Personal Accounts

When businesses were required to close down last March, the Moose Lodge at 601 N. Main Street took the down time as an opportunity to refresh the lodge. They did a lot of cleaning and repairs and pulled out an old front hedge and planted new landscaping. They hoped sprucing up the place would help draw more people in the future, helping them survive the economic disruption.

The most dramatic step they took was painting the lodge’s dark brown ceiling a light shade of white. The #660 board was evenly split on this decision. Many enjoyed the dark, lodge-y atmosphere. However, one member works in the real estate rehab business and he strongly advised the Board that lightening up the look of the social quarters would appeal to younger members, giving them a head start whenever they were allowed to reopen.

“When we did get the go-ahead to open outdoors, we spray painted blocks and aisles in the grass in our backyard, creating large areas where each picnic table or patio table would sit, properly distanced apart,” explained Mike Burke, a member of the Moose Lodge’s Board. “We painted lines in the parking lot where people remained six feet apart when standing to line to use the bathroom or order a drink. We piped music outside and people really enjoyed being out in the sun. Our members supported us a lot, especially on opening weekend, coming out just to see friends again and to see the lodge improvements. Yes, especially on Sunday afternoons, neighbors who were walking by stopped in, grabbed a picnic table and enjoyed a drink or two. We took it as an opportunity to introduce ourselves, tell them about our support of the Mooseheart charity, and potentially recruit new members.”

“To provide food, we arranged for Ernesto’s taco truck to come out to the lodge. Several of our members knew about Ernesto from the Mount Prospect Farmers Market. He was able to set up every Saturday night for a little while, then periodically thereafter. We have had him back on a number of occasions after we were allowed to open indoors in a limited capacity,” Burke continued.

Sometime in the summer, the Moose Lodge also started an outdoors bags league, a game otherwise known as cornhole. It became very successful. They had more than 16 teams playing on Thursday evenings on a weekly basis.

“We basically tried to utilize our outdoor space as much as we could. Our land put us at a real advantage over other bars and restaurants, which had to set up tents in their parking lots,” Burke said.

“We also booked several local bands to play on our deck,” he added. “Several played for free because they had lost all their gigs when restaurants and bars were closed down. We were one of the only places where bands had a large outdoor area to perform.”

Long-time Mount Prospect resident Joe Sonnefeldt, a professional percussionist and former member of the District 57 School Board, married Amy Barwan, a fellow musician who plays the oboe and English horn, on the front lawn of Sonnefeldt’s home on North Fairview Avenue in a very small, socially-distanced wedding on July 25. The celebrant was Pastor Rick Kesler of The South Church.

“I’ve lived in Mount Prospect since 1998 and raised two children here,” Sonnefeldt said. “I met Amy Barwan in 2017 when we both played in the pit orchestra for Disney’s “Aladdin” when it ran in Chicago. Amy moved here in June 2018 and she loves Mount Prospect!  Although we were planning to get married at some time, we had not set a date.”

“When theaters and the performing arts shut down in March 2020, we soon realized that we would be unemployed for a long time and that whenever our work returned, it would take a long time to recover financially. So, we decided not to let the pandemic delay our wedding indefinitely.”

“Our wedding party was limited to 11 people – ourselves; best man, Peter Brusen; matron of honor, Lisa Fako; my daughter, Nicole; Amy’s son, David Dowd; my parents; Amy’s mother and aunt; and the pastor. Everyone received a negative COVID test result before the wedding.”

The ceremony was live-streamed for friends and other family members to watch and then the nearby-ones got in their cars and drove by the house to congratulate them. Joe and Amy stood on the front lawn to greet each car and gave their “guests” individually packaged scoops of Capannari’s ice cream, special cupcakes from Central Continental Bakery and custom masks commemorating the day.

Photo credits:  Ashley Hamm Photography , Ashley Hamm Photography, Arlington Heights IL

Jay Goeppner and his wife, Britta Smith, have been living in Mount Prospect’s Triangle neighborhood for approximately 20 years, but until the COVID-19 pandemic, relatively few of their neighbors probably realized that Jay was a local rock ‘n roll legend. He performs with four different bands, one of which even bears his name.

During the summer of 2020, three of his four bands took a turn rehearsing on his driveway, to the delight of his neighbors who brought chairs and coolers to sit around and enjoy the music.  They attracted several hundred music lovers each time.

A native of the West Pullman neighborhood of Chicago, Goeppner moved to Mount Prospect to be closer to his “day job” as a baggage handler for American Airlines. In addition to paying the bills, that job has allowed him to travel the world and perform in 20 countries (including Liverpool, England during “International Beatles Week”) with his John Lennon tribute band – “Backdated.”

During normal times, “Backdated” performs as a classic rock band in bars and at festivals all over the Chicagoland area. They even served as the warm-up band for “Cheap Trick” at the Rosemont Theatre for one of the THE DRIVE radio station’s annual concert parties.

Goeppner joined “The Class of ’68 Band” about four years ago. It also performs at local festivals and clubs. “2 Jay Way” is a pop duo which was able to perform at outdoor venues during the summer of 2020 due to its small size. “The Jay Goeppner Band” focuses on original music. Goeppner is the lead vocalist/tambourine player with all of the bands.  

“Music has always been my passion,” Goeppner said. “I discovered “The Beatles” at an early age thanks to my older siblings and have idolized John Lennon ever since.”

“The driveway concerts came about out of the sheer desire to perform in front of a live audience again and as a way to give back to the community,” he explained. “I thought why not have an outdoor rehearsal and open it up to the neighbors?  It really was a spontaneous thing and we weren’t sure what kind of reception we would get but, as usual, the healing power of music won out!  People with their children — and even dogs — in tow brought lawn chairs, coolers and blankets and parked themselves on our front lawn for a two-hour concert by “2 Jay Way,” which I also live streamed on Facebook.”

“The whole world was literally watching and the people loved it! They wanted to know when we were going to do it again and those watching it on live stream wanted to live in a community like ours.  In total, I hosted four shows on our driveway with the last one featuring the “Class of “68 Band”.  We billed it as an Oktoberfest and the neighbors chipped in for a keg.  We passed out Bavarian pretzels and Gummi bears to the social-distanced crowd and some of us even served brats.  I’m not sure who enjoyed themselves more, the musicians or the crowd.”

“Opening up our block brought us closer together as a community and gave us a release that we all so desperately needed.  Although the bands didn’t charge for the concerts, the neighbors were extremely generous with their donations and tips. There’s a good chance that the driveway concerts will become an annual event.”

Photo credits: Mike Zarnek, Mike Zarnek Photography, Mount Prospect IL

by Keri Graham

Keri Graham of Mount Prospect turned her hair into a fun, colorful statement during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“At the end of 2019, I had decided to let my natural gray (ok, silver) grow out and continue with just highlights. It was becoming too costly to cover the gray and since I was approaching 50, I felt it was time to embrace my natural color as the base,” Keri said. “So, when the COVID stay- at-home order went into effect, I was slightly ahead of the curve. I had been in for a hair appointment on February 18 and didn’t get in again until May.”

“To be honest, I’ve been playing with vibrant colors for the past 5+ years,” she continued. “I have tried everything from bolds to pastels. It started with me deciding to go pink. I had always wanted crazy hair colors when I was younger, but my parents weren’t exactly on board with that plan.”

These days she said she does get stares, but the reactions of others are mostly positive. “Very often, I’ll get ‘I wish I were brave enough to do that’ and I respond with ‘just go for it’!” 

Graham’s most memorable encounter came last February while having a date day with her husband in the city. She said she was stopped multiple times by strangers, commenting on how much they loved her hair.

A year into the pandemic, Graham said, “Now, my silver is clearly showing through under the vibrant colors and I am happy with the end result!”

The Mount Prospect Farmers Market, run every Sunday morning by the Mount Prospect Lions Club in one of the train station parking lots, carried on in a slightly-diminished manner during 2020. 

Prior to opening for the 2020 season, the four-person committee that coordinates the local staple consulted with the Village and the Illinois Environmental Health Department; visited other local Farmers Markets to see how they were conducting their markets; and studied the CDC guidelines so they could relay them to the vendors. 

“Since we had to social distance, our vendor space was limited and we wanted to have enough room for parking, as well. Fortunately, some vendors decided not to participate. Overall, I don’t think business was down, but attendance may have been,” said Fred Steinmiller, chairman.

“It was a big adjustment,” he continued. “For instance, we needed additional Lions to monitor all the exits and entrances, armed with masks, gloves and hand sanitizer. And finding people willing to work on Sunday mornings is tough.”

For the most part, according to Steinmiller, the public accepted the restrictions and followed the guidelines. He said that residents and guests were generally very appreciative of the MP Lions’ efforts, although they did receive some pushback from shoppers on the mask mandate.

“But we reminded them that this was a guideline set by the CDC and since we were operating on Village property, we had to comply,” he added.

During the 2021 season the Lions hope to gradually add more vendors and maybe some special events. The Sister Cities Commission also hopes to bring back their French Market one Sunday in September, but social distancing requirements, if they persist, might make that impossible. 

Photo credits; William Wille

by Kiersten Cannizzaro

During the spring of 2020, in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, professional photographer Kiersten Cannizzaro offered free group photos via her photography Facebook page and the Mount Prospect Neighbors page. The response was amazing. About 80 families and even a number of businesses in Mount Prospect, Arlington Heights, Park Ridge, Chicago, Palatine, Elk Grove, Wheeling, Lake In The Hills, Elgin and Algonquin took her up on her offer!

“I had seen a clip on the news about other photographers doing porch portraits and I thought it was a great idea,” Cannizzaro explained. “I had seen how much restaurants in our area were struggling and thought I could do some shoots and ask people in return to order from local restaurants to help boost business. I thought this would be the perfect scenario to get me out of my four walls and interact with people at a safe distance and make people smile again (which makes my heart smile) while giving back to the local restaurant businesses that were needing business now more than ever.”

“And shortly after that, I learned Station 34 was donating meals to first responders so I started asking for donations and sending the money to Station 34 where Joe, the owner, was making and delivering meals to police stations, fire stations, hospitals, nursing homes, public works etc.”

“I started my career at Leo Burnett Advertising and there I was trained to always be looking for ways to promote a product or business, but this was really something different,” Cannizzaro said. “The pandemic brought out a lot of good in people. It made so many of us want to do something good; to make a difference; or to help in some way.”

“I’m not a doctor or in healthcare, so what good could I do?” she continued. “I can make people smile! So that is exactly what I did. I made people smile and then helped feed those that are helping take care of those who are sick. It felt good to do something nice for people and to make people feel better at a time when we all really weren’t feeling so great. Maybe I wasn’t saving lives, but I was saving a few smiles and that was just as good for me.”

Looking back on that time, Cannizzaro said that she has many wonderful memories of her photo shoots.  There were the graduates who didn’t get the big commencement pomp and circumstance; the first wedding anniversary when they shared their wedding cake; the baby announcements; and the First Communions with girls in their beautiful white dresses with gloves and boys in their suits, all growing up with such dignity and grace in these unprecedented times. “There were also lots of families with their proud service members, police officers, firemen, nurses, doctors, teachers, as well as the proud parents sending their sons and daughters off to the Army and Navy or off to college, all with tears streaming down their faces and beaming with pride.” 

“There were so many happy faces and goofy families who made the spring of 2020 a better spring overall,” she added.

Randview Highlands Artwork

When Karen Luehr and her 11-year-old daughter, Emma, found themselves locked down in their Randview Highlands home east of Prospect High School in the spring of 2020 because of COVID-19, they quickly began putting hand-drawn photos in their windows and doing chalk drawings on the sidewalk in front of their home – all to entertain the increased number of walkers suddenly parading by each day. Emma was the artist.

“Our neighbors all seemed to love it!  The artwork brought a smile to people’s faces,” Karen said.

The Luehr home artwork even ended up on a neighborhood scavenger hunt!