept this year.

COVELLLI, WHO WILL issue a permanent injunction to keep the show out of McGaw Hall, also ruled that it would have violated the Evanston zoning ordinance and an Evanston ordinance prohibiting the stabling of horses within the city limits.

In a statement to the press Tuesday, Mrs. Camins said, "The Infant Welfare Society totally disagrees" with Covelli's ruling that the show would constitute a nuisance.

"Evidence introduced during the trial showed that the 1875 event was conducted in a clean, quiet, safe, orderly and all-around superlative manner compatible with the community," she added.

"However, the plaintiffs' tactic of filing their case practically on the eve of the show precludes making an appeal of the judge's decision because of the time that would be required," said Mrs. Camins.

SHE NOTED THAT the 1975 show had been voted second best in the nation by a national organization, the United Professional Horsemen's Assn., which tabbed the Kentucky State Fair as the top show of the year.

In a telephone interview with Pioneer press, Mrs. Camins said, "We intend to have as clean, neat and attractive show as we had last year."

Evanston business leaders already have pledged more than $15,000 in contributions to the society in connection with the show, she said.

The society has pledged to make the horse show an annual summer event on the North Shore.

David McCarthy