MONTHLY ARCHIVES: May 2023
Good afternoon, Antioch! It’s Memorial Day weekend, a time to relax and spend with family and friends. More importantly, it’s also time to reflect on the profound impact, courage, and sacrifices of the men and women who have given their lives in support of our great nation and the lasting legacy they leave behind. Together, we honor their memory and stand united as a grateful community. If you can, please join me for Monday’s Memorial Day ceremony at the Antioch Hillside Cemetery. The ceremony will be hosted by the Antioch American Legion Post 748 and Antioch VFW Post 4551, starting at 9:00 a.m. A reception with refreshments will follow immediately after the ceremony. Downtown Park Update: Our Village Board meeting this past Wednesday was canceled, so we’re holding a special meeting this coming Wednesday and I hope to be approving the bid to begin construction of the downtown park! The agenda for the Committee of the Whole and the Village Board meetings is available here: https://www.antioch.il.gov/download/village_board/Agendas/2023/05-31-23-Village-Board-and-COW-Agenda.pdf The pool opens this weekend! I know a lot of people are excited about the season opening of the Antioch Aqua Center! The pool will be open this weekend, Saturday through Monday, from 12 Noon to 5:00 p.m. for open swimming. Pool passes are available at the pool tomorrow through Monday from 9 a.m. to 12 Noon. For residents, you’ll need to bring a utility bill and picture ID to receive the resident rate. As an extra incentive to buy a pool membership, our Parks Department will be giving away beach balls to the first 50 memberships sold this weekend! The next Village of Antioch Wine Walk is about a week away! Our Wine Walks seem to grow more popular with each event. The Wine Walks are fun ways to spend time downtown supporting our local business community. Our next Wine Walk, on Saturday, June 3rd, looks to be our best-attended walk in years! If you haven’t got your tickets yet, you better buy them soon. Even though our Parks Department increased capacity for the next Wine Walk, we are almost out of tickets! For tickets, visit the Parks Office at 806 Holbek Drive or buy online at: https://secure.rec1.com/IL/village-of-antioch/catalog/index/d862b33c60f2844d1aa211fed50b0aa6?filter=c2VhcmNoPXdpbmU%3D&fbclid=IwAR2AHtgef7Nrv3dPNBh0MD3ESUeQIw7jOVopXj4ohhViU9rJ-ba_ehRh9cs Upcoming Village Events: May 29, 2023, 9 a.m. Antioch Memorial Day Ceremony, Hillside Cemetery June 3, 2023, 12n – 4 p.m. – Summer Wine Walk June 8, 2023, 4 p.m. – 7 p.m. – Farmers Market Kickoff June 8, 2023, 6 p.m. – It’s Thursday concert series kickoff with US99 and Rodney Atkins June 11, 2023, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. – Food Truck FEASTival on Toft I hope your weekend is enjoyable and fun, and your Memorial Day is meaningful. Scott J. Gartner #antiochil #antiochmayorsupdate #antiochmayorsmessage
Happy Friday, Antioch! Congratulations ACHS Class of 2023! 🎓 This Sunday evening is the spring graduation ceremony for Antioch Community High School. I want to take a moment to celebrate this incredible milestone in your lives. Celebrate this momentous occasion with pride, knowing that your community, the Village of Antioch is cheering you on every step of the way. May your future be filled with endless possibilities, boundless joy, and continued success. Speaking of graduation, congratulations to the 35 kids from the Antioch Park Department’s Camp Crayon that graduated this week! The graduates from the 4-year-old class had their ceremony at the bandshell – we’ll be posting pictures from graduation on the village Facebook page this weekend. These graduates are now off to kindergarten! Antioch Parks Director Mary Quilty tells me that many of these kids are second-generation Camp Crayon graduates! How cool is that? Way to go, Camp Crayon!! Did you make it out to the Antioch Dunkin’ this morning? It’s always great to see the strong community support for the Antioch Police Department’s fundraising for the Special Olympics Illinois. Chief Guttschow tells me there was a constant stream of people stopping by to make donations all morning long! I can’t wait to see the final fundraising numbers for our department. Thanks again not only for your support of #CopOnARooftop but also for the constant support our community shows to the men and women who dedicate their lives to protect our community. Great job, APD! Calling all Harry Potter fans! Tickets are on sale now for the Antioch Chamber’s popular Wizard Weekend Day, on Saturday, June 24th. New this year, is the Tri-Wizard Potion Crawl for Witches and Wizards 21 and older. For tickets or more information, visit: https://cm.antiochchamber.org/events/details/wizards-tri-wizard-potion-crawl-6-24-23-7731?fbclid=IwAR2OfAtOmjRt6Z5jj8y-0MOLwHVC5_3ao4YPJ1xQGj1GNbKI-jMEzY_auCM EIKU, LLC – The Open Mic Coffee And Tea House is hosting its first-ever Prairie Waters Music and Arts Festival tomorrow. The festival will feature performances throughout the day tomorrow (Saturday, May 20th) at several different locations in downtown Antioch. For schedule information, and details on how to buy a wristband, visit: https://fb.me/e/3vxSClir9 This Antioch Garden Club’s annual Plant Sale is this weekend! The annual fundraising event for the club is tomorrow beginning at 10 a.m. at Williams Park. The sale features a wide variety of native and local perennials for sale. The proceeds from the sales go to help take care of the downtown gardens maintained by the garden club. More information: https://antiochgardenclub.org/plant-sale Our next Village Board meeting is this coming Wednesday. Village Board meetings are held on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. The agenda for the Committee of the Whole and the Village Board meetings will be posted on the village’s website by Monday afternoon. Upcoming Village Events: May 24, 2023, 6:30 p.m. – Antioch Village Board Meeting June 3, 2023, 12n – 4 p.m. – Summer Wine Walk June 8, 2023, 4 p.m. – 7 p.m. – Farmers Market Kickoff June 8, 2023, 6 p.m. – It’s Thursday concert series kickoff with US99 and Rodney Atkins June 11, 2023 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. – Food Truck FEASTival on Toft I hope you have a great weekend! Scott J. Gartner #antiochil #antiochmayorsupdate #antiochmayorsmessage
Good afternoon, Antioch! Happy Friday! I want to start by wishing moms everywhere a very Happy Mother’s Day weekend. If you still have some last-minute Mother’s Day shopping to do, remember, the local businesses of Antioch have everything you need for Mom! Flowers, chocolate, gifts, brunch, lunch, dinner, dessert, coffee, wine, and wine😊, and much, much, much more! And – to make shopping for Mom even easier, many of the downtown shops are kicking off the Downtown Antioch Second Saturday event tomorrow night! Once a month, on the second Saturday of each month, participating local businesses have agreed to stay open later. For a full list of who is staying open along with other details, visit: https://fb.me/e/3AcVj3Sw9 At this week’s Village Board meeting, we said goodbye to a long-serving member and welcomed a new member to the Village Board. I want to thank outgoing Antioch Trustee Mary Dominiak for 12 years of dedicated service to our village. Mary chose not to run in this spring’s election and we wish her the best in her next endeavor. She has been a tireless advocate for all things Antioch, especially our local business community. It was a testament to her hard work to see the many members of our local business community show up to wish her the best at our meeting. Thank you for your service, dedication, and friendship Mary! You did a tremendous job as Village Trustee. I would like to welcome lifelong Antioch resident, Rebecca McNeill as the newest member of the Antioch Village Board. I’ve known Rebecca for many years and am excited to have her enthusiasm and passion for our community on our board. Welcome, Rebecca! Happy Teacher’s Appreciation Week to all the local teachers in our community. I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude for your tireless efforts in educating our youth and preparing them for the challenges of tomorrow. You are the backbone of our community, and we are grateful for your unwavering commitment to our children’s future. Thank you for all that you do! The Antioch Public Library District will be holding its grand opening ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house tomorrow morning at the library. I look forward to joining the members of the APLD Board of Trustees, US Congressman Brad Schneider, along with other community members, to commemorate the extensive renovation and growth of our library. The event starts tomorrow at 9 a.m. and the open house will run until 2 p.m. If you haven’t had a chance to see the renovations to the library, I encourage you to stop by! More info: https://apld.libcal.com/event/10190822?hs=a Also tomorrow, the Antioch Parks Department will host the re-scheduled Earth Day Community Clean-Up. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to help clean up our community parks! Your help is greatly appreciated! Did someone say donuts? Next Friday, join the men and women of the Antioch Police Department for the annual Cop on a Rooftop fundraising event at the Antioch Dunkin’. The event starts at 5 a.m. at the Antioch Dunkin’ (442 Orchard Street) and runs through 12 Noon. Money raised will go towards the Illinois Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics You can stop by, make a donation, and buy merchandise (shirts and coffee mugs), all of which will go toward the fundraising goal. More information: https://fb.me/e/2tYRScgzy Have a great weekend! Scott J. Gartner #antiochil #antiochmayorsupdate #antiochmayorsmessage
Happy Friday, Antioch! What a beautiful day! I can’t help but get excited as we move into a busy season for events and fun in Antioch! It will be busy in Downtown Antioch this weekend! Tomorrow is the annual District 34 Art Crawl! The Art Crawl is tomorrow (5/6) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in downtown Antioch. It’s your chance to enjoy the Art and Music of the very talented D34 students! For more information, including the map and schedule of performances, visit: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=632189742258791&set=pb.100064033117424.-2207520000. This Sunday is the first Food Truck FEASTival of the season! In addition to eight food trucks, we’ll also have live music, including popular children’s entertainer Miss Jamie’s Farm performing at 12:30 p.m. The food truck event runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. along Toft Avenue. Bring your family and your appetite! More info: https://fb.me/e/4cQAnAtaQ Did you hear the big news?? Last week, I announced most of the line-up for the It’s Thursday summer concert series, except for our kickoff concert. Yesterday morning, US99’s Drew Walker was joined by Raymond Auto Group’s Mark Scarpelli to announce that country music star Rodney Atkins will be kicking off our summer concert series on June 8th! This is going to be an exciting show and a great opportunity to showcase our community to thousands of visitors! I’ll have more in the coming weeks on other shows this summer, including a weekend of concerts with 93XRT radio! Additionally, we hope to partner again with 95 WIIL Rock with a concert later this summer. These concerts couldn’t happen without the support of the members of the village board, our radio partners, and our sponsors. Thanks again to Mark Scarpelli and the Raymond Auto Group for stepping up to be our presenting sponsor, along with our Gold Level sponsor, State Bank of the Lakes, and our Silver Level sponsors: Lakeshore Beverage, Antioch Fine Wine & Liquors, Fischer Paper Products, The Lakota Group, Merit Law Group, Inc., & Ottosen DiNolfo Hasenbalg & Castaldo, Ltd. I would like to wish a very happy Professional Municipal Clerks Week to Antioch Village Clerk, Lori Romine and Antioch Deputy Village Clerk, Cheryl Mateja! Among all the things Lori and Cheryl do for our village (they wear many hats), Lori and Cheryl play an integral role in our local government, providing essential support and ensuring that our meetings and records are well-organized and accessible to the public. Their tireless efforts have contributed significantly to the smooth functioning of our village government, and we are lucky to have them on our team. Thank you, Lori and Cheryl, for your hard work and dedication. Happy Professional Municipal Clerks Week! The Antioch Chamber of Commerce is hosting its Annual Membership Luncheon with Antioch’s Police and Fire Chiefs providing their “Emergency Services Updates”. This event is open to everyone, you do not need to be a chamber member to participate. The luncheon will be Wednesday, May 17, 2023, at 11:30 a.m. at the Rivalry Alehouse. Advance registration is required by the Friday before. For more information and to register, visit: https://cm.antiochchamber.org/events/details/membership-luncheon-emergency-services-5-17-23-7732 You probably saw that tax bills arrived in our mailboxes this week. Taxes are always a sensitive topic. As Mayor, I work closely with our Village Board and village staff to ensure that we are responsible stewards of the tax money we collect. One of the things I’m most proud of as Mayor is the fact that we’ve been able to move forward with several big capital projects in our community, such as the redevelopment of the village-owned property at Main and Orchard, without creating a bigger burden on property tax owners in our village. These projects are paid for in several ways, including grants and a bond issue that will be paid back from sales tax revenue. Finally, just a reminder that you may have noticed we’re trying out a new format for my weekly message. Last week, I started to post my weekly message to the Antioch.il.gov website. The village will re-share it on its Facebook page, and I will continue to share it on my Antioch Mayor Scott Gartner Facebook page, too. We hope this new format will help get the message out to more people every week. To visit my messages, visit: www.antioch.il.gov/mayorsmessage. Thank you for reading! I hope to see you at the Food Truck FEASTival on Sunday! Scott J. Gartner #antiochil #antiochmayorsupdate
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