LF_121219

10 | December 12, 2019 | The lake forest leader NEWS
LakeForestLeaderDaily.com
Posted to LakeForestLeaderDaily.com 2 days ago
Lake Bluff event brings ‘Wonderful’ time to community
Bill McLean
Freelance Reporter
Fredo the horse —
steered by a carriage
helmsman named Alfredo
— clop-clopped at a casual
clip in downtown Lake
Bluff, toting a cargo of festive
villagers.
Wide-eyed tots, perched
on laps of parents in the
holiday wagon, sported
cold-weather-induced red
noses near the end of the
It’s a Wonderful Life in
Lake Bluff event on Saturday,
Dec. 7.
Antique Coach & Carriage
Manager Danny Sugrue,
in charge of organizing
the passengers at the
start-finish location near
the Village Green, wore a
gray sweatshirt featuring
MAYBERRY in big green
letters.
Mayberry, North Carolina:
Sheriff Andy Taylor’s
quaint town on the television
show “The Andy
Griffith Show.”
Lake Bluff, Illinois.
Two towns in a pod.
“This is small-town
America at its best,” Lake
Forest/Lake Bluff Chamber
of Commerce Executive
Director Joanna Rolek
gushed 30 minutes before
the six-hour event concluded
with caroling with
The Buckthorns and the
highly anticipated Village
Green lighting ceremony
at 5 p.m. “It’s neighbors
greeting neighbors, local
residents enjoying the holiday
season.
“Norman Rockwell
paintings,” she added,
“come to life at this event
every year.”
Another popular stop
during the brisk day was
in front of Be Market on
Scranton Avenue. A table
supported large containers
The Buckhorns perform at the Lake Bluff Village Green during the tree-lighting ceremony, part of It’s a Wonderful
Life in Lake Bluff, on Saturday, Dec. 7. Alex Newman/22nd Century Media
of vegan hot chocolate and
mulling-spice-laced cider
and wine. Lake Forest
resident and Zen of Slow
Cooking Regional Events
Manager Melinda Hill
splashed ladles and poured
free beverages for a steady
stream of passersby all
day.
“An event like this is
what makes living in this
area so special,” said Hill,
a mother of four (ages 15-
21) who moved to Lake
Forest with her family 15
years ago. “This brings
families in our communities
together. We’re not
just celebrating the holiday
season today; we’re also
recognizing the value of
community. Lake Forest,
Lake Bluff — I love both
towns, everything about
them. My son Matthew [a
student at Cornell University]
said to me recently,
‘Mom, thank you for raising
me in Lake Forest.’
“Years ago, when I was
pregnant with our fourth
child and signing up to be
a kindergarten room mom
for my daughter [Kelsey],
several moms came up to
me and said, ‘How can we
help you?’”
Eliza Jarvi has been a
mom for 18 months. The
head of youth services at
the Lake Bluff Public Library
and her husband,
Jake, are the parents of Elinor.
Eliza oversaw kids activities
at the library from
11 a.m.-1 p.m. during It’s
a Wonderful Life in Lake
Bluff. Children created
crafts, including floppylimbed
snowmen, and listened
to holiday-themed
stories told by Miss Carrie
and Miss Regina.
Dressed up as elves, the
Misses were hits.
“It’s nice, having something
for the kids to do
inside when it’s cold outside,”
Eliza said. “What
went on in here, what’s going
on outside, it’s such a
charming event.”
Next door to the library,
in a Lake Bluff History
Museum room, children
visited Santa and Mrs.
Claus and received candy
canes. Taking it all in
was Village of Lake Bluff
President Kathy O’Hara,
a co-founder (with Janet
Nelson) of the 37-year-old
museum and former Lake
Bluff Middle School social
studies teachers and principal.
The fun-loving civic
leader was adorned in a
navy-blue Santa sweater
and politely declined to
reveal exactly how many
times she had viewed the
movie “It’s a Wonderful
Life.”
“Just put I’ve seen it
double-digit times, OK?”
a smiling O’Hara said.
“Wonderful movie. Our
village’s event today is
all community-run, put
together by volunteers. It
inaugurates the holiday
season.
“A little snowfall today
would’ve been nice,” she
added.
Thoughts of baseball —
specifically a Lake Bluff
Youth Baseball Association
(LBYBA) summer
trip to a tournament in
Cooperstown, New York,
home of Major League
Baseball’s Hall of Fame
— warmed the hearts of
several LBYBA 12U players
in front of the restaurant
Inovasi on Dec. 7. The
ballplayers, with help from
their parents, had set up a
table in the central location
to sell Julie Dockery
homemade pies as part of
the association’s fundraising
efforts.
LBYBA aims to generate
$40,000 for the oncein-a-wonderful-lifetime
excursion, with 10 percent
of the final dollar figure
going to The Sports Shed,
a Libertyville-based nonprofit
that provides quality
gear and resources to
school and organizations
that lack the funding to
provide safe and successful
sports programs.
The baseball players —
Dylan Cran, Jack Douglass
and George Thomas,
among others — enthusiastically
greeted the locals
in football-ish temperatures.
Cran, a 12U catcher,
can’t wait to visit the Hall
of Fame in June. There’s
no doubt he’ll want to
check out the plaque of a
Chicago Cubs great, a certain
former second baseman
— and a current Lake
Bluff resident.
Cran, after all, owns a
bat, hat, baseball and glove
signed by Ryne Sandberg.
Among the other offerings
that made It’s a Wonderful
Life in Lake Bluff
a home run: hot cider at
Bluffington’s Café; holiday
specials and a raffle
at Flotstone Flotation
Therapy; holiday cheer
and rum cake at Whitehead
Studios; a raffle at
Lake Bluff Hub and Cycle;
a personal-training
raffle, holiday specials and
healthy snacks at Focused
Results; and carols performed
by the Lake Forest
High School Brass Band.
Lake Forest Bank &
Trust in Lake Bluff sponsored
the horse-drawn carriage
rides.
“I’ve been coming here
for four, five years,” a
cheerful Sugrue, the Antique
Coach & Carriage
manager, said as a group
of six awaited the next carriage
tour around the picturesque
village. “This is
great; I love this day. Look
around. Look at these
people on a cold day, all of
them happy while waiting
in line for a ride.
“It’s a big thing for families,
especially the kids,”
he added.