Heading toward the big day
The promotional portrait is in. The folks at Guinness are game. And the real beneficiary sure could use the help.
It’s happening:
Downtown Oak Park’s third annual Dog Day Afternoon this fall will include a special ceremony-I Do, Doggone It-to break the world record for the largest dog wedding.
As Wednesday Journal was first to report last month, what may sound like a silly to-do is a serious community effort to raise always-needed money for Animal Care League, Oak Park’s shelter for dogs and cats.
In the last week, not only has the promotional portrait for the first couple come available-a challenging and traffic-stopping feat, but Guinness World Records has delivered its more-than-20-page list of guidelines that organizers must meet to secure certification of the event.
We’re comforted that for every note about a log of participants-in pairs, certainly-and detail about owners’ signatures, Guinness pays respective attention to decorum: Couples must walk on a red carpet. The wedding march must be played.
Littleton, Colo., holds the record for dogs wed at once: 178 couples.
Yes, Oct. 4 will be some day in our village.
But donations from marriage license fees, sponsorships and merchandise sales can’t come soon enough for Animal Care League, where-also in the last week-Wednesday Journal learned there’s a new foundling, Ethan, who needs at least $4,000 in care.
A perfect match
One member of the first couple has changed since our first report on I Do, Doggone It. Elvis, the Wheaten terrier, has left the relationship. Mr. Big, the blue-haired, senior Chihuahua adopted two years ago in Texas by Helen Karakoudas, now managing editor of Wednesday Journal, is newly betrothed to Hudson, an 8-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever, raised from infancy by Oak Parkers Loretta and Matt Daly. The pooches, suited in wedding attire by Downtown Oak Park member Scratch ‘n Sniff, and their parents, obedient as could be with treats and commands, stopped traffic near a church in South Oak Park one recent Thursday morning as they worked with pet photographer Michelle Lytle for more than an hour to get the wedding shot. Drivers ignored the reflex to check Oak Park parking signs in scurries to stop and snap photos of the scene on their cellphones.
Wanted: more doggie marriages
Frequent Wednesday Journal contributing writer Deb Quantock McCarey was so taken with personals for Gobi Haley, the 6-year-old yellow Lab of Wednesday Journal editor and publisher Dan Haley, and Rosie Swanson, the 5-year-old miniature Schnauzer of Lorraine Swanson, editor of a Journal sibling paper in Chicago, that she and her family filed this personal for Mowgli McCarey:
“Once told directly by his vet that he was morbidly obese, Mowgli McCarey-faithful to a subsequent exercise regimen-is now the envy of the Pet Vet staff. This 9-year-old, 85-pound Irish bachelor is looking for a like-minded pooch who loves long walks, hides out and shakes during thunderstorms, eats anything edible or not, and can catch a ball mid-air like Willie Mays.”
Hungry Hound headed to OP
Channel 7’s cameras will be rolling near Lake Street and Oak Park Avenue on Thursday afternoon as WLS foodie Steve Dolinksy and his crew circle into our village to check out the dining at PapaSpiros.
“This is beautiful,” beamed Spiro Papageorge, owner with his wife, Sofia, of Oak Park’s Greek taverna. “Frank will be just back from Crete. We’ll be ready.”
Frank Savakis, executive chef at PapaSpiros, is known to add a Mediterranean dish or two to the menu after every summer trip to Greece. Papageorge said to expect at least one other vegetarian entrée now and a new dessert.
Dolinksy’s Hungry Hound report on PapaSpiros, a Lake Street favorite among locals and tourists for more than a decade, will air during the 10 p.m. newscast Friday night and will be online at abc7chicago.com.
Catching up with Dave Mendell
Former Oak Parker David Mendell, whose book, Obama, From Promise to Power, we profiled on March 26 [LifeLines], sent the following update to Matt Baron, who authored the article.
“Trade paperback sales have gone well since its April release, as you might imagine. The paperback even made the Washington Post’s top 10 bestseller list in the DC area one week. I’ve done a voluminous amount of media. I can’t really keep track of it all-Anderson Cooper, Sean Hannity, gobs of radio, etc. All the major TV networks are planning long bio features on Obama, and so I have in-depth interviews scheduled with Fox, ABC and PBS’ Frontline in the coming weeks.”
Covering Barack Obama before anyone knew him-good career move.
I just knew you’d say that!
A voicemail left at Wednesday Journal offices last Friday by an attorney from the Village of River Forest’s law firm, Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins, referred to a question he wanted to pose to our River Forest reporter, Bill Dwyer. When Dwyer called back, the attorney was almost apologetic, but said for reasons of due diligence, he had to ask something.
Ask away, he was told.
“Those harassment complaints you refer to in your articles about the River Forest Police Department?” the attorney said. “Could you tell me who your source was for those?”
“Um, no I can’t,” Dwyer replied.
“Yeah, I was pretty sure that’d be your answer,” replied the attorney, who politely thanked him for his time and hung up.
The best of 16-inch softball right next door
Neighboring Forest Park will be the epicenter of the 16-inch softball world starting today, and everyone is invited to stop by for a while or for the weekend. The 40th edition of the Forest Park Invitational No Gloves Nationals will take over much of the four-block-long Forest Park Park District facility, otherwise known as “The Park,” culminating in championship round action Sunday afternoon and evening. In between is a great five-day party.
Since the early 1970s The Park (probably the only municipal park that doesn’t have a name) has been one of the top venues for big-time competitive softball. This year will see such major contenders as the Miller 45s, Windy City Limo, Entourage, Avalanche and others battle it out for 16-inch bragging rights.
Of special note this year is the announcement last Saturday of the establishment of the Chicago 16-inch Softball Hall of Fame on park property just west of the tournament playing fields. The hall will be fundraising for the new headquarters and museum throughout the weekend.
Lots of folks from Oak Park have played softball on the Forest Park fields, and it’s a safe bet many of them ended up in Forest Park after the games in the years before Oak Park became “wet.”
As in past years, admission is free, there’s plenty of grilled food and beer, and great softball. The only thing there won’t be are gloves. As the T-shirts on sale by the beer tent read, “Never had ’em, never will.”
Sound off on Lake and Forest
Anyone interested in what goes up at the corner of Lake Street and Forest Avenue can have their say next Tuesday.
Sertus Capital Partners, which owns the property on that corner, plans to hold a “listening session” at 7 p.m., July 29, at Cheney Mansion, so the developer can hear how the community thinks the site should be used.
Members of the Sertus team will introduce themselves to residents and present their credentials and experience, according to a village press release. The village board approved an agreement with the developer last month. It took the first step toward having Oak Park team up with the developer to replace the parking garage on that corner.
That “term sheet” agreement last month could lead to a full-fledged redevelopment agreement with Sertus. It also provides an outline for the developer to create a design for the project. The agreement lays out two different options for that site.
One includes about 30,000 square feet of retail, 46,000 of office space, 70 apartments, 70 condos and 554 parking spaces.
The other option includes only 70 residential units, a 140-room hotel, and 530 total parking spots.
Both choices include 300 public parking spaces. The agreement has a formula for how much the village will pay per space, not to exceed $25,000. The village will take ownership of public parking once it’s completed. Both parties will operate and maintain the garage.