Community Corner

🌱 Patch AM: Senior Living Community Gets Best Of 2025 Nomination

Also, don't miss Enjoy a Jazzy Xmas Eve Dinner with Doug Lalli on the Oak Park Patch calendar

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Wednesday December 24th Patch AM
Wednesday December 24th Patch AM (Patch graphic)

What's up Oak Park! Let's start this morning right by getting caught up on what's going on around town. Keep reading to stay in the loop. ☕️️

In today's newsletter:

  • Why Oak Park Arms is being called the community’s living room
  • Are Oak Park holiday traditions quietly raising your heart attack risk?
  • How Oak Park support is fueling a $750 speculative art contest

Also on today's calendar: Enjoy a Jazzy Xmas Eve Dinner with Doug Lalli and 9 more events.

Find out what's happening in Oak Park-River Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Today's riddle: I used to work in a doughnut shop. 🤔 (Answer below!)

Weather forecast:

Find out what's happening in Oak Park-River Forestfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

  • Wednesday: Cooler; mist in the afternoon, with a high of 45 and low of 37 degrees.
  • Thursday: Low clouds, temps: high: 41, low: 39.
  • Friday: A couple of morning showers, with a high of 49 and low of 38 degrees.

📰 News we're reading

1. Senior Living Community Gets Best Of 2025 Nomination (patch.com) — Oak Park residents are celebrating Oak Park Arms, a senior living community nominated for Patch and T-Mobile’s Best of 2025 series, for its deep local impact. The community is praised as a welcoming hub where seniors, preschoolers, students, and neighbors connect through dances, classes, lectures, and intergenerational activities that reflect Oak Park’s commitment to inclusion and lifelong learning.
   

2. Holiday heart attacks: A silent threat during joyful season (wgntv.com) — A Rush Oak Park emergency room specialist is warning local families that heart attacks and strokes spike around the holidays and urges residents to act quickly on symptoms. He explains how overindulgence, stress, and delaying care can be deadly, and stresses learning CPR and the FAST stroke checklist so Oak Parkers can protect loved ones during gatherings.
   

3. SLF Call For Artists: Illustration Of The Year 2026 (file770.com) — Oak Park artists are helping power a national call for speculative-themed artwork, as the Speculative Literature Foundation launches its 2026 Illustration of the Year contest with support from the Oak Park Area Arts Council and Village of Oak Park. Submissions are open Jan. 1–31, 2026, with a $750 prize and yearlong exposure across the nonprofit’s website, newsletter, and marketing materials. Local creatives can find full details and criteria online before sending in their work.
   

4. Oak Park documentarian covers ICE, Border Patrol and 4th amendment (oakpark.com) — Oak Park filmmaker Andrew Freer is documenting how stepped-up ICE and Border Patrol operations are unfolding in and around the village, including an arrest outside Lincoln Elementary and activity along Harlem Avenue. His Go Fourth Media shorts, focused on Fourth Amendment concerns, have quickly drawn large online audiences and highlight how national immigration crackdowns are touching Oak Park-area residents.
   

📸 Around Oak Park

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🗓 Upcoming Events in Oak Park

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📣 Oak Park Shout Outs!

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Have we missed something on our calendar? Add an event yourself! As always, before attending confirm event details to ensure accuracy.

 

Thank you 👏👏👏 to the local businesses for making Oak Park PatchAM possible:

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💬 Chatter

What your neighbors are talking about on social media

  • Housing Decisions in the Sandwich Generation Years —Laurie Christofano Read on Patch
  • Still no McLovin I miss him very, very much and I will not give up trying to find him.
    But I do think I’ll get a kitten and if he does come home then there will be two!!! (Nextdoor Southtown Oak Park)
  • A fuel spill from both wing tanks of Frontier Flight 2445 from Chicago to LAX is being contained by Chicago Fire Department Squad 7 at O'Hare Terminal 5 Gate M29.
    5:57PM on Dec 22: Hazmat response is underway for a fuel spill from both wing tanks at Terminal 5 Gate M29 at O'Hare Airport. (Nextdoor )
  • Valvoline posted a job opening for Assistant Service Center Manager in Oak Park. Apply here.
  • Ferrara posted a job opening for Production Scheduler in Forest Park. Apply here. You can search for other jobs near Oak Park here.

Ok Oak Park! So now you're in the loop about what's happening today. Thanks for reading, and see you in your inbox next time! Oh -- and if you like what you're reading, invite a friend to Patch AM!

-- The Patch AM Team

P.S. The answer to today's riddle: I got tired of the hole business.
Got a good riddle for PatchAM? Send it to us!

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