Graceland West Community Association
For all the details see:
https://gracelandwest.org/calendar/annual-graceland-west-neighborhood-fest/
You can still volunteer here,
Make a contribution or ask any questions about the event by contacting Sarah, sarah.maxwell@gmail.com,
Sign up for Euchre by reaching out to Paul, pmonzella@gmail.com,
and follow us on facebook or instagram for last-minute updates.
Join us for Graceland West’s largest fundraiser of the year! Come out and meet-up with your neighbors
while supporting our special neighborhood. All are invited including those outside GWCA.
Day-Of Volunteers Needed: contact Sarah Maxwell at sarah.maxwell@gmail.com for more information. Click here to sign-up today to volunteer and/or contribute.
Fest Contributions Helpful: silent auction donations (gift certificate, goods, or services) donation or lending of item(s) to be used during Fest including chairs for Euchre tournament
Fest Sponsor Donations Sought: The George Pullman ($100), The Ernie Banks ($250), The Ruth Page ($500), The Conrad Sulzer ($750), The Daniel Burnham ($1000)
DJ ☀ Miniature Golf ☀ Bounce House ☀ Magic by Randy
Kids Create Studio Activity ☀ Tie Dye ☀ Spin Art ☀ Juggler
Euchre Tournament ☀ 3:15-4:45 ☀ 3 rounds of round robin, $30 buy-in per player with cash prizes. Contact Paul Monzella at pmonzella@gmail.com to sign-up by 9/8
Sign-Up for Experience Parties ☀ We’re hosting 3 fun parties this fall & winter to hang out with your neighbors.
Be sure to check out the sign-ups for “Gals of GWCA”, “Guys of GWCA” and “Next Gen of GWCA” at the Fest
Magic By Randy ☀ 3:30-4:00
Silent Auction ☀ Featuring items from The Long Room, ClimbZone, Lakeview Taproom, Cubs game tickets, Namaskar Yoga, Interstellar Records & more!
Create Custom Tie Dye T-Shirts & Spin Art ☀ 4:00-6:00
Kids Create Studio Activity ☀ 4:00-6:00 ☀ Kids Create Studio on Southport will be on hand for a fun take-home art project
Kids Musical Chairs ☀ 4:30-5:00
Big Star Taco Truck & Margaritas ☀ 4:30-6:30
Juggler ☀ 6:00-7:00
Off Color Brewing Beer, plus Wine & Craft Cocktails
Sno Cones & Cotton Candy
Although the kids are heading back to school, we still have a month left of our 2023 summer.
Looking back, we kicked off the summer with a very successful and engaging meeting. Special thanks to Rachel Kuipers and Jack Pizzo for sharing their knowledge with the group. Also a warm welcome to Chad Rathmann and Linda Welsh who were welcomed to the GWCA council. All meeting minutes are uploaded to our Archives page.
In July we had an amazing 41st annual GWCA Garden Walk. A very special thanks to all of the gardeners who welcomed the community into their enchanted spaces and to Ben Conley, Chad Rathmann and Linda Welsh for leading the organization of the walk.
Looking ahead…
On September 10 we will have our annual neighborhood festival on Greenview between Belle Plaine and Warner. Hopefully this year mother nature will spare us the gale-force winds.
On September 23rd we’ll reconvene in the beautiful Warner Park and Gardens for our Q3 meeting and to vote on important matters related to a business on Irving Park.
Be on the lookout for detailed information about these upcoming events and subscribe to our calendar at the bottom of https://gracelandwest.org/calendar/. As always, feel free to drop a note to info@gracelandwest.org about any neighborhood-related curiosities.
September 10, 2023 @ 3:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Join us for Graceland West’s largest fundraiser of the year! Come out and meet-up with your neighbors while supporting our special neighborhood. All are invited including those outside GWCA.
Day-Of Volunteers Needed: contact Sarah Maxwell at sarah.maxwell@gmail.com for more information
Fest Contributions Helpful: silent auction donations (gift certificate, goods, or services) donation or lending of item(s) to be used during Fest including tables and chairs for Euchre tournament
Fest Sponsor Donations Sought: The George Pullman ($100), The Ernie Banks ($250), The Ruth Page ($500), The Conrad Sulzer ($750), The Daniel Burnham ($1000)
DJ ☀ Miniature Golf ☀ Bounce House ☀ Magic by Randy
Kids Create Studio Activity ☀ Tie Dye ☀ Spin Art ☀ Juggler
Euchre Tournament ☀ 3:15-4:45 ☀ 3 rounds of round robin, $30 buy-in per player with cash prizes. Contact Paul Monzella at pmonzella@gmail.com to sign-up by 9/8
Sign-Up for Experience Parties ☀ We’re hosting 3 fun parties this fall & winter to hang out with your neighbors.
Be sure to check out the sign-ups for “Gals of GWCA”, “Guys of GWCA” and “Next Gen of GWCA” at the Fest
Magic By Randy ☀ 3:30-4:00
Silent Auction ☀ Featuring items from The Long Room, ClimbZone, Lakeview Taproom, Cubs game tickets, Namaskar Yoga, Interstellar Records & more!
Create Custom Tie Dye T-Shirts & Spin Art ☀ 4:00-6:00
Kids Create Studio Activity ☀ 4:00-6:00 ☀ Kids Create Studio on Southport will be on hand for a fun take-home art project
Kids Musical Chairs ☀ 4:30-5:00
Big Star Taco Truck & Margaritas ☀ 4:30-6:30
Juggler ☀ 6:00-7:00
Off Color Brewing Beer, plus Wine & Craft Cocktails
Sno Cones & Cotton Candy
2022 was a great year of re-emergence (of sorts) after a couple of years of flattening the COVID-19 curve and building immunity.
The GWCA Council would like to recognize our Block Reps who helps to deliver flyers and spread important neighborhood news. Thank You!
Also, thanks to all who volunteered or attended any of the GWCA meetings and events and participated in the goal of the association to foster positive relationships between residents of the neighborhood, promote civic engagement and educate community members on issues of common interest such as crime prevention, neighborhood history and preservation, and community improvement. It takes a village!
Thanks for a fantastic Graceland West Neighborhood Fest on September 11, 2022. We were delayed past our 3 pm start by a super cell that brought heavy rain and a squall that flooded several blocks of Greenview. Fest Committee and volunteers set up in a downpour and then held on to tent legs to keep them from going airborne. Randy started the Fest with the magic we all craved, Lisa B kept our hearts warm with song. Once weather lifted enough, neighbors began to fill the 4100 block of Greenview until it was packed with attendees from families with infants to a neighbor in his mid 90’s who walked through the rain to renew his membership. Neighbors kept baked goods coming and Peg’s Bake Table sold out. Kids sported painted faces, one dad held umbrellas in each hand to keep kids dry. Many volunteers went home and changed to dry clothes more than once. Mid-Fest, just when we were all hungry, Big Star Taco arrived with three kinds of tacos and a margarita, and then the juggler brought fire to warm us up.
Kudos to the Fest Committee, which included Barb Sullivan, Sarah Maxwell, Brad Pierce and more. They planned the perfect Fest and executed brilliantly, given the challenges mother nature sent their way. Thank you to the 25+ GWCA Members and Block Reps who helped with spreading the word about the event and a very special than you to LVHS students who braved the weather all day.
Because we were unable to properly thank our sponsors during the event, they are recognized below.
THANK YOU SPONSORS!
homemade craft cocktail sponsor
wine & beer sponsor
Brad & Melanie Pierce
pony ride & petting zoo sponsor
Marlene Granacki
juggler sponsor
soda & water sponsor
Chris McGowan & Sandy Wang
game prize sponsor
Tim & Barbara Sullivan
face painting sponsor
tie dye sponsor
bounce house sponsor
Jennifer Brown
port-a-potty & sanitization station sponsor
Dr. Lee Francis & Dr. Michelle Gittler
While the weather forecast unfortunately isn’t looking favorable for the Graceland West Neighborhood Fest, our annual festival and most of its offerings including the Big Star taco truck is on as planned. We’ll have coverage from the rain throughout the event as needed. Your participation from 3-7pm, today, September 11th, is appreciated and helps support Graceland West’s initiatives throughout the year ahead. Hope you can join!
Greenview between Belle Plaine & Warner
Join us for our largest event of the year! All are invited.
Bounce House Magic By Randy 3:30 Kids Games
Face Painting 4-6 Silly String Battles Big Star Taco Truck 4:30-6:30
Cornhole + Basketball Pony Rides & Petting Zoo 4-7 Bake Sale
Juggler 6-7 Beer, Wine & Margaritas Create Tie Dye T-Shirts
Spin Art Live Music + More!
If you’ve been following us on facebook or instagram you’ve seen a few photos from GWCAfests of the past… This year we’ll make some new memories…Sunday, 9/12 from 1-5 pm on the 4100 block of Greenview. More info on Facebook here.
When Graceland West Community Association (GWCA) was just getting started, it was decided that an annual block party would provide a venue for fund raising and a chance for neighbors to meet and talk (“fun raising” ).
Early block parties were pot lucks and our neighbor, DJ Gil Munoz would bring out his gear & provide music. That first year it was decided to have a chili contest – and then they added all of them to the pot luck meal.
As years went on, different people tried different things:
This year we’ll make some new memories…Today, Sunday, 9/12 from 1-5 pm on the 4100 block of Greenview. More info on Facebook here.
Tim McGonegle will be re-creating his role as Sheriff, with some assistance from his Grandson, Dawson. So there’s a new Sheriff in town!
Next year the block party could try something new that you suggest. Let us know what would get you to come next year and whether you could help to turn your idea in to reality at next year’s celebration
Magic by Randy at Sunday’s block party GWCAfest
For more than 30 years Randy Bernstein has been delighting children & adults with has own brand of stand up comedy and magic. He has been a perennial favorite at our block parties and we are delighted he will be performing this year at GWCAfest, Sunday, 9/12 at 4 pm in the 4100 block of Greenview. His nuanced performances keep the little ones engaged & adults laughing at his double entendres. Our children eagerly volunteer to “help” Randy perform his tricks. And even up close, sometimes don’t know how the trick worked.
Randy hasn’t been sitting home idle during this pandemic – he created a series of virtual magic show & classes so that children could still enjoy his unique brand of comedy magic.
For more information or to hire Randy for your next event:
www.MagicByRandy.com
(Note: there is a Groupon available for his virtual sessions)
Want to help? Call or text Barbara Sullivan at 773-727-3419. We need volunteers for 2 hour shifts from 1-3 or 3-5
We need treats for our bake sale table. Drop off individually wrapped treats, or bring a whole pan. Please wear a mask when baking.
Most importantly: Come, bring family & friends & enjoy the afternoon!
