Lake in the Hills Readies for Gingrich Visits

After tough primary losses earlier this week, and just days before the Illinois primary election, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, and his wife, Callista Gingrich, will make campaign stops Thursday in Lake in the Hills. 

Gingrich and his wife have planned several stops in Illinois for March 14 and March 15. 

Earlier this week, Gingrich finished second in primaries in Mississippi and Alabama behind Rick Santorum. Frontrunner Mitt Romney finished third in both states.

Santorum has stops planned in Arlington Heights on Friday and Romney is expected to spend the night of the state's primary election, March 20, near Wheaton, according to media reports.

The primary election losses earlier this week dealt a tough blow to the Gingrich campaign. Amid speculation over whether Gingrich would drop out of the race, The Associated Press reported Wednesday that Gingrich has vowed he will "take his fight to the party's national convention in Florida in late August."

The last of his scheduled campaign stops in Illinois will be a rally on private land at 8585 Pyott Road, Lake in the Hills, at 2:30 p.m. Thursday. Newt Gingrich is expected to speak at the rally. 

The event will be open to the public and will be held in a private corporate hangar next to Lake in the Hills Airport, according to the Northwest Herald.

The , which expects to see 200 people at the event, will help direct traffic in the area of event, said Lake in the Hills police Sgt. Mark Smith.

Those attending will be able to park on the private property at 8585 Pyott Road. Police will be directing traffic in that area and security personnel with Gingrich's campaign will be assisting with parking on the private property, Smith said. 

“Police will be at the major intersections. There will be people there to guide you in,” Smith said. 

Smith said campaign officials told police the private property could accommodate as many as 200 vehicles. If parking fills that property, police will direct vehicles to park along Old Pyott Road, he said. 

Kristi Adkinson, owner of , which is located along Old Pyott Road, said the man who owns the private property and who helped organize the rally went door-to-door to businesses along the road Wednesday afternoon.

"The police asked him to come to all of the business to inform us about the rally," Adkinson said.

Adkinson said she does not expect the rally to affect her business, since parking would be on the private property.

On Thursday morning, Callista Gingrich is scheduled to visit , 4561 Princeton Lane, Lake in the Hills, where she will get a tour of the school and then read a book she authored, Sweet Land of Liberty, to a pre-kindergarten class of 4- and 5-year-old students, said Goddard School owner Michele Clark.

A mascot for Ellis the Elephant, her book’s main character, is expected to accompany Callista Gingrich to Thursday’s visit. 

"We are very excited. The timing is so perfect because this month, our school's theme is authors, so the children have been learning about different children's authors and now they get to meet one," Clark said. "This kind of just fell into our laps."

Clark said affiliated with the Gingrich campaign arranged the visit.

 for more updates on your community.