Abe Lincoln Mania!

April 17th, 2008

*Meet Abe Lincoln & his wife at Gail Borden Library! No seriously, for $50 you can hobnob with some people dressed up in costume tomorrow (4/18) night at 7 pm. Champagne will be provided. Proceeds benefit the library.

Though this is one of the craziest and most unique things I’ve ever heard of, I think it could be insanely fun. Seriously, how often can you drink alcohol in the library without getting in trouble?

*Guess the idea isn’t completely unique after all! Wheaton’s Center for History has “An Evening with the Lincolns” tonight (4/17) at 7 pm. I’m pretty sure they aren’t serving alcohol though.

*Gail Borden has a ton of Lincoln-themed events coming up:
****4/22 @ 3 PM. Tea with Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd. Sounds similar to the $50 fundraiser, except it’s free and instead of champagne they’re serving lemonade. Count me in!
****4/28 @ 4 PM. Lincoln Studies and Stuff. Have a chat with the curator of Springfield’s Lincoln Presidential Library.
****4/28 @ 7 PM. Images of “Honest Abe.” Watch a slide show of how Lincoln’s image changed over the years.
****4/30 @ 7 PM. Lincoln’s Table. Learn about recipes that Lincoln’s family used. Now this one sounds interesting!

*If you love riding bikes and want to learn more about Lincoln, there is the Tour de Lincoln this August. It starts in Kentucky and ends in Illinois, stopping at Lincoln’s birth place, historic boyhood cabin, burial place, museum, and more.

*If you don’t love riding bikes but still want to learn more about Lincoln, there is a Legendary Lincoln Smithsonian Journey in May. It starts in Kentucky and ends in Illinois, similar to the bike ride mentioned above, but you travel by motorcoach and sleep in hotels.

Greater Elgin Area tid bits.

April 6th, 2008

-Did you know OakBrook residents don’t pay property taxes? Seriously, it says so right on the front page of their website.

-A Bartlett teen invited a girl to prom via graffiti, got caught by the cops via myspace. Wow!

-Hundreds of people waited around in Aurora yesterday hoping to get a glimpse of Johnny Depp, but he isn’t supposed to be there until today.

-Did you know there are places that, for a fee, provide ingredients and instruction so you can make two weeks worth of entrees on a Saturday? Then you freeze the meals and take them home so you don’t have to worry about cooking during the week! Check out Come & Dish in Algonquin and Dinner by Design in Algonquin, Crystal Lake, South Elgin, St. Charles, and all sorts of places nearby. (Hint: Radio Shopping Show has discounts on both of these places.)

-District 300 Foundation for Educational Excellence is auctioning off desks that were turned into works of art by students or staff. I like this one!

-The DuPage County Historical Museum is in danger of closing. Time to finally visit there!

-This isn’t in the Greater Elgin Area, but it is funny. Someone broke into a freight car in Galesburg, and must’ve been sorely disappointed to find it filled with ketchup. Nothing was stolen, but police found the ketchup squirted everywhere.