LOOP
Polar Adventure Days, a Chicago Park District-sponsored event was held Saturday afternoon. Despite the frigid temperatures, park district officials estimate that 600 people attended the second of the three free annual events at Northerly Island. It features storytelling, ice-sculpture, nature crafts, and much needed hot chocolate!
"The idea was to get people out in the winter and see that there are still fun things to do. It's to help people discover the nature right here in the city parks," said Peggy Stewart, manager of outdoor and environmental education for the park district. Excited children were shown the Scales and Tales Traveling Zoo, a variety of non-polar animals. Read all about this exciting event by clicking here.
ROGERS PARK
Julie Hamos of Rogers Park has a unique perspective on Chicago transit. "Believe it or not," she said Friday, sitting in a Chicago café, "I find transit sexy." Hamos was a state legislator behind last week's new transit law. You may have seen her on TV recently, trying to explain why we need to change how we can deal with our aging buses, trains, roads, and tracks.
She came from Budapest, Hungary. Three of Hamos' grandparents had died in Nazi concentration camps and her mother dreamed of the United States. "Grandma went out one day," Hamos recalled, "and came back and said 'I've made the arrangements. Tomorrow you're leaving.” The next day, Hamos, her parents, and her brother rode a train to the border, were fed and hidden by a farm family until dark, and then walked 8 miles into Austria. "The only exotic part of my life," she said. Hamos moved to Springfield in her twenties, fresh from law school at George Washington University, and set herself up as a lobbyist. Read more about her by clicking here.
LINCOLN PARK
Costco's hot dog and soda combination has cost $1.50 for 23 years. Costco’s Lincoln Park location near Diversey Parkway and Clybourn Avenue is the only one of its 389 U.S. stores that serves Vienna Beef hot dogs.
Think about this, through 4 presidents, the membership warehouse has sold its quarter-pound all-beef hot dog or Polish sausage, with a 20 ounce soda and free refills for a buck fifty. The best thing is that the hot dog is tasty too.
Read the entire article by clicking here.
LINCOLN SQUARE
A 12-foot tall, graffiti-ridden portion of the Berlin Wall was donated to the city of Chicago by the Federal Republic of Germany and citizens of Berlin, specifically in Lincoln Square. The dedication took place at the Western Avenue Brown Line CTA Station last Saturday.
Alderman Gene Schulter of the 47th ward said the location was appropriate because of the neighborhood’s strong German-American population.
“You couldn’t find a better place than the Lincoln Square community,” Schulter told an audience of dignitaries and representatives from the various German cultural groups in the community.
Read all about this dedication by clicking here.
NAPERVILLE
Anderson’s Bookshop of Naperville named Brian Selznick’s “The Invention of Hugo Cabret” as this year’s Mock Newberry Award winner. The people of Naperville made reading this book a priority, as a result.
Naperville is frequently teamed up with Chicago visits when top-selling authors are on a book tour. The city of Naperville promotes city-wide reading programs and it’s libraries and schools are nationally ranked.
“People have been really mesmerized by his book, “ said Cindy Purdom of Anderson’s Books. “It’s great that the Mock Newberrys can create attention among readers, we think, but this book is really special. I mean, it’s a beautiful book.” Learn more about the book and it’s author by clicking here.
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JENNIFER GARRITY & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
