The Lake Forest Preservation Foundation is marking its 50th anniversary with a daylong symposium on Saturday, Oct. 17, at Lake Forest College. The lineup features Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic Blair Kamin, Burj Khalifa architect Adrian Smith and broadcaster Bill Kurtis.

Four panel sessions run from 10 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. inside the Lily Reid Holt Memorial Chapel, an 1899 landmark with Tiffany stained glass windows, according to the event listing on Patch. The day closes with a walking tour of Market Square.

Kamin, who served as the Chicago Tribune's architecture critic from 1992 to 2021 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1999, moderates the opening session, "Why Preservation Matters - How is Lake Forest Different?" Panelists include Lake Forest City Manager Jason Wicha and former college archivist Art Miller.

WTTW host Geoffrey Baer, a multi-Emmy Award-winning producer and North Shore native, leads the second session on the legacy of architects Howard Van Doren Shaw, David Adler and Stanley D. Anderson.

Lynn Osmond moderates the third session, "Preservation vs. Progress - Who Owns the Future of Our Cities?" Smith, who designed the Burj Khalifa in Dubai and is restoring the 1930s Lake Forest estate Innisfail II, joins that panel alongside Lee Bey and Richard Economakis.

Bill Kurtis, the longtime WBBM-TV anchor and current scorekeeper on NPR's "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!," moderates the closing session on the future of preservation. That panel includes Bonnie McDonald, president and CEO of Landmarks Illinois.

The foundation, launched in 1976, created the inaugural Adrian Smith Preservationist Award at its June 26 gala, recognizing Smith's commitment to historic properties. A 50th anniversary exhibit opened Aug. 20 at the History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff.

Executive Director Jennifer McGregor, who took over from longtime leader Marcy Kerr in 2024, framed the milestone in an April profile by Lake Forest Love. "Our greatest achievement at the foundation is not a single moment but 50 years of steady, principled advocacy," she said.

Lake Forest College President Michael J. Sosulski opens the symposium with a welcome at 9:50 a.m. A campus lunch stroll and book signings fill the midday break from noon to 1 p.m.

The day wraps with a 3:45 p.m. walking tour of Market Square led by Miller. Opened in 1916 and designed by Shaw, the square is often cited as the first planned shopping center in the United States.

Tickets cost $65 for foundation members and $75 for non-members, including lunch and the tour. Registration is open at lfpf.org/events.