Our Summer Picnic is back for the fifth consecutive year and this year we have a familiar face coming in from California to join us.
Our Summer Picnic is from 3:30-6:30 p.m., Sunday, August 2, 2026 at Clarkson Park in Northfield.
We will have food, soft drinks, beer, and wine, and we expect to have plenty of good conversations and fellowship.
The North Shore's own Joel Pollak returns to the 9th Congressional District to be our honored guest. In 2010, Joel ran for Congress against Jan Schakowsky and turned some heads as he built a coalition of common-sense voters ready to push back against Schakowsky's extreme agenda.
Many of our candidates will also be there for you to meet and learn how you can help them in the three months leading up to the General Election.
This event is free to paid members of Northfield Township Republican Organization. Please click here to renew your membership for 2026.
If you are a paid member, click here to RSVP for no charge.
For non-members, the cost to attend is $30 and includes food and beverage.
Previous Summer Picnic Guests:
2022: Unity Picnic
2023: State Rep. Martin McLaughlin (R-Barrington Hills)
2024: WIND-AM's John Anthony
2025: State Sen. Liandro Arellano (R-Dixon)
About Joel Pollak
Joel Pollak is the Opinion Editor of the California Post. He was previously the Senior Editor-at-Large and In-house Counsel at Breitbart News and hosted Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot 125.
Joel was born in South Africa and raised in the Chicago suburbs, where he attended Niles North High School. After graduating from Harvard College with high honors in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy, he was a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholar in South Africa. He later served as speechwriter for the Leader of the Opposition in the South African Parliament, and completed a Master of Arts degree in Jewish Studies at the University of Cape Town.
Back home in the United States, Joel graduated from Harvard Law School and went on to work as a Research Fellow at the Hudson Institute. He ran for U.S. Congress here on the North Shore against extreme left-wing Jan Schakowsky in 2010. Joel lost his race but befriended conservative media pioneer Andrew Breitbart along the way, later joining him in Los Angeles, where they worked side-by-side transforming a blog into a 24-hour news website that would go on to change American politics and is one of the top news sites in the U.S.
Joel is the author of several books, including "How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution," and "The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days." He is also a winner of the Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship and the Pali Strong Hero Award. He and his wife, Julia, have four children, and intend to return to their home in Pacific Palisades, California, from which they were displaced by the Palisades Fire in early 2025.
