🌱 Oak Park On HGTV + Juneteenth Plans + Free Concert Tickets

Happy Friday! Patch is back to recap the local headlines you might have missed this week. Let's get to it.

But first, today's weather: Plenty of sunshine. High: 79 Low: 61.

Here are the top 4 stories in Oak Park-River Forest today:

1. The Oak Park Department of Public Health will continue to provide free COVID-19 testing at locations across the village through at least June 30. The next testing clinic is Tuesday at Cheney Mansion. (VOP)

2. A free community Juneteenth celebration will be held June 15 at Dominican University, the Oak Leaves reports. Oak Park Public Library’s Director of Equity and Anti-Racism will give a lecture on “Building a Global Community: Honoring the Past, Present and the Future.” The event will also feature “food trucks, a barbecue, music and family-friendly games on the campus Quad.” (Paid source: Oak Leaves)

3. Applications open today for the River Forest and Oak Park Junior Citizens’ Police Academy. The week-long event will be held at the River Forest Police Department in August. (VRF)

4. August “Augie” Aleksy is retiring after more than 30 years owning and operating Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore on Madison Street. He told the Review “if [I sell to] anybody, it’s going to have to be a local, a person who knew what they’d be doing.” (Review)

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Today in Oak Park-River Forest:

• The Village of Elmwood Park hosts the Circle Car Show. (6 p.m.)
• OPALGA+ hosts its June potluck in Forest Park. (7 p.m.)
• Hear live music at the Summer in the Circle Concert Series. (7 p.m.)
• Mike Block performs at Arthur Heurtley House. (7:30 p.m.)
• See “Wakanda Forever” in Scoville Park. (Dusk)

From my notebook:

• Hines VA Hospital will host a nursing job fair tomorrow. (Daily Herald)
• The OPRF High School boys volleyball team won third place at the state tournament. (Wednesday Journal)
• Oak Park Public Library cardholders can receive two free lawn seat tickets to upcoming Ravinia concerts. (Library)
• An Oak Park home was featured on this week’s new episode of the HGTV renovation series “Windy City Rehab.” (Discovery+)

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Featured businesses:

• Laura Ruiz, REALTOR® at REALTY OF CHICAGO — (Visit website)
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Featured events:

• Fox Valley at the Fairgrounds Antiques Show (June 10)
• "Music to Dine By" at Tre Sorelle by Mancini (June 10)
• "Ariel Andrews and Friends"- A Free Benefit Recital (June 11)
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That's all for June 9! See you tomorrow for the Saturday edition.

— Georgi Presecky

About me: Georgi is a Chicago-based newsletter writer and partner content curator. She spent five years on the entertainment beat for FF2 Media covering film festivals across the U.S. Her feature articles have been recognized with awards from the Illinois Women's Press Association and National Federation of Press Women. As editor-in-chief of the Lewis University newspaper, she and her staff earned honors from the Associated Collegiate Press and American Scholastic Press Associations. She began working for Patch in 2019.

Have a news tip or suggestion for an upcoming Oak Park-River Forest Patch newsletter? Contact me at georgi.presecky@patch.com.