‘Maybe Lady Gaga’ Sat Here: Pieces of Ravinia Festival’s past are on the move

When Glencoe resident Susan Schmitt was in the market for bar stools, she had not planned on bringing a storied musical relic to her home. But today, two stools, embossed with the official gold Ravinia logo, reflecting the natural patina from years of serving backstage, adorn her living space.

“Maybe Lady Gaga or Tony Bennett once sat on them,” said Schmitt about her new possessions.

Schmitt is one of the many fans who have bought pieces from the Ravinia Reclaimed initiative. As the century-old lawns and pavilions of the Ravinia Festival undergo a $75 million renovation, the festival is offering salvaged pieces of its venue to the public through an online sale and a public auction.

The proceeds from sales go to the Setting the Stages campaign, which aims to upgrade the 36-acre venue ahead of its 125th anniversary in 2029.

Tom Dickelman — vice president of innovation and new products at CollectU, the company brought in to catalog and prepare the items for the auction — explained the idea behind Ravinia Reclaimed.

“Reclaimed means taking something that had a past life and giving it a new life, and that’s what we do,” he said. “We work with arts organizations like Ravinia and with universities renovating their venues and harvest materials that would otherwise end up in a landfill. We then work with the organization to market the items and make them available to collectors and fans.”

Working on this project also marked special significance for Dickelman, as it was 50 years ago that he first attended Ravinia. He’s been going ever since.

The first Reclaimed auction closed in December, where up for bid were items like vintage Ravinia pavilion seats, historic chairs, pieces from the famed stage, concert stools and keepsakes. There are also some ‘buy now’ items that include rings and old row tags made from the famed stage.

Around Valentine’s came another interesting drop: the tulip-shaped garden lights, originally installed three decades ago along the outer perimeter of Ravinia Pavilion.

More items are expected to come out in March, closer to the season announcement dates. Each of the items come with an digital certificate of authenticity signed by Ravinia’s President and CEO Jeffrey P. Haydon.

Historically across the globe, music memorabilia auctions have found both admirers and collectors vying for items that range from rare to anomalous. From Johnny Cash’s kitchen sink to John Lennon’s tooth, everything has found a sentimental resonance.

But what perhaps makes Ravinia Reclaimed relatable on the local level is that most of the items, besides bringing along nostalgia, do not break the bank and can be put to practical use.

For longtime Highland Park resident and interior designer Virginia Follmer-Stafman, who has been attending Ravinia every year since 1998, the sale opened a rare chance to tangibly preserve her memories.

Her Christmas tree this year had a unique ornament: a Ravinia seating row tag.

“When I saw that they had a plate with a row number ‘V,’ which is also my initial, I had to buy it,” she said.

Follmer-Stafman also bid for vintage Ravinia pavilion seats that are now displayed on her porch.

What significance does owning, a piece from the festival hold for patrons?

“My mom went to Ravinia regularly as a young girl,” said Schmitt, who is also the current chair of Ravinia’s Women’s Board. “I grew up in a home where classical music was played, and I appreciate all genres of music.”

Carrying the love of music forward, Schmitt has been attending Ravinia regularly, just like her mom did. She also appreciates that Ravinia is a not-for-profit organization that delivers outstanding educational and training programs.

“The bar stools are an obvious conversation starter for my guests now, and another piece that I would be interested in would be the vintage tulip lamps for my garden,” she said.

Follmer Stafman shared, “My house is so close to the venue that we can hear concerts from my backyard. I have attended hundreds of shows there. Most of our summers are spent at Ravinia, so definitely it has been a big part of our lives.”

A big music girl, Follmer Stafman admits that she had been collecting setlists from the concerts she attends. So, when the chance came to own an item from Ravinia — a venue close to her heart — she felt drawn toward it.

For a venue that has hosted artists, including James Taylor, Lady Gaga and Aretha Franklin, and has been around for more than a century, the most challenging thing remains sifting through the items to offer for sale.

“It has been a fairly long process,” said Dickelman, who also shared an interesting anecdote: “There was a rumor that the seats in the old pavilion were originally from Milwaukee’s County Stadium, and they came to Ravinia about 50 years ago. If that was true, it meant that they would have additional value because people in Milwaukee and Wisconsin would cherish them as well. So, we did our due research and found it was just an old wives’ tale.”

The items on offer are either sold “as is” or have been created from one of the existing pieces of significance, like the famous stage.

“This is a stage where some of the best-known stars in America and the world performed, so we thought of making memorabilia out of that stage,” Dickelman said. “One of the products we made was what we call a Conductor’s Table. We partnered with a local organization that works with reclaimed wood, and they turned it into a beautiful dining room table that a patron bought as a surprise Christmas present for his wife.”

Other items repurposed from the stage range from coasters to finger rings. The team also researched and did due diligence on pricing and ensured items like the chairs and seats were offered at prices comparable to what similar items have fetched at other auctions. 

The team maintains that it is both a challenge and a joy to figure out what can be created out of the stage or which autographed item should be auctioned.

“But the greatest delight remains to see the community’s love for the festival that extends far beyond Chicagoland, with some pavilion seats even making their way to California,” Dickelman said.

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