CHICAGO NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS - LOOP, LINCOLN PARK, WEST LOOP, NORWOOD PARK, NAPERVILLE
LOOP
Mother
Nature's mood can be fickle, as Midwesterners are well aware. Saturday was beautiful.
The temperature hit a near-record 56 degrees at 3:01 p.m. Saturday. A few hours earlier, an ice sculptor at the
Frozen Fun Fest in Millennium Park, had to shut down the ice maze, which
was melting and in danger of collapsing.
The ice maze and nine ice sculptures around the festival barely lasted into the
afternoon. The fest is scheduled to continue Sunday, when temps are expected to
hover in the mid-40s.
The water at Oak Street Beach was about 34 degrees at noon when Stephanie
Wiygul, her daughter Madeline, 8, and son Zach, 6, of St. Charles hopped into Lake Michigan for the Lakeview Polar Bear Club's
eighth annual Polar Plunge.
"We were planning on doing this whether it was 10 degrees or 50
degrees," Stephanie Wiygul said. "I'm actually not that cold right
now."
Click here to read more.
LINCOLN PARK
The Lincoln Park
Conservatory, located at 2391 N Stockton Drive, has some amazing flowers in bloom. Take a trip and see all the magnificent blooms. This season you can find:
Laeliocattleya orchid (x Laeliocattleya)
in the Orchid House
Tropical pitcher plant (Nepenthes truncata) in the Orchid House
Gold Cut series stock (Matthiola incana) in the Show House
Fosteriana tulip (Tulipa fosteriana 'Sweetheart') in the Show House
Find more botanical sites by clicking here.
WEST LOOP
The fashion
industry was once dominated by trends.
2009 is the year of values and is being called
the end of the trend era.
"Fashion is becoming seasonless," designer Cynthia Rowley said.
"No one shops for their spring and fall wardrobes anymore. Everyone wants
things that can be worn year-round and styled different ways."
During this difficult economic period, the fashion industry is changing as
well. Developing an emphasis on value
and versatility is the goal. Designers
predict that fashion-minded women will return to a more individualized look.
Click here to read more.
NORWOOD PARK
The
Salvation Army's Norridge Citadel is facing dramatic increases in the number of
clients it serves. Fortunately young
ladies have started to conduct food drives in their neighborhoods to help keep
the pantry's shelves filled.
"Since
the beginning of the year, I've collected food from my neighbors on Ottawa
Avenue, between Montrose Avenue and Irving Park Road," said Donna
Soltwedel of Norridge. "I've
decided to expand to an all-Norridge drive. Last week, I collected north of Montrose.
Next Sunday, I'm hitting Overhill
Avenue."
Soltwedel's
latest drive netted 32 bags and boxes for the citadel.
"What
a blessing," said Pamela Church, the citadel's family assistance ministry
director.
Click here
to read more.
NAPERVILLE
For fun,
Naperville READS children's author Dan Gutman told the crowd of kids gathered
to hear him speak Tuesday evening at North Central College's Pfeiffer Hall he
was once the heavyweight champion of the world.
When they
didn't believe him, he showed them a picture of Muhammad Ali towering over a
flattened Sonny Liston, only Gutman's head had been pasted atop Ali's.
"The
truth is that I was just a skinny little guy, and I was actually a terrible
athlete when I was a kid," said Gutman while fessing up. "In fact, I was always the shortest kid
in my class," he added. "I'm
the short doofus in the white pants. Even though I wasn't good at sports, I
found a way to make sports part of my career when I grew up," in reference
to his popular book series.
Whether
it is sports, art, music, whatever, if you love it, stick with it, encouraged
Gutman.
"And
even if you're not good at that thing, there might be some way to make it your
career someday, too," Gutman said.
"After
all of those publishers rejected 'Honus & Me' a million times, over a
million copies of these Baseball Card Adventures have sold," he said.
"I hate to think I almost quit on this book when all of those publishers
said it was no good. And I hope in your lives, when you kids get rejected for
something someday, I hope you don't quit, either, because you never know what
might happen if you stick with it."
Click here
for the whole story.
JENNIFER ARCAND & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
