Time for youthful joy to be on parade

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By Joan Hadac

Your correspondent in Clearing and Garfield Ridge

(708) 496-0265 • joan.hadac@gmail.com

I love watching parades, especially ones that highlight our community’s boys and girls.

One of the best examples of that is Clear Ridge Little League’s annual Opening Day Parade.

This year’s parade is scheduled to step off at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, April 22 from 57^th and Narragansett and south to Hale Park for opening day ceremonies.

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Thanks to everyone who is making the 2023 season a reality: league officials, managers, coaches, groundskeepers, concession stand workers—lots of good men and women giving their time and effort. Thanks also to all the local businesses serving as CRLL sponsors. Let’s patronize those businesses, OK?

All that work is designed to deliver lots of fun, yes, but just as important, lessons that can last a lifetime: the importance of physical fitness, mental focus, persistence, teamwork, sacrifice for a cause larger than yourself, respect for authority (like coaches and umpires), and of course, good sportsmanship—winning with humility and losing with dignity.

That said, boys and girls, moms and dads, Batter Up!

In other news

• The Midway Chamber of Commerce is seeking cheerful, helpful folks age 16 and up to serve as unpaid volunteers at its farmers market this season. Details have not been released on the 2023 market, but last year it ran from 3 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays in the Mayfield Banquets parking lot, Archer and Monitor. For more information, send an email to garfieldridgecc@live.com.
• Have you started your spring cleaning yet? Well, if you want to turn your home’s clutter into cash, gather your unwanted clothes, furniture, appliances, knick-knacks, collectibles—you name it—and bring them to Sell-A-Bration, set for 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 13 in the west parking lot of Kennedy High School, near 57^th and Narragansett.

For a modest fee, you can rent a 10 x 10 space to sell your goods. Your supply your own table and chairs, and you keep all the money from what you sell.

Joan Hadac

Sell-A-Bration is hosted twice each year by the Garfield Ridge Neighborhood Watch. Your space rental fee helps the GRNW fight crime, directly and indirectly, in CPD Beat 811 (Garfield Ridge, west of Central Avenue).

Depending on the weather, as well as what you’re selling, you could make a decent amount of money. Hundreds of people (and sometimes more) come to this event, cash in hand, ready to buy.

The rain date for Sell-A-Bration is Sunday, May 14. For more information and to reserve your selling space, call Arlene at (773) 229-1993. But don’t delay. Spaces go quickly, so please reserve yours now.

My thanks to Marilyn Gilroy of the GRNW for sharing this useful information.

• Well, by the time you read this, I should be enjoying a visit from my older daughter, her husband and their four sons. They live out of state, more than 800 miles away—so they only make it to Chicago once or twice a year.

We always try to make these visits as “Chicago” as possible, so we’ll start them off with dinner from Triano’s, so they can savor the flavor of a real Chicago pizza. The next day, we may walk them inside Pticek’s, so they can experience the sights, sounds and aromas of a genuine, old-fashioned bakery. At some point, we’ll get them over to Café 63 so they can experience the feel of a real 20^th century diner with a 21^st century menu.

And so on and so forth, As you might imagine, this grandma soaks up a lot of love during these all-too-brief visits, especially from the four boys, who range in age from 11/2 to 8. I’m smiling even as I write this, just thinking about them. Hope you’re smiling, as well. Have a wonderful week.