Starting Oct. 5 various merchants in La Grange and La Grange Park will offer senor discounts to people over 60 years of age. The discounts could be a percentage off, a buy one/get one offer or a reduced rate. A card describing the program will be displayed near the cashier at the participating business. To receive the discount the shopper just needs to inquire about the program to obtain the offer at checkout. The Senior Discount Program was initiated by the La Grange/La Grange Park Aging Well Community Action Team, a program of Aging Care Connections, 1 W. Harris Ave. The program is endorsed…

Last week I stopped in to watch a rehearsal for the upcoming “Romeo & Juliet” presented by the Lyons Township High School Theatre Board. Once inside the Performing Arts Center at South Campus, I saw students on the floor of the theatre stretching and exercising. Maybe I was in the wrong place, I thought to myself. I saw LTHS faculty member Mike Kuehl and introduced myself. I think he noticed the puzzled look on my face and then quickly offered up, “We are stretching to get ready for our fight scenes; they are very physical.” He went on to tell me, “We actually hired violence designers to help…

Saturday marks the start of October and what better way to welcome the new month and the upcoming fall weather with a festival. St. Louise de Marillac Parish, 31st & Harrison, will be a festive celebration Oct. 1 from 4 to 11 p.m., rain or shine. Traditional Oktoberfest food will be available for purchase including, bratwurst, pork tenderloin, potato pancakes, strudel and soft pretzels. A kids menu is also available with hot dogs, chips and nachos. What’s Oktoberfest without beer? Domestic and imported beer will be sold. If you prefer wine, not to worry, it will also be available along with …

Most of us who were born after 1959 probably spent part of our toddler years playing with Fisher-Price Little People. You remember those wooden peg figures with the round heads, don’t you? Now they are made of plastic and a lot more detailed but they are still based on the original ones that I once played with. Now the Little People toys have become a huge brand and even include live musical shows. Their latest show will be at the Brookfield Zoo, 3300 Golf Rd., on Oct. 1 and 2 with shows at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. The show will be a big animal celebration that will feature music, singing, dancing…

Every time I visit the La Grange Area Historical Society, 444 S. La Grange Rd., I notice something that I hadn’t seen before. On my last visit, I spotted an old map of La Grange that I don’t remember seeing. I asked volunteer Mary Ann Sward if it had always been in that spot and she responded, “It’s been there every time you’ve been here.” That got me thinking about the amount of items they have and how they keep them all straight. When I asked about cataloguing all their treasures, three volunteers quickly responded, “You need to talk to Ed our computer guy.” I talked to Ed Thoele, the …

Busy moms are always trying to find ways to get more done in less time. The Women’s Wellness Walkabout at was created with that in mind. Kathi Mungo, owner of BargainsForMom.com and co-sponsor said “moms spend the majority of their time taking care of everybody else and they run out of time when it comes to themselves. We wanted to make it easy for them to find small ways to feel better, have more energy, improve their health and ultimately live longer." The second annual event will take place Sept. 23 from 9 a.m. to noon at Waiola Park at the corner of 47th Street and Waiola Avenue. Over 30 …

Everyone old enough to comprehend what was happening when the planes hit the World Trade Center can still clearly remember exactly where they were the moment they heard the news. President Bush was reading to a group of elementary kids in Florida and I was dying my hair for an upcoming girls weekend in New York City. For the first time in my married life I was going to escape with some girlfriends for a weekend.  I felt a tinge of guilt about it, but it didn’t stop me from diving in and booking the flights months in advance. At the time I lived just outside of Tampa, Florida. Due to my …

This year marks the eighth year of the Pepsi Soccer Showdown and the seventh year it has been located at the Lyons Township High School soccer fields. This annual soccer event is one of the largest high school tournaments in the United States that showcases high school soccer. The showdown kicks off on Sept. 6 with games played at the Chicagoland area high schools. The two Saturday tournaments will be played at Lyons Township High Schools West Fields on the corner of Cossitt Avenue and Willow Springs Road on Sept. 10 and Sept. 17.  The tournament is comprised of single elimination games and …

This week, the rocking chairs that have been on display all summer in downtown La Grange, will be removed from their locations to get ready to be auctioned off. As in past years, the summer displays are auctioned off with the funds going to charity and non-profits. Some of the chairs need some slight touch-ups after a long, hot summer on the sidewalks of La Grange. The artists will get the chairs ready for the big event on Sept. 9. The live auction will be held at La Grange Village Hall, 53 S. La Grange Rd., from 5-7 p.m. There will be live entertainment by The Twisters, and all the chairs …

School is back in session and time starts sipping away with busy schedules. It’s never too early to start buying some Christmas gifts. If you are looking for a unique gift for a Lyons Township High School student or alum, look no further. The LTHS Alumni Association is selling a beautiful hand casted and hand painted ornament made of resin and bonded marble dust. The ornament was created for LTHS and features the North Campus Clock Tower. The ornament is very detailed and is available on-line for $20. All proceeds will go to the LTHS Alumni Association. The ornament can be ordered here. The …

Have you ever had one of those days where you wonder why you even got out of bed? That was my day last Thursday. By 5:20 p.m. I was ready to go home and just give up on the day. Nothing truly catastrophic happened; it was just a comedy of errors and a total waste of a day. Then something happened to make me forget about all that had happened, or not happened as the case may be. I saw the bond of three special seventh-grade girls and the outpouring of support from our community. I had promised my editor that I would attend the St. Baldrick’s fundraiser for Katie Palermo and take pictures of …

Just before I sat down to write this column about the upcoming Health and Wellness Fair at Plymouth Place on Aug. 25, I received an email about another event occurring on the same day. So why not do both? The first begins in the morning with Plymouth Place is hosting a Health and Wellness Fair from 9-11:30 a.m. on the third floor. Various local vendors will be on hand at Plymouth Place to provide you with tools you can use to help enrich your well-being. Vendors will be conducting the following free of charge: Balance Testing Blood Pressure Check Glucose Check BMI (Body Mass Index) Analysis …

If you’ve lived in the Lyons Township High School district, you have probably experienced the annual Gold Card Blitz for the Boosters. Fundraising is usually a part of participating in a sport or extra-curricular activity. The LTHS Boosters plan for all the participants in the fall sports go out and sell the Gold Card at a specific time. This is a great system for both the parents of the athletes and the community. This year the sale will take place Saturday, Aug. 20 from noon to 2 p.m. During this time the student athletes will all be out in force selling the cards throughout our …

I drive on Bell Avenue often—at least two or three times a day. Last week while driving on the 700 block of Bell with my son, we noticed approximately 20 barricades surrounding a large metal pole sticking out of the ground and wondered what was going on. It was in the evening so the flashing lights of the barricades were very hard to miss. We slowed down to survey the area and ended up being a little confused. The pole sticking out of the ground was not at a cross street or intersection, it was down towards the middle of the block and it had the appearance of what could be the start of a stop…

My youngest son is entering his junior year in high school and my oldest is now 20 and following his dream of becoming a PGA golf pro at a private country club. I have been purchasing school supplies since 1996. The first time I took my son to buy school supplies was exciting, even though it was stressful. The excitement of getting all of the required items on the school list and sending my little guy off to school made the experience somewhat fun, despite the crowds at the stores. As time went on the fun wore off, and it became an unwelcome chore. The crowds grew bigger, you couldn’t get …

If you’ve ever been inside the La Grange Recreation Center, 536 East Ave., you may have noticed the tile wall just outside the indoor playground. This wall is a work in progress and the Park District of La Grange hopes to fill the entire wall with tiles decorated by residents. The theme for the wall is “Your Fun Destination!” So get your creative juices flowing and design a tile for all to see. It’s as easy as dropping by the recreation center and picking up the supplies after paying a $20 fee. Once you create your masterpiece you return it to the recreation center and they do the rest! …

I have mentioned in past columns that I volunteer at CatNap from the Heart, 10111 Beach Ave. Once or twice a month I go to the shelter and set-up a make-shift backdrop over a table and take pictures of the cats that are new to the shelter that need to be put up on Petfinder.  It’s an exhausting task for me, the staff at CatNap and even the cats, but one that has proven to me to be very rewarding. My time there eventually lead to me adopting, Lexus, an 18-pound Bengal that has fit right into my household. In the past six months, I agreed to become a foster household. I was a little nervous at …

It never fails. Whenever I have something that has been planned well in advance, something always pops up to make it a challenge. This past Saturday morning I had a photo shoot for a family reunion. I prefer to have my clients in my studio, but my studio is too small for 12 people, so it had to be off site. I was super organized with everything packed and ready to go by the back door. I loaded the car and made my final check and that’s when I discovered the problem that would delay me. Lying across my driveway was a huge limb off my neighbor’s tree. I really wasn’t too worried. I thought to …

The top 50 high school athletic programs were recently named by ESPN Rise, an online website for high school athletes. Each year ESPN Rise ranks high school athletic teams by sport and by over-all program.  According to ESPN Rise the rankings were compiled with the following information: “Scoring was done according to a formula for each final ranking of the 15 sports in which there is a POWERADE FAB 50. Seven points were awarded for a No. 1 ranking, 6 points for top five, 5 points for top 10, 4 points for top 25, 3 points for top 40 and 2 for top 50. Ties were broken first by which school had…

Last week’s power outages were trying on everyone. I was one of the lucky ones that had my power restored after 12 hours, although at the time I didn’t feel so lucky. I lost all the food in my fridge and freezer for the second time in three weeks. Driving around town I saw extension cords running across streets and heard generators still going on Thursday. That’s when I felt fortunate. Imagine if you owned an ice cream shop and the power went out. What would you do? Maria Marciniec, owner of Tates Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Shop, 25 S. Ashland Ave., experienced that scenario last week. Marciniec…