The Clearing Night Force’s tree lighting event is an annual favorite with young and old, as this photo from 2019 illustrates. --File photo
Holiday cheer continues at Hale Park
By Joan Hadac
Your correspondent in Clearing and Garfield Ridge
(708) 496-0265 • joan.hadac@gmail.com
I hope your Christmas season is off to a warm and memorable start.
Thanks to the Garfield Ridge Neighborhood Watch, the Midway Chamber of Commerce and everyone responsible for making the annual Christmas tree lighting in Wentworth Park and the annual Snack With Santa a success last Saturday. Many, if not most, neighborhoods in the city don’t have anything quite like those two events.
If you missed the tree lighting last weekend, please know you are welcome to attend a tree lighting scheduled for 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 13 at Hale Park, 6258 W. 62nd St.
Sponsored by the Clearing Night Force, this event is not the big, outdoor extravaganza seen at Wentworth Park, but it has just as much Christmas cheer.
Everything occurs inside the fieldhouse, so you won’t be at the mercy of the elements.
The Clearing Night Force’s tree lighting event is an annual favorite with young and old, as this photo from 2019 illustrates. –File photo
You’ll enjoy hot cocoa and cookies as you are invited to sing along with carolers from the Hale Park Theatre Company.
Children will enjoy an ornament-making activity, as well as a visit with Santa Claus himself.
This is all at no charge, although I would imagine that the non-profit Clearing Night Force would turn away any kind of a donation to might want to make. For details, send an email to clearingnightforce812@gmail.com.
Mark your calendar
- If you missed the Midway Chamber of Commerce’s Snack With Santa, please know you are welcome to have breakfast with Santa at the Rhine VFW Post 2729, 5858 S. Archer, from 8:30 a.m. to noon Sunday, Dec. 11.
Enjoy pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, cake, cookies, juice and coffee.
Admission is $11 for adults, as well as children ages 9-17; $5 for children ages 3-8; and no charge for kids younger than 3.
Santa will be on hand, and all children will receive a modest gift. There will also be raffles. For details, call the post at (773) 284-9025.
- For Christians in general, Advent season has started. For Catholics in particular, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is Thursday, Dec. 8. That’s followed by the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Monday, Dec. 12. She originally was Patroness of Mexico but was declared Patroness of all the Americas by then-Pope John Paul II. May these special days, as well as the Advent season in general, be especially meaningful for all believers.
- A Christmas festival is set for 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11 in the basement of St. Blase Church, 6101 S. 75th Ave., Summit. Enjoy food, refreshments, Christmas music, a piñata for children and more. Proceeds from the event benefit the CCD program of Blessed Martyrs of Chimbote Parish. Not sure what the admission fee is. For details, call the BMC office at (708) 458-0007. The parish includes the westernmost section of Garfield Ridge.
- Speaking of BMC, the parish’s Ladies of the Rosary are hosting a Christmas party from 6 to 10 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 14 at European Chalet, 5445 S. Harlem. Tickets are $35 each and include dinner and entertainment. There will be a cash bar. There will be a raffle of holiday baskets. Not sure if tickets are available, but call (708) 458-0501 for details.
- Santa Claus will climb aboard Jim Sircher’s vintage fire truck and ride through the streets of Garfield Ridge (west of Central) from 4 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, courtesy of the Garfield Ridge Neighborhood Watch. The Jolly Old Elf will do the same in Clearing (west of Central) from 3 to 8 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11. So keep your eyes and ears open, everyone, and thank you, Garfield Ridge Neighborhood Watch!
- Children under age 7 are invited to a Christmas themed event scheduled for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 12 at Valley Forge Park, 7001 W. 59th St. The session will include holiday crafts, games, cookies and hot cocoa, arm painting and a photo opportunity with Santa Claus. Fee is $10 per child. For details, call (773) 229-0812.
Local News
Area Sports Roundup: Sandburg takes 2nd at Bajenski tourney
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Staff writer The Sandburg baseball team has had more downs than ups this season. But the Eagles finished the regular season on a strong note with a run to second place at the Steven M. Bajenski Memorial Tournament, which wrapped up May 21 at Ozinga Field in Crestwood. To get…
Track Postseason Report: Sandburg boys 3200 relay records nation’s third-best time in 2022
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Staff Writer How good was the competition in the boys track Class 3A Lockport Sectional in the 3200 meter relay? Sandburg’s relay team of Brock Rice, Declan Tunney, Trent Anderson and Sean Marquardt ran a time of 7:42.42, which tied for the third-best time in the nation in 2022. And…
Midway bouncing back
Spread the loveUBAM hears update from airport chief By Dermot Connolly Midway International Airport is bouncing back from the pandemic, and the $333 million Midway Modernization program is nearing completion, Chicago Department of Aviation officials told local business leaders last week. Elizabeth Granados-Perez, managing deputy commissioner of Midway, and Alex Leon, deputy commissioner in charge…
Grand reopening Friday for Bedford Park Walmart
Spread the loveBedford Park residents can get a first look at the newly remodeled Walmart Supercenter at 7050 S. Cicero Ave., on Friday, May 20. The store will celebrate its ReGrand Opening with activities for the community beginning at 9 a.m. Along with a disc jockey who will play hit tunes, community residents are invited to enjoy complimentary beverages…
New ward map OKed
Spread the loveReflects Madigan’s power By Tim Hadac The City Council this week approved a new ward map that, among other things, will see all of Clearing and most of Garfield Ridge shifted to the 13th Ward. Midway International Airport also would shift from the 23rd Ward to the 13th. Monday’s 43-7 vote means the…
Big Tom still shows the way
Spread the loveBy Joan Hadac Your correspondent in Clearing and Garfield Ridge (708) 496-0265 • joan.hadac@gmail.com I recently had the pleasure of talking to Quinn Markham, daughter of the late Thomas “Tom” F. Markham Jr., who lost his valiant fight with cancer five years ago, at age 59. Earlier this month, Tom Markham was awarded an…
Area Sports Roundup: Marist knocks off Glenbard West in battle of nationally ranked volleyball teams
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Staff Writer Power on power didn’t work the first time around. Power here and there, mixed in with some savvy soft shots, did the trick the second time. In a battle of two of the top 11 teams in the nation, according to the USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches Association May…
Postseason Roundup: Lyons water polo teams vault to state via sensational sectionals
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Staff Writer Anyone looking for thrills and close matches at the two Lyons water polo sectionals were out of luck. Anyone rooting for the hosts, however, had a ball during that 24-hour stretch May 13 and 14. The Lions boys crushed Riverside-Brookfield, 17-5, in the semifinals and St. Rita, 12-3,…
Neighbors
U.S. Supreme Court won’t hear challenge to Illinois’ assault weapons ban, for now
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com The Illinois ban on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines will remain in place, at least for now. The U.S. Supreme Court announced Tuesday it will not take up any of the pending challenges to the law until the cases have been fully heard in lower courts. Illinois lawmakers…
ILLINOIS LAWMAKERS: Pritzker keeps economic development at forefront in exclusive interview
By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com With fiscal year 2025 slated to begin Monday, Gov. JB Pritzker continues to tout available state tax incentives and promote Illinois as a site for business development. On the season finale of “Illinois Lawmakers” this week, Pritzker pointed to a pair of developments in East Alton and Normal…
After 9 months, state data begins to detail new pretrial detention system
By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com Nine months after cash bail ended in Illinois, the state is taking its first steps in publishing the data that crafters of the bail reform law saw as essential to judging its effectiveness. The data shows that judges in the 75 counties served by the Illinois Supreme Court’s…
ILLINOIS LAWMAKERS: Pritzker keeps economic development at forefront in exclusive interview
By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com With fiscal year 2025 slated to begin Monday, Gov. JB Pritzker continues to tout available state tax incentives and promote Illinois as a site for business development. On the season finale of “Illinois Lawmakers” this week, Pritzker pointed to a pair of developments in East Alton and Normal…
Pritzker calls SCOTUS emergency abortion ruling ‘small respite’ as state protections await his signature
By ANDREW ADAMS Capitol News Illinois aadams@capitolnewsillinois.com Abortion remains legal as an emergency medical procedure in Idaho, for now, after a Thursday U.S. Supreme Court ruling, while a bill that would cement those protections in Illinois law awaits Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature. The 6-3 decision saw the three liberal justices concur with the order. Three…
‘We don’t really know what we’re voting on,’ top Dem says of Pritzker’s prison plan
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com LINCOLN – On the eve of a scheduled vote to advise Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration on plans to close and rebuild a pair of dilapidated state prisons, hundreds filed into a junior high school gymnasium Thursday evening clad in matching green T-shirts. Printed on the shirts was a…
SCOTUS ruling could upend federal corruption cases for Madigan, allies
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday narrowed the scope of a federal bribery law prosecutors have relied on in their cases against former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and several of his allies convicted of bribing him. A jury last spring found those allies – former lobbyists and…
Quantum technology companies set for big tax incentives under new law
By ANDREW ADAMS Capitol News Illinois aadams@capitolnewsillinois.com CHICAGO – Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday gave final approval to a plan to bolster the state’s tech industry, including an incentives package – backed by $500 million in the state budget – aimed at making Illinois the nation’s leader in quantum computing. The package also expands tax…
Illinois child tax credit: who gets it, how much is it?
By ANDREW ADAMS Capitol News Illinois aadams@capitolnewsillinois.com In the final hours of their spring legislative session, Illinois lawmakers approved a tax credit of up to about $300 for families with young children. The credit is available to Illinoisans with children under age 12 who qualify for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC. Although…
Illinois’ ban on ‘bump stocks’ remains in place despite U.S. Supreme Court decision
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – An Illinois law banning the sale and use of “bump stocks” and other devices that increase the firing power of semiautomatic weapons remains in place, at least for now, despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision Friday striking down a federal ban on such items. “Illinois law…
