An Oak Park Anecdote

Back in August, I wrote a post with my musings on what makes Oak Park a special place.

This past weekend, something happened that I felt really spoke to the nature of Oak Park society, and I wanted to write about it as a follow-up to that previous post, "Ode to Oak Park".

So Mom and I are driving back from church service on Sunday, and we turn from heading eastbound on Harvard Street onto Clarence Avenue.  The first thing we notice is that both sides of the street are lined with many parked cars.  Now, on a hot summer day, people flock to nearby Rehm Pool in such numbers that those who drive to the pool sometimes have to park on our block, which is a couple blocks away from the pool.  But when that happens, usually the cars don't park all the way down the block as they did on this day.

We're left scratching out heads as to what's going on as we sneak into a space a door down from our house.  A few minutes later, lo and behold, two horse-drawn carts are ambling down Clarence Avenue, with people sitting in the carts on stacks of hay.

We eventually realize that all this activity is due to Fall Fest, an event run by the Park District of Oak Park, being held over at Rehm Park and the Oak Park Conservatory.  There were lots of activities and fun for families, including rides in horse-drawn carts.  There was even a large bounce house, typical of block parties, in the design of a large pumpkin, befitting the fall theme.  At the Conservatory, each family could take home a pumpkin.  All of East Avenue was blocked off for two blocks south of the I-290, so that's why all the cars came to our block.

So here we have a festival that induces a convergence of people upon one location, in this case, a park.  The fest is filled with lots of family-friendly activities, live music, and then some, catering to the many families with children that live here.  And it's all in the spirit of celebrating this season of autumn.  That's definitely Oak Park!