Carol McCormick, who has held the role of administrative assistant or secretary to the principal for almost 25 years at Evergreen Park Community High School will retire at the end of June, according to a news release from the school.

Hired prior to the 2000-2001 school year, McCormick has worked with four EPCHS principals over the years: Ron Helms, Beth Hart, Bill Sanderson and Matt Dugan.

McCormick said she will miss the day-to-day interaction with students “and working with the ladies in the office who have not only been my co-workers, but my friends.”

“The secretaries have always been such a cohesive team and there is nothing we wouldn’t do for each other,” McCormick said. “I will miss that most of all.”

After graduating from Queen of Peace High School, McCormick completed the fast-track secretarial program at Fox Business College in Oak Lawn. She worked at a law firm downton and then at Little Company of Mary Hospital for 10 years before a short stint at an area HVAC company before coming to EPCHS.

Over the years, McCormick has been heavily involved with the school’s parent volunteers and theater program. She won the Theater Mentor Award in 2012 and received the Distinguished Service Award – Award of Merit from the Illinois Chapter of the National School Public Relations Association in 2020.

Andrew students earn medals in National German Exam

Out of 40 students at Andrew High School in Tinley Park who took the National German Exam given by the American Association of Teachers of German, five received Bronze and Silver medals.

The exam is given annually to students of German to see how they rank in German proficiency compared to other German language learners across the country.

New food pantry opens in Flossmoor

A new resource opened last week in Flossmoor for those experiencing food insecurity.

Pastors John and Rebecca Husbands officially opened a new food pantry for the community at Calvary Assembly of God, 18620 Governors Hwy. The pantry is a collaboration with the Greater Chicago Food Depository and available to residents of Chicago Heights, Flossmoor, Hazel Crest and Homewood, as well as unhoused people, from 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays, and from 9 a.m. to noon Thursdays.

Pantry visitors can shop with dignity choosing their own perishable and non-perishable food items, and oftentimes also clothing and other special items. More information on accessing the pantry, as well as volunteering or donating, is at www.calvaryflossmoor.com.

Local Author Showcase set at Oak Lawn library

Oak Lawn Public Library, 9427 S. Raymond Ave., presents a free Local Author Showcase featuring a book fair and 30 authors from 6 to 8 p.m. June 12.

A third of the participating authors are from Oak Lawn and the remainder are from other south suburbs and Chicago.

“The authors who are coming have written mysteries, thrillers, historical fiction, young adult, fantasy and memoir. There are a few nonfiction authors writing about finance and health, plus several authors focusing on wellness and self-help,” fiction librarian Emily Bettcher said. “We’ve even got poets and a coloring book author who dresses as a mermaid!”

Evergreen Park resident Zachary Jeffries, who writes science fiction and fantasy books for young adults, is among the writers returning from last year’s inaugural showcase in Oak Lawn, which he called “amazing, one of my favorites of the year.”

More than 200 people attended last year’s Showcase. Oak Lawn author Jennifer Worrell said it was, “such fun, and clearly put together by and for book lovers.”

More information is at www.olpl.org or 708-422-2990.

Juneteenth Celebration planned at Sand Ridge

Sand Ridge Nature Center will celebrate family, freedom and country during the 11th annual Juneteenth Celebration starting at 10 a.m. June 15.

An opening ceremony will include a rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” performed by Lana Lewis followed by a dance performance from Dance4OurLives along with remarks from Cook County Board and Forest Preserves President Toni Preckwinkle and other officials.

“Juneteenth—also known as Freedom Day, Emancipation Day or Juneteenth Independence Day—commemorates the abolition of slavery in the United States,” said Sand Ridge Nature Center Director Credell Walls in a news release. “We honor the day at Sand Ridge to celebrate and enjoy the diversity of our shared cultural heritage here in Cook County.”

Programs at the nature center include art projects, games, guided walks and presentations on the Underground Railroad and more. At 11 a.m. at Camp Shabbona Woods there will be lawn games and activities, live storytelling and a hot dog roast.

Sand Ridge Nature Center, 15891 Paxton Ave., South Holland, is one of six nature centers operated by the Forest Preserves of Cook County, and offers a variety of educational programs and special events throughout the year. Camp Shabbona Woods, located at 15810 S Torrence Ave. in South Holland and connected to the nature center, is one of the forest preserve’s five campgrounds.

The Juneteenth Celebration is free to attend, and runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. More information is at 708-868-0606 or by email at sandridge.naturecenter@cookcountyil.gov.

Glenwood sets Juneteenth service June 19

Glenwood officials plan a family-friendly celebration of Juneteenth from 3 to 7:30 p.m. June 19 at Underground Railroad Memorial Park, Main and Young streets. A celebration also will be at Blakey Senior Center, behind Village Hall.

Vendors will be selling food including barbecue, hot dogs, cobbler, chicken and shrimp, Italian ice, lemonade, baked goods, clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, incense and more.

Freedom Trail Hike planned June 29

The Little Calumet River Underground Railroad Project is accepting reservations for the next Freedom Trail Hike from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. June 29.

The hike presents the tale of the countless freedom seekers who came through the Calumet region prior to the Civil War, who often found refuge and replenishment from local abolitionists. Among the helpers were the Jan Ton family, who owned a farm near Beaubien Woods Forest Preserve on the Little Calumet River, site of the Freedom Trail Hike

Historian and author Larry McClellan, foremost authority on the Underground Railroad in Northern Illinois, and Tom Shepherd of the Little Calumet River Underground Railroad Project will be narrators for the tour, which departs from the Beaubien Woods boat launch.

Registration is required and is available at tonfarmugrr@gmail.com or with Tom Shepherd at 773-370-3305.

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The LaGrange Road (U.S. 12/20/45) bridge over Santa Fe Drive, the Canadian National Railroad, Illinois & Michigan Canal and the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal in Justice, Hodgkins, Countryside and Willow Springs reopened to traffic last week after a $21.4 million project that consisted of replacing the northbound bridge decks and new LED lighting as well as pier, abutment and structural steel repairs, according to a release from the Illinois Department of Transportation. The project began in March 2022.

IDOT officials said construction in the area is not finished, and as miscellaneous work is completed over the next few weeks, motorists should continue to expect occasional delays.

Also, other projects north and south of the bridge will continue to have an impact on traffic. One is replacing the elevated southbound La Grange Road ramp to Illinois 171/Archer Avenue/79th Street. The work zone has northbound La Grange Road reduced to one lane from 87th Street through the Tri-State Tollway (Interstate 294) overpass. Southbound La Grange Road prior to the tollway overpass is reduced to two lanes and the ramp to inbound Archer Avenue is closed until the project is scheduled to be finished in late fall.

Another project, scheduled to start June 3, is a new deck overlay and joint repairs at La Grange Road over Interstate 55. LaGrange Road will be reduced to one lane in each direction once the project begins, with the outbound I-55-to-southbound La Grange Road and the inbound I-55-to-northbound La Grange Road ramps closing for approximately six weeks starting in late June.

H-F Park District plans Pride Fest June 7

The Homewood-Flossmoor Park District, and villages of Flossmoor and Homewood plan to celebrate the spirit of diversity and inclusion at Pride Fest, starting at 5 p.m. June 5 at Irwin Park, 18120 S. Highland Avenue, Homewood.

The event will include food and beverage sales, and resource and education vendors will be on site to provide information and support services. Six of Spades and The Bel Canto Community Choir will provide entertainment at the Irwin Park Band shell. Then, Beyond the Blonde, a tribute to P!NK, Gwen Stefani, and Lady Gaga, takes the stage at 7 p.m.

Admission is free. Participants are encouraged to bring blankets or lawn chairs. Food, beverages and alcohol will be available for purchase from vendors; outside alcohol prohibited.

Homer Township set to celebrate pets

The Homer Township Petfest is planned from noon to 3 p.m. June 15 at Town Center Park, 14354 W 151st St., Homer Glen. Community members and visitors of all ages can discover options available for pets, participate in activities, shop for products, enter pet contests and find information for pet services, according to a news release.

Over 30 exhibitors are expected, including an exotic animal demonstration. Taco truck and ice cream trucks will sell food, and the first 250 attendees will receive a goody bag. Donations of pet food and horse food will be accepted for Chrislin Farm in Homer Township. All animals are welcome, but they must be up to date on shots and on a leash at all times. More information is at https://homertownship.com/.

Blessing of the Waters planed in Blue Island

The annual Blessing of the Waters is planned for 3 p.m. June 23 at the Blue Island Waterfall on the Cal Sag Channel. The waterfall, operated by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, is located at Chatham and Fulton Streets in Blue Island.

The event is open to everyone, especially environmentalists and any who use, respect and care to protect our planet’s most precious commodity: water, according to a news release.

The nondenominational, interactive ceremony to bless the water will be officiated by the Rev. MaryBeth Ingberg of Immanuel Church of God in Christ in Evergreen Park. There will be dixieland music provided by The Mudcats, along with refreshments and snacks. Each attendee will have the opportunity to offer blessings and prayer in their own, individual way, organizers said.

Send news to communitynews@southtownstar.com. 

Aside from personal milestones, area businesses, libraries and other institutions throughout the area are celebrating longevity.

And south suburban municipalities, in particular, are aging with grace. A year after Lemont, the old dean of south suburbs, marked 150 years since its incorporation. Park Forest, a modern suburb established at midcentury, is logging its 75th year.

And next month, the village of Flossmoor will celebrate its centennial from 4:30 to 9 p.m. June 20 at Flossmoor Park, Brassie Avenue and Flossmoor Road, with baseball as its centerpiece. The park is the longtime home to the village’s youth baseball and softball operations dating back to the 1960s.

The 100th anniversary event also will include a vintage baseball game between the Flossmoor Whistlestoppers and the visiting Deep River Grinders from Hobart, Indiana. There also will be a car exhibition showcasing vehicles from each decade of Flossmoor’s official existence, and a drone light show at the end of the evening.

In a news release touting the event, Flossmoor’s official birthday is dated to a June 1924 meeting in the “garage of a large home on Sterling Avenue,” where the village’s boundaries were determined and a vote on incorporation was taken.

“Ten days later, Cook County duly authenticated the matter of incorporation, and the Village of Flossmoor was founded on June 20, 1924,” the release states.

While the village likely has incorporation documents to back up its birth date claim, 10 days seems an overly efficient navigation of Cook County bureaucracy.

The seminal Homewood/Flossmoor history booklet “Indian Trails to Tollways” published in 1968 by Anna B. Adair and Adele Sandberg, as Homewood was marking its “Diamond Jubilee,” or 75th anniversary in modern parlay, offers more insight into the origin of the plan.

The authors said the idea to turn a Scottish-themed neighborhood created years earlier on land owned by the Illinois Central Railroad into a village was floated at a Community Leap Year Dinner given by the PTA in the basement of Leavitt Avenue School.

“While the men were gathered in the furnace room for a smoke, the subject of incorporation was casually brought up,” the book reported. The authors had compiled their information at a time when some of the younger men at the meeting may still have been alive, furnace room smoking habits notwithstanding.

Flossmoor’s deeper origins stretch back to a gamble on the area’s soil quality that didn’t pay off. The Illinois Central Railroad purchased land adjacent to its tracks in 1891 in Chicago’s rural hinterland with plans to “strip the land of its black dirt and have it hauled to Chicago for use on the fair grounds for the (Columbian) Exposition of 1893,” which was adjacent to its tracks in Hyde Park.

But the dirt contained too much clay. Instead, the railroad company got into the residential real estate business, subdividing the land and giving free lunches to anyone they could lure onto sales-pitch excursion trains.

Of those who bought in and stuck around, along with neighbors who joined them over the following 30 or so years, 78 people voted to incorporate Flossmoor as a village, and 60 people thought it was a bad idea. A few years later, they got to work on establishing the village’s first park, at Flossmoor Road just east of the tracks. In the 1940s, a small field house was constructed and surrounded by baseball fields, tennis courts and an ice rink in winter. All still remain at the site and will host the village’s centennial event in June.

A small parcel of land between the park and the railroad tracks appeared to be part of the park, but it was never officially transferred from The Illinois Central to the village or park district. Instead it remained in limbo for well over a century, said Kristine Condon, who has published a new collection of essays on Flossmoor’s history in time for the village’s centennial.

“Fragments of Flossmoor: A Series of Essays on the Interesting, Curious, and Unique in Our Village,” a 128-page book is the second area history book by Condon, following up on her public art deep dive in “Richard Haas Murals in Homewood, Illinois,” published in 2020. The new book is only available on the Flossmoor Veterans Memorial site at flossmoorvets.square.site/, though she will be selling copies at a June 29 presentation at The Rock Shop in Homewood.

“I didn’t want to restate well known history, like ‘Trails to Tollways’ or the ‘Images of America’ book that was done for Flossmoor’s 75th,” Condon said. “I wanted to make sure these were little known pieces of Flossmoor history, that I felt were important to be preserved.”

The story of that triangle of land is one of her favorite vignettes in the book, because it ties in directly to its purpose as a fundraising item for the new Flossmoor Veterans Memorial planned at the site.

“That triangle is such a well-kept secret,” she said. “Part of the challenge we had with this site was that it was an ideal location, but we didn’t know who owned it. The H-F Park District said we mow it, the village of Flossmoor said we maintain it and my dad said he remembered climbing that sycamore tree as a kid and thought the railroad owned it. The railroad didn’t know who owned it — they had no record of it.”

The volunteers behind the Veterans Memorial project spent a day at the county recorder of deeds office and finally confirmed it was owned by the Illinois Central Railroad and its successors since 1910, Condon said.

“There’d been no transactional activity on that parcel for 115 years, and that’s why nobody knew who owned it,” she said.

One reason Condon is so passionate about the project is her grandfather helped establish the village’s original Roll of Honor during World War II when he was commander of the now defunct Flossmoor American Legion Post 625.

“My dad recalled the evenings my grandparents spent in the dining room gluing alphabet soup noodles onto wooden placards to provide 155 names of recognition on that honor roll,” she said.

Wartime scarcity of materials required creative reuse of everyday materials. When he was done, the Honor Roll was placed prominently downtown, where the village’s library now is.

“Grandpa’s intent was that it be a temporary marker until the American Legion could raise the funds for the remainder of it,” Condon said. Years went by and priorities in the village changed, and a permanent veterans memorial never materialized.

“I knew how important it was to him, and I know how important it is to my dad to see this work finished when my grandfather didn’t live long enough to see a permanent wall of honor in place,” she said.

So in 2021, she teamed up with former Flossmoor Mayor Paul Braun and others to begin fundraising to make her grandfather’s wish a reality. Last January, the Flossmoor Veterans Memorial group received preliminary site plan approval and a special use permit for the memorial from the Village Board. They’ve also raised over $110,000 to fund the project, though they’re still seeking more support.

Condon said all proceeds from the sales of her Flossmoor book are going toward the project, but that’s not the only reason she dove into the project. It will also be a resource, she said, for junior high students participating in a unit on village history being planned by the veterans memorial group with Flossmoor Elementary District 161.

To that end, she’s included stories about famous Flossmoor residents, such as presidential historian Michael Beschloss, who grew up in a house on McDonald Lane.

“As a young boy after Kennedy was assassinated he wrote a letter to President Johnson and asked Johnson to hire, as he put it, a large carving firm to put JFK’s bust on Mount Rushmore,” Condon said. “Johnson’s secretary Juanita Roberts wrote Michael back and acknowledged the receipt of his letter. That material is in the national archives, and that address is on file in the National Archives.”

Another essay relates to Winnifred Mason Huck, the first female representative from Illinois to serve in Congress. Only the third woman in the House from anywhere in the country, she advocated for child labor laws and bonuses for World War I veterans, among other causes, during her one term in office. She was present at the dedication of the Flossmoor Civic Center building, the main element of the village’s downtown area, in 1929.

Beyond its educational aspects, Condon hopes her book, and the larger Flossmoor Veterans Memorial project, can help “cultivate the power of community” in the village.

“Everyone in the Flossmoor community has something or story they can contribute to this project, as well try to make meaning of the contributions of the people who came before us,” she said.

Landmarks is a weekly column by Paul Eisenberg exploring the people, places and things that have left an indelible mark on the Southland. He can be reached at peisenberg@tribpub.com.

The Victor J. Andrew High School greenhouse officially opened last week with an open house for teachers and staff at the school in Tinley Park.

Staff members were treated to hand-painted pots filled with plants grown and cared for by students.

The greenhouse allows students to investigate soilless growing techniques, the impact of climate change on plant species, and create a pollinator hotspot to help boost the dwindling bee population, according to a news release from School District 230.

“A greenhouse provides opportunities for so many authentic learning experiences,” said Jame Holt, division chair for Science, Applied Technology and Family and Consumer Science. “Our science teachers feel like kids in a candy store. We are so eager and excited to use the space.”

The 1,152-square-foot greenhouse is climate-controlled for year-round use and is equipped with water and electricity. Paid for by ESSER grant funds, the greenhouse will help science teachers teach ecology, agriculture and biology.

Beyond the obvious application to the sciences, a greenhouse can incorporate other disciplines and learning styles.

“We hope to partner with Special Education Ultima students to help plant seeds, with Math and Construction classes to build raised garden beds, and with culinary classes to grow herbs,” Holt said. “It’s also possible that art students may find inspiration among greenhouse flowers and English students could find a quiet place to read and reflect.”

The Andrew Green Team Club, whose members help raise environmental awareness, appreciation for nature, and conservation of natural resources, hopes to utilize the garden in various ways. According to club sponsors and science teachers Sara Biallas and Kelly House, members have plans to start seeds, set up mini ecosystems to learn about biodiversity and conservation, discuss climate change, experiment with hydroponics and aquaponics, and grow plants that will be used to make terrariums for club fundraising.

“The level of environmental consciousness and awareness we will raise thanks to a greenhouse is terrific,” said Andrew science teacher Carrie Ward, who also is a master gardener.

Will County group gives $7,650 to service organization

Members of 100+ Women Who Care of Will County presented $7,650 to Guardian Angel Community Services, a social service agency based in Joliet during a meeting May 21.

Guardian Angel, the oldest non-profit social service agency in Will County, has served at risk children, adults and families for 126 years, through 6 programs. In 1983 the organization established the Groundwork domestic violence program, recognizing the crime of domestic violence as a community problem. Services include a 24-hour emergency hotline and emergency shelter, crisis intervention and safety planning, counseling, legal and medical advocacy and prevention education and community outreach in English and Spanish.

“Last year Groundwork provided 11,971 nights of emergency shelter and 35,193 meals to adults and children fleeing the horrors of domestic violence, while fielding 5,000 calls on our emergency hotline. Central to our philosophy of care is advocacy for peace and justice, and we are so grateful to 100+ Women Who Care of Will County for their generous donation in support of these life-saving efforts to help survivors of domestic violence,” said Guardian Angel director Ines Kutlesa.

100+ Women Who Care of Will County will meet again from 6 to 7 p.m. Sept. 10 at Coom’s Corner in Lockport, where they will decide upon another nonprofit group to support. More information is at www.100wwc-will.org.

Joliet VA Clinic to host mobile food pantry May 30

Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital’s Joliet Community Based Outpatient Clinic will host a mobile food pantry from 4 to 5:30 p.m. May 30 in the Joliet CBOC parking lot, 1201 Eagle Street, Joliet. The pantry is open to all community members in need. No proof of military service, residency or income is required.

Participants will receive basic food staples, including dry goods, meat, dairy and fresh produce. Food will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last. A volunteer will load pre-packed items into each vehicle as directed by the driver. Donations will also be offered to those without access to a vehicle.

The Joliet clinic last hosted a mobile food pantry in November 2023, providing food to 118 households and benefiting more than 409 people. The clinic is planning additional food pantries. More information on area food pantries is at www.solvehungertoday.org and veterans experiencing food, housing or employment insecurity are encouraged to contact Hines VA’s Homeless Program at 708-202-496.

Perinatal loss remembrance service planned

Franciscan Health Olympia Fields is offering comfort and support to families who have suffered the loss of a pregnancy or newborn with a memorial service.

The Little Angels Memorial Service will take place at 2 p.m. June 12 at Assumption Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleum, 19500 S. Cottage Grove Ave., Glenwood.

When a patient experiences the loss of a pregnancy or newborn, Franciscan Health Olympia Fields provides interment at Assumption Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleum’s infant and children’s section. The burial site includes a memorial marker and meditation bench.

“This memorial gives the families of these babies a place to go to remember their little ones,” said Sister M. Ruth Luthman, OSF, MSN, vice president for mission integration at Franciscan Health Olympia Fields. “It also serves as a reminder that every life is precious, no matter how tiny.”

Franciscan Health Olympia Fields conducts perinatal memorial services twice a year on the second Wednesday in June and the second Wednesday in October.

Send news to communitynews@southtownstar.com. 

The months of hard work and drudgery were highlighted by moments of mirth, friendships formed and the shared goal of looming summer freedom.

Graduations are great, but even those students and teachers who will be back for another go-around as autumn approaches deserve to celebrate their accomplishments, even if their feat was just surviving another school year.

The cusp of June became festival season, and in many areas the tradition is carried on by municipalities that hire traveling carnival ride outfits, hire local bands and celebrate summertime by building community.

Decades before the first Tilt-a-Whirl car circled its portable steel platform, the educators of Cook County took it upon themselves to celebrate the end of school with a festival.

And based on surviving photographic evidence from one of those festivals, most of the kids hated it.

A series of three images collected by the Wisconsin Historical Society capture scenes from a sunny June day in 1916, when students and teachers from throughout the area gathered for the Cook County School Festival in Thornton.

In one, a group of girls marches through tall grass — long before no-mow May became popular — carrying American flags as a large group of people young and old watch the procession.

A second photo depicts the crowd of smartly dressed youngsters, ladies in bonnets and sunhats and men mostly wearing straw boaters, assembled to watch an event at the festival.

In both images, nearly everyone is scowling.

A third photo depicts the brass players, percussionists and one kid on clarinet who make up the Dolton School Boys Band, that might instead be the Dolton Boys School Band. Their bass drum emblem is unclear on that, and I could find no online record of either the school or the band.

The event itself also is shrouded in time, though in a compilation of “interesting facts about the schools” compiled from “former students and records,” the Thornton Historical Society indicated the school festivals were an annual event “involving most of the South Cook County Schools.”

In some years, “students would march out of town on William Street to the Glenwood Woods,” the historical society page states. “Games, races, etc. were held with the schools competing and prizes were awarded.”

Other interesting facts compiled in Thornton indicate area students often were marched to various places in the vicinity in the days before school buses became commonplace, with all that marching offering a possible explanation for the pervasive scowls.

One of the images shows a handmade banner with a Union shield proudly identifying a Cook County contingent from School District 149, based miles to the north in Dolton and Calumet City. There is no word if the children were marched to the event south of Thornton.

Regardless, if not for those three photos, the scowling children and boater-topped teachers gathered in 1916 would be just another event buried by time.

So how did some random photos of a school festival over a century ago in Thornton end up in the collection of the state historical society in Wisconsin? That story starts with Chicago farm implement magnate Cyrus McCormick, whose mechanical reaper revolutionized agricultural practices and was the foundation of an industrial behemoth.

As a gilded age industry magnate, McCormick and his family were important, and when he died in the 1880s, “they set up a family archives to document his life,” said Lee Grady, a senior reference archivist with the Wisconsin Historical Society, a state agency housed at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

The McCormick Harvesting Machine Company consolidated with several smaller firms to form International Harvester in 1902. It was even more of an industrial powerhouse which, by the 1930s, was one of the 10 largest companies in the world.

It had resources and, being it was the Progressive Era, they dumped some of that capital into an extension service, a corporate forerunner to state extension agencies that still offer good advice on a wide range of topics.

Grady said International Harvester hired a professor to run the operation and “had people who would travel to little towns and teach them proper ways of canning vegetables, scientific farming techniques, how to run clean and efficient schools.”

“They got into all kinds of things that are unusual for a company to get involved in,” he said.

The International Harvester Agricultural Extension Service was all about promoting the modern way of doing things, and “part of the modern way of doing things is buying International Harvester equipment — updating from your old horse-drawn plow and getting up to date with a tractor.”

They also took photographs at these events for use in lantern slide presentations to civic groups, and images from “anywhere International Harvester had a dealership or were showing off one of their trucks” would get sent back and filed away at the headquarters in Chicago.

“It was partly for PR, but they did hire people I think who honestly thought they would be doing good,” Grady said.

One place they thought they could help was at the Cook County School Festival in 1916 in Thornton.

“It has nothing to do with farm equipment in this particular instance,” he said. “But they took photos. If you look at other agricultural extension photos from that collection, there are all kinds of photos. There’s kids playing in sandboxes, vegetable gardens, people demonstrating canning, people sweeping and scrubbing floors demonstrating how people can keep things clean. There’s ones demonstrating how flies can carry disease.”

One of his favorites depicts “a toddler with a hammer in his hand next to a bench where there are shotgun shells and other things that are dangerous” that was probably used in a safety presentation.

The Great Depression helped end International Harvester’s altruistic endeavors in the 1930s, though the Agricultural Extension records remained at the office in Chicago. In the 1940s, Cyrus McCormick’s surviving daughter Anita McCormick Blaine decided to donate the family archives — millions of documents related to the McCormick Harvesting Machine business along with family papers and records — to a major research organization.

The Wisconsin Historical Society went all-in to acquire the collection. Not just focused on its own state, Grady called the organization a North American history library and archive. Among its holdings are “one of the best collections that documents the American Civil Rights Movement” and an extensive catalog of artifacts related to Hollywood films.

The letters Rosa Parks wrote to Martin Luther King, the papers of Civil Rights activist Daisy Bates, an original script from “Casablanca” and Edith Head’s costume designs all now reside in Madison.

“Why would Wisconsin have that? People are shocked when they find that out,” Grady said.

The society was so interested in acquiring the agricultural history in the McCormick collection that they agreed to create new positions and hire the family’s personal archivists, Herb and Lucille Keller, to oversee the documents. As a state agency, that required legislative approval. That put them over the top, over other finalist institutions, such as Northwestern University, Grady said.

The initial McCormick papers were followed by more archives from the company.

“When International Harvester was shutting down the old McCormick reaper factory on the west side in 1960, they were going to tear it down,” Grady said. “We acquired a real big batch of International Harvester stuff, a whole truckload, and we had an ongoing relationship from that point forward.”

International Harvester became Navistar in the 1980s, and moved from Chicago to Lisle after that. Waves of documents and photos and other material from the company drifted to Wisconsin.

In the 1990s, Grady became the McCormick collection archivist and started digitizing a sampling of the vast holdings. Among those samples were the images from the school festival in Thornton.

The collection now is curated by Sally Jacobs, but it still exemplifies one of the favorite parts of Grady’s job.

“I can put up this photo of Thornton and have it connect with people who are never going to travel here, and would never think to look here,” he said. “For lots of people, local history matters more than the names you read in history books. They’re trying to make sense of the place around them. Every little piece like this is important.”

For one thing, the image of the bandmates from Dolton School offers a connection to the village’s past, one that’s not as different from today’s political climate as it might seem, according to local history author Marlene Cook, who compiled a book’s worth of Dolton vignettes in her compilation “Dolton Tattler: Fact, Fiction and Folklore” published for the village’s 100th anniversary in 1992.

Three years after the Dolton musicians were photographed in Thornton, a Dolton Concert Band operation requested the Village Board to erect a grandstand for them to perform. Dolton politicians agreed, but when they charged the band rent for rehearsal space at Village Hall, the band picked up and moved to Harvey, Cook wrote.

New people were in charge in 1932, when Dolton adopted a “band ordinance” and created a municipal band, going so far to purchase $900 worth of instruments, including a $180 sousaphone. By 1934, citing the economy, the Village Board disbanded the band. In 1935, the instruments were donated to School District 148, but interest among students was intermittent, and in 1943, the village sold the instruments to Lyons Band Instrument Co. of Chicago for $680.

“The Dolton band era was over,” Cook wrote.

By then, the Cook County School Festivals had likely run their course as well. But at least one of the events lives on long after anyone who might have been there is gone thanks to a giant Chicago company and a historical archive in Wisconsin.

Landmarks is a weekly column by Paul Eisenberg exploring the people, places and things that have left an indelible mark on the Southland. He can be reached at peisenberg@tribpub.com.

A group of 15 area high school students earned $2,500 scholarships as part of the 2023-24 class of SafeLIGHT Foundation’s Teen Ambassador Program. The program focuses on promoting safe driving messages to teens to prevent crashes and save lives.

This year’s class included students from Southland College Prep in Richton Park, Alan B. Shepard in Palos Heights, Marian Catholic in Chicago Heights, Mother McAuley and Bennett Day School in Chicago and Morton West in Berwyn.

Through social media campaigns and town hall-style meetings at their schools, the teens shared information with their peers on the risks and responsibilities associated with teen driving. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, motor vehicle crashes are one of the leading causes of death for teens.

Donate Life Illinois and Gift of Hope sponsor the Teen Ambassador program with support from the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office.

The SafeLIGHT Foundation is a nonprofit organization committed to promoting safe driving behavior. Applications are now being accepted for the SafeLIGHT Foundation’s 2024-25 Teen Ambassador Program. Information is at safelightfoundation.com/teen-ambassador-program.

Southwest Highway construction to close 131st Street

An improvement project on Southwest Highway, from 131st Street in Palos Park to south of 135th Street in Orland Park, is scheduled to begin Monday, May 20, the Illinois Department of Transportation said in a news release.

Through midsummer, 131st Street will be closed between 88th Avenue and Southwest Highway. A posted detour will direct traffic to Harlem Avenue and 135th Street. Access to residences and businesses within the work zone will be maintained throughout construction.

The $20.6 million project consists of reconstructing and resurfacing the road, constructing new ADA-compliant sidewalk ramps, installing modernized traffic signals, replacing the existing box culvert at Mill Creek and drainage improvements. The project will also build new 8 feet-wide sidewalks on the west side of Southwest Highway, between 131st and 135th streets. The project is anticipated to be completed in 2025.

Motorists can expect delays, IDOT said.

District 230 Foundation seeking Legacy Hall nominations

The District 230 Foundation is seeking nominations of prominent alumni who have used their education and experience at Carl Sandburg, Amos Alonzo Stagg and Victor J. Andrew high schools to become successful, positive contributors to society, for its Legacy Hall according to a release from the organization. The annual Legacy Hall dinner is an opportunity to recognize and honor the District 230 graduates.

Legacy Hall inductees are invited to return to their alma maters to spend a day with students interested in their field of expertise.

“Dozens of classes and hundreds of students have an opportunity to speak to inductees one-on-one, an experience the students and inductees will not soon forget, and a practice District 230 hopes to continue,” said Superintendent Robert Nolting.

The 2024 Legacy Hall dinner is planned for Nov. 1 at Silver Lake Country Club in Orland Park. Tickets go on sale in October.

Applications for nominations are at www.d230foundation.org/. All nominations must be received by July 1.

Homewood Metra Station to reopen Monday

Metra’s Homewood Station will reopen to many customers Monday, May 20, following the completion of a new stairway connecting the station’s pedestrian tunnel and the boarding platform, according to a news release.

While the station will reopen May 20, it will still not be accessible to ADA customers, because Metra is also replacing the elevator connecting the tunnel to the platform. The new elevator is expected to open for service June 30.

Until the elevator is replaced, ADA customers are advised to use the nearby Calumet Station, which is ADA-accessible and has ample parking. The Flossmoor Station, which is also ADA-accessible, is another alternative, Metra officials said.

The stairway and elevator work are part of a $20.7 million reconstruction of the station that began in 2023 and is expected to be complete in the summer of 2025. The work includes the construction of a new, ADA-accessible east headhouse, including a ramp; the renovation of the platform, wind breaks, warming house, and gatehouse; installation of new drainage, ventilation, lighting, and interior finishes in the existing tunnel; and replacement of the elevator and stairs connecting the tunnel to the platform. Also included is the construction of a new Pace bus facility, including three bus bays, a covered waiting area, and driver relief facilities.

Used jewelry sale set in Palos Heights

The Palos Heights Woman’s Club will hold their Annual “used but loved” Jewelry Sale from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 5 at the Palos Heights Farmers Market at 122nd Street and Harlem Avenue.

All the jewelry, including necklaces, bracelets, earrings, pins, etc. will be sold for only $1.00.

Juneteenth Festival planned in Morgan Park

The nonprofit Far South Community Development Corporation will present its 2024 Juneteenth Festival from noon to 4 p.m. June 15 on the northwest corner of Halsted Street and 115th Street in Chicago’s Morgan Park neighborhood.

This free, all-ages event celebrates the Juneteenth holiday by inviting Far South Side communities together for an afternoon of live music, food from local Black-owned restaurants, family activities, a resource vendor fair, housing workshops, and a small business marketplace.

Workshops will focus on resources for homeownership and rentals, as well as making living circumstances more affordable. Registration is free and includes breakfast, a housing trolley tour, and entry into pavilion raffles. More information on the festival and registration for the Juneteenth Housing Pavilion workshops is at farsouthcdc.org.

The Far South Community Development Corporation provides strategic community-building services to residents and businesses across Chicago’s Far South Side neighborhoods and south suburban Cook County.

Send news to communitynews@southtownstar.com.

Something important was happening on the city’s East Side at a time when most of the world’s attention was focused on armed conflict that had engulfed the globe.

The secret turned out to be a gift for the president being put together in a workshop at 12th Street and McKinley Avenue, where the Weber Costello Company long had manufactured school supplies such as blackboards, erasers, maps and globes.

The firm’s top mapmakers, including chief cartographer B.E. Brown, of Steger, and Chicago Heights resident Arthur Wallmeyer, head of lithography, were recruited for the effort. They oversaw “nine months of secret and sometimes feverish activity,” according to an account published a few years later, on display at Bloom Township High School library in Chicago Heights.

“The War Department placed the full resources of the government at their disposal,” including supplying “secret geographical information” from the Office of Strategic Services. “Scarce materials needed in the plate making department were rushed by plane from all parts of the country,” the account states.

By the time it was finished, they had assembled a 50-inch globe that was “unique in mapmaking history.” Weber Costello described it as “the largest ever manufactured,” with a caveat.

“Actually, larger spheres have been made, but since they were planned for display rather than the shaping of world decisions, their maps have been drawn on the surface of the finished ball and they do not present the hairline accuracy of the 50-inch map,” the company stated in a promotional booklet.

The item originally planned as a Christmas present for President Franklin Roosevelt became part of the war effort. Identical copies were made for British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the U.S. War Department and other agencies. Midcentury newspaper accounts indicate Roosevelt’s model accompanied the president to a summit in Casablanca, Morocco, where world leaders plotted to drive their German and Italian enemies from North Africa.

Weber Costello made several of the 50-inch globes during the war and a few more by commission into the 1950s, marketed as The President Globe. In an advertising pamphlet from the ‘40s, the company printed an endorsement from Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall, who had received the third one.

“The globe and its companion will serve a high purpose in our war effort, and I thank you again on behalf of the War Department as well as personally for your tireless work and splendid cooperation in the face of many difficulties,” Marshall wrote.

Marshall’s globe is on display at the American Geographical Society Library at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Roosevelt’s globe, which he initially situated prominently behind his Oval Office desk, is at his presidential library and museum in New York. Churchill’s globe is at his Chartwell estate museum in Kent, England.

Another of the 50-inch globes that had such a prominent role in World War II history was proudly housed at the Weber Costello headquarters.

Decades passed. Gradually the new-globe sheen faded and its WWII provenance became old hat. By 1964, Weber Costello’s globe had been loaned to Kline’s Department Store in Chicago Heights, which used it to promote its annual August sale of sheets, according to a Star Newspapers story from that year.

Not long after that, Weber Costello went out of business and the globe was donated to Bloom High School. By then, it had seen better days. In the early 1970s, the school threw it out, according to a 1990s newspaper story, but a social studies teacher retrieved it and placed it in his classroom. When that teacher retired, someone proposed splitting the cherry wood globe at the equator and turning it into two large planters.

Instead, a group of teachers undertook a public fundraising effort to restore the globe. Donations poured in from alumni, history buffs and community members. The School Board chipped in the remainder, and when word got out, the Chicago History Museum requested the artifact on temporary loan for a Chicago in Wartime exhibit marking the 50th anniversary of World War II in 1992. By the time it returned to Bloom, a special niche had been carved for the historic globe in the school’s library.

Tim Jacko, the school’s librarian, said it’s a great addition to the first high school in Illinois to be added to the National Register of Historic Places. Built in Art Deco style amid the Great Depression, the school also is filled with art from famous creators, some dating to the institution’s old building in the 1910s.

For many students, though, it’s just part of the backdrop of regular high school life.

“It’s kind of just there, and students are like, yeah, it’s the globe,” Jacko said.

Others, who might be more enthusiastic about its history and role in worldwide events, don’t get much of a chance to see this artifact.

“It’s a rarity that we have visitors come in and look at the globe, because we are a school,” Jacko said. “It’s not like people can come in off the street and take a look at it.”

But one of those opportunities is coming up June 22, thanks to a group of car enthusiasts who will once again drive the nearby Dixie Highway.

The Crete-based A’s R Us Model A Car Club revived the annual June event formerly known as Drivin’ the Dixie last year, though it was a last-minute effort.

Started as the Dixie Dash in 2002 as a 200-mile timed distance event from Blue Island to Danville along the historic named road, the car caravan transitioned the following year into a more relaxed touring format taking motorists from Blue Island to Momence with stops highlighting the rich history of the south suburbs.

It also became a fundraiser for efforts to promote the Dixie Highway as a destination in its own right, much like a similar national project along Lincoln Highway.

“We made it to the 100th anniversary of Dixie Highway in 2015, and that’s when we put up the story boards and signage that runs from Blue Island All the way down to Danville,” said Phillip Serviss, of Beecher, who’s coordinating the event. “By 2018, time moved on for a lot of people. People were tired and we turned it over to the Blue Island Historical Society as a keeper of the drive kind of thing.”

Drivin’ the Dixie returned for 2019 going from Momence to Blue Island, and then “the pandemic hit and destroyed lots of things,” Serviss said.

The break reenergized interest among the classic car crowd, “so we revived it last year and had about 60-65 cars,” he said. It was sort of a last-minute effort, without much publicity, but now “we have another year under our belt and we’ve refined the whole thing.”

Drivers, who can be in any sort of vehicle, will start in Markham, which “has really stepped up,” Serviss said, with breakfast at the Markham Roller Rink. And the route will extend south past Momence “along the original Dixie Highway” — now farm roads — to St. Anne, where a reception event is planned with food and live music. Details about participating are at as-r-us.com/.

Just as in previous incarnations, Day Along the Dixie will feature stops highlighting points of interest, including a free ice cream cone in Homewood at one of the original Dairy Queen shops, and a history presentation by South Cook Explore map compiler and local history author Kevin Barron at Thornton Distillery, the oldest standing brewery in Illinois.

In Crete, a display will highlight the village’s plethora of Sears kit homes, including one street with a concentration of “six or seven of them.”

“If you didn’t know Sears had kit homes, you will after June 22,” Serviss said.

A presentation in the village of Grant Park will showcase how the grain elevator there works, and “the complexity of maintaining grain so that it doesn’t rot.”

Along with Bloom, historic buildings such as the Farm Museum in Momence, the Thornton Historical Society and the old Depot in Beecher will be open.

As in the past, the event is a fundraiser for maintenance and new signs along the Dixie Highway, a cause dear to Serviss.

“I was born in Harvey, raised in Homewood, when I got married I ended up in Glenwood and I’m back in Beecher now, so I’ve never left Dixie Highway,” he said. “It was the first north-south highway in the country, but it’s kind of a forgotten highway. We’re trying to not forget it.”

And it offers a chance to ensure other highlights of suburban history aren’t overlooked either, such as the Weber Costello globe tucked away in a corner of Bloom’s library.

“To see something like this, something that Churchill and Roosevelt used to plan the war, it’s kind of cool,” Jacko said. “Not to mention it has this link to Chicago Heights history. You get to see how this town contributed to the war. It’s a good experience.”

Landmarks is a weekly column by Paul Eisenberg exploring the people, places and things that have left an indelible mark on the Southland. He can be reached at peisenberg@tribpub.com.

A contingent from Andrew High School in Tinley Park recently transformed the cafeteria at Kennedy School in Tinley Park into a dazzling prom venue for the developmentally delayed students there.

The group of Student Council leaders blew up balloons and hung streamers, turning the space into a magical wonderland fit for a prom celebration.

“It’s heartwarming,” said junior Abby Zurek as she worked alongside classmates, stringing a series of silver letters and numbers together to read “Prom 2024.”

The students purchased the decorations and party favors from funds raised at Andrew’s own school dances.

“We enjoy seeing how happy it makes (the Kennedy students),” said sophomore Eva Urban.

There’s such “joy on their faces,” agreed senior Sia Desai.

Decorating Kennedy School has been a long-standing tradition for Andrew’s student council. Every May, they send a team of students to create a prom for everyone to remember.

The annual tradition has become so popular among students that student council advisors Barb Sopiarz and Tracy Sukalo have to limit the number of volunteers each year by rotating teams of students.

“So many kids want to participate,” said Sopiarz.

“It’s cool to work with students beyond our high school,” explained Andrew senior Brian Ondras. “It’s awesome to celebrate all the successes of these students.”

The student volunteers not only decorate the cafeteria but stick around to dance and eat with the Kennedy School students. They also pass out prom-themed T-shirts and trinkets, such as necklaces, wristbands and sunglasses, that they purchase with student council funds.

The highlight is the crowning of the prom king and queen who receive stuffed animals and crowns from the Andrew students.

“We try to make it special for the kids,” said Sukalo. “We want (their prom) to be similar to (Andrew’s) prom.”

The time and effort students put into making prom so special is greatly appreciated by Kennedy School students and staff.

“We are incredibly grateful to the students of Andrew High School for their generosity and thoughtfulness,” said Kennedy School Principal Dawn Angelini. “Their dedication to creating an inclusive space where everyone feels welcome and valued is truly inspiring.”

Based in Tinley Park, St. Coletta’s of Illinois has been serving children and adults from the south and southwest suburbs for 75 years.

The Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. School for Exceptional Children, serves developmentally delayed students ages 3-22 while its Community Day Services program works with adults, helping them build adaptive learning skills, improve economic self-sufficiency and become more independent.

St. Germaine School builds new playground

St. Germaine School in Oak Lawn unveiled its new playground Wednesday, with officials noting in a news release it was made possible by the generosity of school families, parishioners and community members.

More than 100 people donated to a fundraising effort for the playground that generated over $20,000, and more than 30 parents came out to help assemble the equipment, principal Philip O’Rourke said.

“I have been blown away by the support for this initiative,” he said.

School officials said the playground is a welcoming space for students to foster relationships, enhance social skills and build their creativity. St. Germaine, 735 S. Kolin Ave., is a Catholic school with students in pre-k through 8th grade. Information is at www.stgermaineschool.com.

Lemont matches school record at IDEA state competition

Lemont High School matched a single-year school record as three students earned medals at the 2024 Illinois Design Educators Association State Competition in April at Illinois State University.

Senior Natalia Zagata was the state runner-up in Architectural Board, sophomore Mirella Miazga was the runner-up in Introductory Board, and sophomore Aidan McIntyre placed third in Introductory CAD. Junior Ania Liptak (Architectural Board) and sophomore Greg Kasper (Introductory Board) also advanced to the 2024 IDEA State Competition.

It was the state finals debut for each of the Lemont students, who earned their berths thanks to their performances in regional competition.

Moraine Valley hosts Tech Skills Competition

More than 45 high school students competed at Moraine Valley Community College’s annual Tech Skills Competition last month.

After competing in a virtual qualifier, district students visited campus and competed in the in-person challenge on electronics, information technology and cybersecurity, office skills and applications, and Photoshop. They encountered hands-on (such as soldering and configuration) and online testing before Moraine Valley faculty graded them and gave the top three awards to schools in each category.

A+IT Essentials: 1st Place — Oak Lawn Community High School, 2nd Place – Argo High School, 3rd Place – Eisenhower High School

Electronics: 1st Place – Oak Lawn Community High School, 2nd Place – Oak Lawn Community High School, 3rd Place – Eisenhower High School

Microsoft Office: 1st Place – Richards High School, 2nd Place – Richards School, 3rd Place – Shepard High School

CGI: 1st Place – Oak Lawn Community High School, 2nd Place – Argo High School, 3rd Place – Argo High School

“The competition was great. Staff and students really enjoyed themselves,” said Justin Valentino, Moraine Valley associate professor and coordinator of Local Area Networks. “We utilized our full-time and adjunct faculty and had a guest speaker, who chatted specifically with our dual-credit Photoshop students and gave a well-received presentation on his current work in the industry and path of study.”

Law Day at South Suburban College

South Suburban College in South Holland celebrated Law Day on May 1, with state and local law enforcement agencies, high school students from Bremen, Hillcrest, and Oak Forest, SSC legal studies students and SSC staff converging for a day of immersive experiences and insightful discussions.

A highlight, according to a news release from the school, was a simulation in which representatives from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Office of the State Appellate Defender presented oral arguments on a criminal case followed by a question and answer session featuring representatives from both offices as well as Illinois Appellate Court judges.

Other activities included a mock crime scene arranged by the Illinois State Police that demonstrated the investigative process.

Send news to communitynews@southtownstar.com. 

Precious Allen, a 2nd grade teacher at Betty Shabazz Academy in Chicago, was presented with a Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching during a surprise ceremony Wednesday at her school. She was one of 10 recipients of the award in the state, chosen from more than 600 nominations of pre-K to 3rd grade teachers.

The Golden Apple Awards for Excellence in Teaching honor outstanding teachers for having lasting, positive effects on students’ lives and school communities, according to a news release from the Golden Apple Foundation. Teacher recipients demonstrate – in their teaching and results – significant, positive impact on their students’ growth and learning.

Allen has “artfully crafted a nurturing and inviting environment, radiating warmth and a profound sense of belonging. Stepping through the door, one immediately senses the caring atmosphere she has cultivated,” Golden Apple officials said in announcing the award. They added she also mentors new teachers and fosters “a positive and inclusive educational environment.”

Each Golden Apple winner receives a $5,000 cash award and a spring sabbatical at Northwestern University. They also become Fellows of the Golden Apple Academy of Educators, where they can help prepare the next generation of teachers

Southland College Prep celebrates scholarships

Southland College Prep Charter High School in Richton Park celebrated for the eleventh consecutive year that all members of the senior class have been accepted to college during an assembly last week.

Officials also announced at the “All In” assembly Tuesday the class of 2024 was offered $50 million and counting in scholarships. Among them are valedictorian Knyiema Martin, 18, of Matteson, who was named a Gates Millennium Scholar, the third student to be awarded the prestigious scholarship in the school’s history. Martin is currently deciding between Columbia University, the University of California-Berkeley, Pomona College and Dartmouth College. She plans to major in psychology and become a clinical psychologist.

Eisenhower, Shepard students promote comics classes

Students from Eisenhower High School in Blue Island and Shepard High Schools in Palos Heights discussed the benefits of the inclusion of pop culture in the secondary curriculum during a panel discussion on the significance of graphic novels in English classes last weekend at the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo at McCormick Place.

Teachers Steven Wolff and Adam Ebert accompanied Eisenhower students from Graphic Novels classes, Anime Club, and the school’s Literary Magazine. Teacher Taylor Buremeister from Shepard accompanied his Graphic Novels students.

Students served on the panel titled “Ink and Insight: The Student Experience in the Comic Classroom,” and also had a chance to attend other panels and meet creators in the graphic arts.

“The students spoke very well about their experiences with comics and graphic novels in class and what they learned and took away from the class,” Burmeister said.

McCauley students join Mercy Circle project for Pat’s Pantry

Students from the Respect Life and Varsity clubs at Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School recently joined Mercy Circle residents in Chicago’s Mt. Greenwood neighborhood to paint colorful suncatchers for families served by Pat’s Pantry. They chose sunflowers, a symbol of optimism and joy, as their theme, according to a news release from Mercy Circle.

The effort was part of the MACs with Mercy program, which offers students and residents an opportunity to build new connections. Each month, McAuley students from a different club visit Mercy Circle to spend time with the residents.

“The residents and students love working together to create positive ways to support others,” says Katie McKirdie, life enrichment coordinator at Mercy Circle. “Spending time with McAuley students has quickly become one of our residents’ favorite activities.”

Oak Lawn police crack down on distracted driving

The Oak Lawn Police Department issued 172 citations for hands-free law violations during a Distracted Driving Awareness Month enforcement campaign.

“Driver distraction is a persistent issue in Oak Lawn that often has life-altering consequences,” police said in a news release. “Issuing a citation is a proven way to get motorists to pay attention or pay the price.”

Oak Lawn joined forces with the Illinois State Police and other agencies for the campaign, which was funded by federal traffic safety funds administered by the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Bridge work begins on 175th Street, Cicero and Kedzie avenues

Repairs to the bridges carrying 175th Street, Cicero Avenue and Kedzie Avenue over Interstate 80 in Hazel Crest and Country Club Hills were scheduled to begin May 1, according to a news release from the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Amid the project, 175th Street and Cicero and Kedzie avenues will be reduced to one lane in each direction over the bridges. Motorists should expect various lane shifts on 175th Street, Cicero and Kedzie avenues and occasional overnight lane closures on I-80 approaching each structure.

The $7 million project, which consists of repairing the deck and approaches, replacing expansion joints and installing a new deck overlay on each bridge, is anticipated to be completed in December.

Motorists can expect delays, IDOT said.

Frankfort Bluegrass Fest fundraiser planned

A fundraiser for the 2024 Frankfort Bluegrass Festival is planned from 6 to 10 p.m. May 10 at CD&Me, 23320 South LaGrange Road in Frankfort. The event features performances from The Grateful String Band, Miles Over Mountains and Wheels North, along with raffles, baskets and more. All proceeds from the fundraiser go directly to the annual Frankfort Bluegrass On The Green Festival, a free event July 13-14, 2024 on Breidert Green and Prairie Park in downtown Frankfort.

Tickets to the fundraiser are $40 in advance or $45 at the door, and include food courtesy of the Frankfort Restaurant Association as well as beer tasting tickets. Information is at www.frankfortbluegrassfest.com.

Oak Lawn library sets 8th annual Fan Fest

Oak Lawn Public Library’s 8th annual Fan Fest, an all-ages celebration of pop culture, is planned from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 11 at the library, 9427 S. Raymond Ave.

The free event will feature a performance by the Raks Geek Wookiee Bellydancers, cosplay competitions, DIY galaxy jars, miniature painting, an all-day photobooth and an exhibit hall showcasing local artists, vendors, organizations and collectors.

Mark Anderson will lead an Andertoons cartoon drawing class for young artists. Kids can also get airbrush tattoos, participate in a scavenger hunt and take pictures with some familiar faces during the space character meet and greet.

Throughout the day, teens can enjoy tabletop games, along with additional outdoor activities such as morning sessions of the mobile escape room and an afternoon visit from the GameTruck.

More information and a full event schedule is at olpl.org/fanfest.

Send news to communitynews@southtownstar.com. 

One ICU nurse at Advocate South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest brings another talent to her job.

“In the ICU, we have glass doors so we can look in on the patients, and she decorates the windows for the patients,” said Katie Trotter, a fellow ICU nurse at South Suburban from Tinley Park. “She paints the windows and it brightens their view.”

The South Suburban ICU nurses got a taste of their own medicine Wednesday as art students from Hillcrest High School in Country Club Hills and Bremen High School in Midlothian spent the morning adorning the glass windows of an adjacent hallway with their paintings.

The students were painting the mural in advance of Nurse Appreciation Week. Last year, the art classes did a similar project, albeit one more temporary in nature — a chalk mural outside the hospital.

“This is great for young people,” said Jamilah Adebesin Mason, an art teacher at Hillcrest. “We’re training them to become productive members of society. They have to take what they’re learning in the classroom and apply it in the real world.

“And as members of the community, it’s important for them to get out and network with people, but also showcase their talents.”

For several seniors preparing to graduate from Bremen, the opportunity to break away from the school building for a day also was appealing.

“I thought it would be fun,” said Hanna McClendon, of Midlothian. “I wanted to spend my senior year doing things, going out into the community, doing art stuff.”

For fellow senior Francisco Carbajal, a Bremen student from Harvey, the project offered relief from the more structured rigors of high school life.

“There’s a freedom; you can do what you like,” he said, standing by his painted image of a fish eyeing a fishhook. “They needed a window painted, and I started drawing.”

Bremen senior Faith Aparicio and a friend planned their portion of the mural to be “a day/night thing.”

“I love Van Gogh and wanted to do ‘Starry Night,’ and then the paint started flaking off,” Aparicio said. “I started freaking out because I didn’t want that, but my teacher said just take it off in places and run with it. Like Bob Ross says, ‘happy mistakes.'”

Besides a fun way to break up the routine as their high school days wind down, the significance of the reason for their trip wasn’t wasted on the students.

McClendon said a family member had a major surgery a few months ago at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, and she saw firsthand how important nurses are.

“They were great, so I appreciate them a lot,” she said.

“It feels good to send a message to the nurses,” agreed Aparicio.

For South Suburban ICU nurse Sharise Lopez, of Monee, the mural was reminiscent of a similar effort a few years ago that really meant a lot to her and her colleagues.

“We had this hallway decorated with posters during COVID,” Lopez said, pausing to dab at her eye. “I’m not going to cry.”

“We’re so emotional, right?” said Trotter, standing nearby.

“We are so emotional. It’s stopped up inside,” Lopez replied. “That made me feel good, just walking to my car, that there was someone else out there who was thinking of us.”

Trotter said Wednesday’s effort was heartening.

“If we’re having a rough day, just to see something to brighten our day, and knowing it was the students who came to do it, it’s so cool,” she said.

As a teacher preparing to release another wave of fourth-year students into the world, Bremen art teacher Edgar Gonzalez was gratified by the students’ efforts as well.

“Taking students to a situation and giving them minimal direction and just saying go and watching what they do,” he said. “They are constantly surprising me. You needed a little guidance, but not that much guidance. And that is so satisfying.”

peisenberg@tribpub.com