About Evanston's Northwest Evanston

Some of you may know that we had a heck of a storm pass through the Evanston area yesterday morning.

It roared through here around 8:00 in the morning, and a mere fifteen-twenty minutes later was simply a memory. But it left over 170 trees, or large branches down in Evanston, and hundreds of thousands of Chicago-area residents without power, and/or cable. In my case, it left me without Comcast which handles my Cable television, broadband and telephone.

But I'm more fortunate than others, as we had no loss of trees, no damage to the house, no water in the basement, and we still have electricity. As I write this there are still close to 100,000 Commonwealth Edison customers still without power, in hot and steamy condition.

Just to give you an idea of the power of this short-lived storm, here are a few photos of downed-trees in our area.

It must have been a bit of a micro-burst, as there was no report of a tornado or funnel cloud in the area... just localized strong-winds, and a lot of rain.

Hopefully, all will be improved, repaired and restored soon.

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What a world, what a world!!

For those of you unfamiliar with our Evanston 4th of July activities, we have a fun time.

It's homegrown, homespun, and enjoyable.

Family sports events will be held at Elks Park Lincolnwood school and Willard School as well as the Robert Crown center from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on the forth as well as 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Center.

In addition the finals of the citywide tennis tournament will be help from 8:00 in the morning through 4:00 in the afternoon at Ackerman Park on Central Street @ McDaniel. The weather promises to be perfect!

The centerpiece of the Evanston fourth of July festivities is the Parade wich begins on Central Street (starting at the west end of Central near Prospect and Cowper, where all the floats will be gathering). The parade begins promptly at 2:00 in the afternoon and travels east on Central past the reviewing stand at Ackerman Park, until it reaches Ryan Field (Dyche stadium for those long-term Evanston die-hards).

You can rest assured that my wife and I will be sitting out in front of the Coldwell Banker office on Central Street watching the parade. It's Amy's birthday too! Stop by and say hello and wish Amy a happy birthday (she will, of course, be 39 years old.... again!)

When the parade is over (and please don't leave until you've had a chance to view the South Shore Drill Team who usually brings up the rear... they're worth the wait), most people retire to local backyard barbecue parties.

Then as evening nears, the Palatine Concert Band begins performing at Dawes Park (Sheridan and Church) from 7:30-9:00 and at 9:15 (or when it finally becomes dark enough) the fireworks begin and can be viewed from most of the cities lakefront parks and beaches. My wife and her girlfriends tend to hang at Church St. Beach, where the view is spectacular.

The fireworks in Evanston are provided through the courtesy of the Evanston Fourth of July Association, which is a totally non-profit organization. The fireworks are privately funded through the association and no city money is spent on the fireworks at all. You can contribute to the Evanston Fourth of July Association by calling 847.637.5236 or go to www.evanston4th.org

Enjoy the fourth!!

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Happy Fourth of July

OPEN HOUSE, EVANSTON, IL

I will be sitting an Open House today at 2439 Cowper, Evanston, IL at this darling... storybook cottage. It's just as charming as it appears, but also larger than it looks. It's located in an area of Evanston where there have been recent tear-downs and sales of homes that are in the high 800's and 900's, and even a couple of low millions.

This home is only a 2 bedroom, 1 bath home... (a great alternative to living in a condo), but it has character and charm to spare. The living room has a fantastic stone fireplace, and a lovely bay window overlooking the large front porch. The kitchen has been nicely upgraded, and boasts a Spanish tile counters, white appliances and a breakfast bar for at least 2 maybe 3 people.

The dining room is separate, and large enough to seat 6-8 guests. The master bedroom is a large 16x9, and has a walk-in closet. And to give you a little more living space, the home has a lovely family room off the back of the house, from where you can sit and watch the kids (or the dog) playing in the fenced yard between the house and the 2-car detached garage.

Part of the home's charms include interior stucco walls, hardwood flooring, high ceilings, archways and built-ins... it also has a full-footprint basement for storage, laundry and mechanicals.

In other words, cute, cute, cute! And listed for ONLY $339,000... great entrance into the Willard and Haven school districts.

I'll be sitting there today from 1:00 - 3:00... stop by and visit me.