The 2009 La Grange Carnival will begin Friday, May 29, at 5:00 p.m. with the opening of the midway along W Harris Ave, featuring rides, amusements, food vendors and a beer garden.
Workers set up rides for La Grange Carnival 2009
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Saturday morning brings the 63rd annual Pet Parade along La Grange Rd and Burlington Ave. The midway will reopen Saturday at noon with unlimited carnival rides until 4:00 p.m. with the purchase of a $20 bracelet.
The midway will close on Friday and Saturday nights at 10:00 p.m. Sunday hours are noon until 7:00 p.m.
Radio Disney will host an interactive play area in the parking lot behind Palmer’s Place, 56 S La Grange Rd, to promote “G-Force,” a children's spy movie being released to theaters in July.
Also, the Radio Disney Road Crew will perform a special 90-minute show on Saturday beginning at 2:00 p.m.
When Tim and Sue Reardon close the doors May 17 on SoTish, their downtown La Grange gallery, it won't be the end of the story. Rather, it's just the start of the latest chapter in an evolution that began eight years when SoTish first opened as a café serving lunch amidst eclectic works of art for sale.
After closing his popular gallery and café, SoTish owner Tim Reardon has plans for a cookie conquest
Over the years, table dining gave way to special events and gourmet meals to go, and on weekends the café morphed into an intimate nightclub featuring live jazz and blues. Also, the Reardons three years ago bought the building that houses SoTish and a second storefront. Subsequently, they transformed four second-floor apartments into a spacious and elegant loft where they reside today.
One thing about SoTish that until now has never changed is the artwork, often vibrant in color and whimsical in shape. Many of the acrylic paintings and sculptures were created by Tim. While they will soon be gone, another gallery will replace SoTish. The Art Stop, currently located just up the block from SoTish, will relocate to the space with an opening likely in June.
The second storefront also soon will be vacated by its current tenant, X&Y Kids clothing store, which is moving to new digs elsewhere downtown. In its place, Tim says, a new tenant plans to open a "retro-candy store," also sometime in June.
Speaking of sweet treats, cookies will be the focus of the next chapter in the Reardon's business book—specifically, the plump, chewy ones baked by Chef Joe Duffy that SoTish patrons have long enjoyed. Tim says the kitchen behind the gallery soon will geared up as a virtual cookie factory, producing an expanded variety of flavors. He and Sue plan to wholesale the cookies to food shops and cafés throughout Chicagoland.
While many village residents know of Tim's talents as an artist and café proprietor, not many know that he also spent 22 years working in management for grocer Dominick's. As the Reardons roll out their plans for a cookie conquest, Tim no doubt will draw upon that latent skillset.
UPDATE: The Empty Bowls project was a great success, its organizers said. Four hundred sixty-five bowls were sold, raising $9,300. Funds were distributed to food pantries operated by three La Grange churches: Second Baptist, $4,500; St. Francis Xavier, $2,250; and St. Cletus, $2,250. The remaining $300 was used to offset promotional costs for the event.
For the price of one good meal, a visitor to downtown La Grange Thursday evening can have a taste of 17 eateries, do a good deed in the process, and hopefully become more aware of how hunger impacts millions worldwide.
David Toan, owner of Terra Incognito, a studio and gallery specializing in ceramic arts, has organized the village's first Empty Bowls fund-raising event, which takes place Thursday, Nov. 13, from 6:00-9:00 p.m.
Empty Bowls is a concept that began in 1990 when a high school art class in Michigan made ceramic bowls for a meal to raise money for a local food drive. Guests were served a simple supper of soup and bread, and were invited to keep the bowls as a reminder of hunger in the world. The idea has since been replicated in hundreds of communities across the country.
For his version of the event, Toan enlisted students from classes his studio conducts, along with art students from Lyons Township and Proviso West high schools. Between them, they have crafted by hand about 500 serving bowls, each one unique.
Toan then invited restaurants and other downtown businesses to supply a meal in the style of a pub-crawl buffet.
On Thursday, diners will begin by purchasing a bowl at Terra Incognito, located at 35 S La Grange Rd. The cost is $20 for adults, $13 for children. They can then take their bowls to any or all of 17 downtown restaurants and businesses, where they will be filled with foodstuffs ranging from pasta to popcorn to fudge.
Participating businesses include: Bella Bacino’s, Café 36, Caribou Coffee, Corner Bakery, Grapevine, Knead, La Pinta, LaBelle Catering, the La Grange Theatre, Lizzard Café, Now Serving, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Roly Poly, SoTish, Thipi Thai, Trader Joe’s and Yau’s Place.
All proceeds from the event will be donated to food pantries operated by Second Baptist and St. Francis Xavier churches.
The event is co-sponsored by the La Grange Business Association.
Visitors to downtown La Grange will have an easier time finding local businesses and parking lots with the installation last week of several new "wayfinding" kiosks and directional signs.
The five pedestrian kiosks feature a glass-enclosed map of downtown streets, blocks and building addresses, beneath which is a directory of stores, restaurants and other businesses. Each listing is keyed to the block on which it resides, in a fashion similar to directories found in shopping malls.
The directories will frequently updated, most likely on a quarterly basis, said Angela Mesaros, assistant director of community development for the Village.
Several directional signs point motorists to the parking structure behind Village Hall and other surface lots.
Designed by Schreiber/Anderson Associates of Madison, Wisconsin, the signs also are capped by a motif of prairie grass surrounding a replica of the official Village seal.
