Don’t miss the 52nd A Day in Our Village festival from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Sunday, June 7 in Scoville Park! More than 150 activity booths representing several Village departments and citizen commissions as well as Oak Park civic, cultural, social service, educational and religious organizations will fill the park for this year's event, showcasing the variety of ways to get involved in community life. Live music, a food court featuring local businesses and extensive activities for kids are a few of the highlights in store, with the Park District of Oak Park again bringing its bubble foam cannon in a nod to A Day in Our Village tradition. Those arriving at the start of the day will have the opportunity to meet United States Olympic speedskaters Emery Lehman, an Oak Park native, and Mia Manganello from 11 a.m. until noon. The duo will be hanging out and signing autographs at the Village Board's booth near the top of the hill in front of the Peace Triumphant monument. More information about A Day in Our Village is available at www.oak-park.us/dayinourvillage.

Mark your calendar for Oak Park’s annual Juneteenth Celebration, which includes a flag-raising ceremony on Wednesday, June 10 and continues with a community cookout on Saturday, June 13. Both events take place at Village Hall, 123 Madison St. The flag-raising ceremony kicks off the festivities and will feature speakers, live performances and food as the Juneteenth flag is raised outside Village Hall. Find more information at www.oak-park.us/juneteenth along with links to RSVP for both events so organizers can plan accordingly.

Celebrate the LGBTQ+ community during the fourth annual Pride Night at Thursday Night Out. The special Pride event will take place from 5 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, June 11 in Downtown Oak Park and feature community resources, entertainment and more. The popular Thursday Night Out dine-around series showcases restaurants along Lake and Marion streets offering a variety of drinks, appetizers, entrees and desserts on the Thursday Night Out menu, with the option of eating in or carrying out. Thursday Night Out continues every Thursday through Aug. 27. More information is a www.thursdaynightout.com.

Oak Park celebrated Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Heritage Month on Saturday at Village Hall. Coordinated by the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office, the event centered on Kapwa, a Filipino value of togetherness and shared identity. Attendees enjoyed great food, music and more.

The Village is ramping up its efforts to highlight rules and regulations related to e-bikes and other devices such as electric scooters and micromobility devices. A new page published on the Village website at www.oak-park.us/ebikes provides an overview of new regulatory standards that were adopted by the Illinois General Assembly earlier this week that would take effect in 2027 if signed into law by the Governor. The page also information about the Village’s plans to educate the community about e-bike and micromobility safety. Click here for an informational flyer that is included on the page along with links to bike safety information.

John C. Melaniphy, the Assistant Village Manager of Economic Vitality, participated in Triton College’s Business and Executive Roundtable panel this week. The School of Continuing Education (SCE) hosted the event and focused upon practical workforce solutions. The panel discussed the workforce environment that requires organizations to think strategically about attracting, developing and retaining talent. The panel discussion also explored practical solutions for employers, including workforce funding, training opportunities and strategies to retain and strengthen their workforce. The Office of Economic Vitality is actively engaged in partnerships with high schools, universities, hospitals and trade schools, among others, to enhance the workforce pipeline in Oak Park.

Following a fatal shooting that involved an Oak Park Police Officer on Sunday night, the Village issued a statement on behalf Village President Vicki Scaman, Village Manager Kevin J. Jackson and Police Chief Shatonya Johnson. Click here to read the statement and the latest information about the incident.

The Finance Department is planning to update the Village’s BS&A payment platform to a cloud-based system starting Thursday, June 11 with plans for the new system to go live on Monday, June 15. While Village officials do not anticipate any significant disruptions to operations, the Cashier’s Office will be issuing paper receipts June 11-15 and then manually entering all the payments into the new system once it goes live. The only change regarding customer experience will be that payments will not post until the new system is live, which means a resident could see a charge listed as active for a day or two after they make a payment. If this results in any late fees, those will be forgiven. For more information about the transition, contact the Finance Department at finance@oak-park.us.

The Finance Department welcomed Dewayne Reid this week as he arrived to fill the position of Senior Accountant. Dewayne comes to the Village with more than a decade of experience in hospitality and corporate roles.

The Fire Department was excited to help escort the Fenwick softball team and Oak Park and River Forest High School boys volleyball team as they departed for their respective IHSA state championships. The Fenwick softball team traveled down Madison Street to Harlem Avenue on Thursday on its way to Peoria, where the Friars are scheduled to play Glenwood in a Class 3A state semifinal at 12:15 p.m. today (June 5). The OPRF boys volleyball team proceeded westbound along Lake Street to Harlem Avenue. From there, River Forest Fire officials continued to escort the team through their community. The Huskies are scheduled to play Lake Park in the state quarterfinals at 7:30 p.m. tonight (June 5).

The Village is joining its community partners in announcing the 2026 Suicide Awareness Summit on Sept. 25 at the Hyatt Lodge Conference Center in Oak Brook. Join the Village and other community organizations for a day of learning, connection and action focused on suicide prevention and mental wellness. The summit will feature expert-led sessions on topics including navigating grief after suicide, men of color and suicide prevention, clinical pathways for suicide prevention and other emerging behavioral health issues. Special early-bird registration though Aug. 15 is $125 per attendee and includes 5 CEUs for Social Workers and Counselors and PDUs for Educators. Find more information and register to attend at cmhb-oakpark.my.canva.site/2026summit.

Community members interested in learning more about an upcoming resurfacing project and planned traffic safety improvements along Ridgeland Avenue between Augusta Street and North Avenue are invited to attend an open house public meeting from 5 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9 in Room 101 at Village Hall. The federally funded proposed improvements, which are scheduled to be implemented in 2027, will primarily resurface the pavement throughout the project area along Ridgeland Avenue from Augusta Street to North Avenue. In addition, plans call for the implementation of various traffic calming improvements, including medians, curb bump-outs and left-turn restrictions. For more information about the open house, visit www.oak-park.us/ridgelandresurfacing or contact publicworks@oak-park.us or 708.358.5700.

Renew the Avenue updates – The electrical contractor for the Renew the Avenue project will be wrapping up the installation of temporary lighting between North Boulevard and Lake Street this week before moving south to Pleasant Street to begin removing the existing traffic signals. The intersection of Oak Park Avenue and Pleasant Street will temporarily become a four-way stop sign intersection next week while the new traffic signal infrastructure is installed. Other project updates include:

• The water-sewer utility crew has begun water service transfers on the south block at Oak Park Avenue and South Boulevard and will move back to Hunter Court and the alley to finish the water service loop and storm sewer installation later next week.
• On the outer blocks from Randolph Street to Pleasant and from Lake to Ontario Street, restoration work continues this week. The parkways have been excavated for final soil and sod restoration in the coming weeks. The roadway restoration will wrap up next week with the paving of the final surface lift of asphalt and installation of the final pavement markings. The contractor is still on track to open the outer blocks to traffic on June 12.
• Lastly, Union Pacific has finished structural steel repairs to the bridge overpass between South and North Boulevards on Oak Park Avenue and has begun the concrete abutment repairs. This work will continue for the next few weeks.

Alley improvement project – The alley between the 300 blocks of S. Euclid Ave. and S. Oak Park Ave. and the alley between the 500 blocks of S. Grove Ave. and S. Oak Park Ave. are planned to be reopened to vehicular traffic by the end of this week. Utility work will resume on Monday in the alley between the 800 blocks of N. Harvey Ave. and Mapleton Ave. Removals are ongoing in the alley between the 1000 blocks of Clarence Ave. and S. East Ave. 

Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (RRFB) installations – The contractor began parkway restoration this week and will continue into next week. The contractor and landscaper are removing the existing dirt spoils generated by the underground conduit drilling, cleaning up the parkway and placing grass seed. Next steps include installing the RRFB’s and bike push buttons at each intersection starting in mid-June.