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Attention Evanston families — here’s a resource you won’t want to miss!

We’ve launched a new weekly newsletter that will keep you in-the-know about everything going on around town, from school and neighborhood updates to family-friendly events and parenting tips. We know you’re busy, so Raising Evanston will be conveniently curated and delivered to your inbox on Tuesdays.

Our writers are plugged into the E-town ecosystem (and maintain a high bar for what’s relevant!) As a Raising Evanston reader, you’ll always know what’s going on in Evanston. And here’s the best part: It’s completely free!

Subscribe now at the 🔗 in our bio

#Evanston #EvanstonRoundTable #etown #raisingevanston #ert #parenting #parents #families #parentingnewsletter #familynewsletter #familyfriendly

📝 & 📸 : Evanston RoundTable by @evanstonroundtable

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3

a year ago

Juan Gomez got to kick into that Allstate Insurance net just like the Division I kickers on television do.

Justin Johnson — a future Division I star — delivered a Big Ten-type hit on a New Trier receiver at one point in the second quarter.

But once the excitement of playing at Northwestern University’s new $875 million Ryan Field facility settled in, New Trier owned the fourth quarter.

The Trevians took another step toward evening up the all-time record in one of the state’s longest football rivalries, scoring a 42-28 triumph in front of the largest crowd to witness a high school game in Illinois in at least 25 years.

An estimated crowd of 25,000 was on hand Friday night for the first high school contest ever played on the new NU field. It’s the first time in the long history of the rivalry that the game was held on a college field, and New Trier closed the gap on the Wildkits in the all-time series. ETHS now leads in the head-to-head competition by a mere 57-55 margin, and the two rivals have tied six times.

The crowd is believed to be the largest in Illinois since an estimated 35,000 attended the Prep Bowl back in 1999 at Soldier Field in Chicago. It’s the biggest turnout for a New Trier-ETHS game in the history of a rivalry that began back in 1913.

New Trier, now 8-1, built its résumé for the postseason with the victory and will earn a first-round bye for the Illinois High School Association state playoffs. Evanston fell to 5-4 overall. Both teams will learn where they’ll fall in the Class 8A postseason bracket when the IHSA pairings are announced Saturday night.

Read the full story at the 🔗 in our bio
#Evanston #EvanstonRoundtable

📝: Dennis Mahoney
📸 : Todd Thomas by @evanstonroundtable

51

0

17 hours ago

What started as an idea to share a table at a farmers market has grown into a book fair. More than 20 local authors will sell and sign their books at the Evanston Public Library later this month.

Evanston Authors, a newly formed community group led by local writers Tim Pareti, Bruce Dravis, Patricia Stankovic, Anne Beall and Richard Engling, organized the fair. It will take place from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, at the library, 1703 Orrington Ave. More than 20 local authors will sell their books and meet with readers in the library’s Community Meeting Room at the group’s first book fair. Stankovic is an occasional contributor to the Evanston RoundTable.

“We want to talk to readers in Evanston, and we want to connect with people who are in Evanston — authors and readers alike,” Beall said.

What’s Evanston Authors?

The group’s five founding members first met over drinks at Cupitol Coffee last spring. Stankovic initially reached out to Pareti, Dravis, Beall and Engling to ask if they’d be interested in sharing a table at a farmers’ market or street fair to sell books.

“All boats rise together,” Beall said. “So why not be supporting one another and promoting one another? That’s kind of how this all came about — this idea that Evanston has a great literary scene; let’s promote it.”

But as the group talked, the concept evolved. Stankovic said the founders wanted to form the group to find community in writing and share tips about writing and publishing. The group helps authors promote their work, too.

“We decided first and foremost it was like a group for authors, specifically authors with a published book to have a group where we could share resources and support each other,” Stankovic said.

“Writing is a very solitary pursuit,” Beall added. “It’s very lonely. Often, there are many years of rejection, and it takes a long time to get stuff done. Sometimes it takes five years to write a book. You really need other people to connect with.”

Read the full story at the 🔗 in our bio
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📝: Ella Mitchell
📸 : Courtesy of Patricia Stankovic by @evanstonroundtable

106

2

2 days ago

For more than a year, nurses at Endeavor Health, which includes Evanston Hospital, have been trying to unionize. Now, with Wednesday’s announcement that Endeavor Health and Rush University System for Health — where nurses unionized in May — will merge, one union may have to make way for another.

The merger is expected to close in 2027 and will operate under the Rush name, according to a press release from Rush. If the efforts of the Endeavor nurses to unionize succeeds before the merger, Rush may find itself with two unions representing one group of employees — which would force one to make way for the other, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Representatives from Endeavor and Rush did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Under the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards OLMS, a union merger is when one union (or more) ceases to exist and its membership and assets are absorbed into another union or a new one. In that case, the union to be discontinued must file a terminal LM‑2 report, and only the surviving union continues to operate. By contrast, an affiliation is when two unions remain separate but are chartered under the same parent body or share a governance structure. In an affiliation, both unions continue to exist and represent different groups of employees — such as administrative staff and nurses.

The nurses at Rush University System for Health, which has three hospitals in Chicago, Aurora and Oak Park, voted to unionize its Chicago hospital in May, which is represented by the National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC), an affiliate of the larger National Nurses United.

Additionally, NNOC is also hoping to form a union at Endeavor’s Edward Hospital in Naperville and last week petitioned to hold an election. The petition was filed with the National Labor Relations Board by National Nurses United, the national affiliate of the NNOC.

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📝: Bob Chiarito
📸 : Richard Cahan by @evanstonroundtable

127

2

3 days ago

The Ryan Field Community Advisory Council huddled again Wednesday to review how Northwestern University’s new football stadium is doing, taking aim at its sound systems after the city received numerous resident complaints.

The Wildcats debuted the new stadium to both Evanston and the country in a nationally televised night game against Penn State University on Oct. 2, and followed it up with a day game against Ball State University Saturday. The advisory council spent months ahead of the launch developing operational plans for transportation, security and sustainability, and reconvened in the Council Chambers at Morton City Hall to review the initial performance and suggest changes.

Those three plans mostly fell by the wayside on Wednesday, however, as the panel scrutinized the amplified sound in and around Ryan Field. City Manager Luke Stowe said the volume in the surrounding neighborhood is “the biggest sticking point right now,” and shared that he personally used a sound reader to measure volumes during the first two games, as NU hasn’t yet installed permanent monitors required before the first public concerts are held next year.

“We’re gonna install our own devices in addition to whatever Northwestern and [Oak View Group] does as well,” Stowe said, the latter company being the stadium’s operator and manager. “I’m hoping that tonight, Northwestern and OVG has heard loud and clear how important this issue is to the neighbors and to the city, and I would hope that we would have these corrections for game three.”

Stowe recommended that for the main loudspeaker system inside the stadium, the city should stick to monitoring and enforcing existing decibel limits set by city code. The panel did recommend one new restriction, that the stadium not be allowed to start amplified sound for any event before 9:30 a.m., which is 90 minutes before the earliest football kickoff of 11 a.m.

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📝 & 📸 : Alex Harrison by @evanstonroundtable

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39

4 days ago

At Tuesday’s Evanston/Skokie District 65 school board meeting, administrators unveiled a plan to cut approximately $20 million from the budget — which included closing Dewey and Lincolnwood elementary schools along with axing some non-mandated programs.

The plan proposed the elimination of the School Age Child Care program after the current school year. According to the slideshow presented to board members Tuesday, SACC costs the district $1.95 million per year.

“We do not see a viable pathway to get the program to break even,” Assistant Superintendent Stacy Beardsley said Tuesday, noting that the district would have to raise the program’s price by 35% to do so.

The slideshow also said that “directly operating childcare is not typical of public school districts.” The district estimated annual savings from cutting the program at $400,000.

“It’s more than just a non-mandated program. It’s a program that really affects families,” Natalie Copper, the Dawes Elementary SACC site coordinator, told the RoundTable during the meeting. Working families rely on the program, Copper said, so they can leave work on schedule.

The next cut proposed by administrators was a total restructuring of the district’s early childhood education program.

“Early childhood education and the strong foundation it provides children is critical. At the same time, maintaining various program options requires significant district resources,” one slide said.

Under this plan, District 65 would retain its Preschool for All program and continue to serve students with individualized education programs. Preschool for All is administered through a grant from the state of Illinois.

The plan would also “relinquish” Head Start and Early Head Start programs, which are administered by federal grants.

Read the full story at the 🔗 in our bio
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📝 : Hope Perry and Macy Millones
📸 : Richard Cahan by @evanstonroundtable

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6

5 days ago

Despite the almost indescribable beauty of this fall, the spirit of the City of Evanston seems to be lagging. While our schools are threatened with financial shortages and threats of closings, the light is on over there, where board members, administrators and very concerned families are trying to dig the district out of structural debt.

At the city, though, things seem worn — careworn, outworn, timeworn — at best, in flux. The $11-million-per-year move of city government to 909 Davis St. may not have worked out to everyone’s satisfaction. And the tentative budget with $379 million in expenditures, presented to the public last week, seems to be an exhalation of task completion more than a statement of values.

One might ask how downtown Evanston is faring in light of the economic boost that the move was supposed to bring. A speaker at the Sept. 23 Economic Development Committee meeting, the president of a downtown homeowners’ association, said many people in her building consider downtown Evanston a place to do errands rather than serious shopping or dining.

For some, Evanston’s downtown is just not enticing. Second-floor retail doesn’t count much for visual appeal. An empty ground-floor storefront sends a chill of disappointment, regardless of what enterprise may flourish above.

To be fair, there are efforts to revitalize the downtown area. Pop-up spaces at Bookman’s Alley are showcasing small Evanston businesses, with the hope that they will grow enough to fill some of the empty storefronts. The organization Downtown Evanston is making great efforts to bring people downtown, with music, markets and other merriment. And the return of Northlight Theatre to a classy new venue is an undeniable boon.

The most recent information from the city’s Economic Development division (September 2026) shows a citywide 4.5% vacancy rate in retail space and a 12.8% vacancy rate in office space. Lots of people are working at home.

Read the full story at the 🔗 in our bio
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📝 & 📸 : Mary Helt Gavin by @evanstonroundtable

189

30

6 days ago

In late August, Bridgett Piacenti opened a one-room yoga practice space, @moxieyogaspace , in the Greenleaf Arts District with the goal of creating a space for people to connect, restore and commune with one another.

The studio at 1407 Greenleaf St. is shared with the Evanston Aikido Center, a dedicated Japanese martial arts training space. There are four teachers who offer classes, including Piacenti, and the space can hold up to 32 yoga mats.

Piacenti is an Evanston local with two kids and over 20 years of yoga teaching experience.

She wants her space to be an authentic commune for patrons to practice classical yoga, removed from gimmicks and oversaturation that she believes has become a large component of today’s wellness spaces.

“I don’t want to give up the quality piece for volume,” Piacenti said, describing the value of an intimate space like moxie. “The optimization culture for me is not one that I super buy into or lean into.”

As a result, Piacenti chose to have the space operate as a collective. Under the model, teachers work independently, retain most of the revenue from their classes and contribute to the rent, Piacenti said.

“These teachers are able to run their own little mini businesses, which is also very unique in the yoga studio world,” Piacenti said.

moxie. offers a few membership options: a one-time class access pass, a five-session or 10-session bundle. The collective structure allows moxie. to price the one-time class pass at $20, a remarkably affordable price compared to many other yoga studios, Piacenti said.

Natural light shines on a large spring-floored space. Two changing rooms and a bathroom are tucked away in the back for patron use. Wooden training weapons stay mounted on the wall for when the room transforms into an aikido practice space.

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📝 & 📸 : Macy Millones by @evanstonroundtable

130

13

7 days ago

The Evanston Township High School golf team returns home Saturday night after winning the state golf championship. The Wildkits had finished second in the state tournament for the past two years, but won by 10 strokes in downstate Bloomington.

“I’m very grateful for the opportunity of having a career in coaching in a community that I love and in a community that loves me back,” said head coach Jed Curtis, who is retiring as coach after 20 years. He retired from teaching last year and commuted from his new home in Michigan to coach the team this year.

The Wildkits set an Illinois High School Association golf state record in the Class 3A finals posting a 36-hole total of 581, or 5 over par, the combined score of four players over eight rounds of golf during two days.

“It’s the bond that they will remember,” said Curtis. “These trophies come and they go. Riding the bus and eating at Chipotle and being together, that’s what’s going to last. That’s what matters.”

Read the full story at the 🔗 in our bio
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📝 & 📸 : Richard Cahan by @evanstonroundtable

268

1

8 days ago

Just three weeks shy of her 80th birthday on Halloween, Evanston resident Nancy Rollins will run the 2026 Bank of America Chicago Marathon. In 1980, Rollins ran her first marathon at the Chicago Marathon. Today, she has run more than 100.

“I just want to empower as many people as I can to just keep moving their bodies,” Rollins said.

More than 55,000 participants are expected to cross the finish line in Grant Park for the 48th annual Chicago Marathon Sunday, Oct. 11. Last year, 149 runners from Evanston completed the race, according to Patch.

Rollins, who began running in her 30s, has built an impressive resume. In 2005, she was inducted into the Chicago Area Runners Association Hall of Fame and has won her age group several times across different marathons. Rollins met her husband at the 1982 Boston Marathon and serves as a coach for the Evanston Running Club.

Although Rollins may be the most decorated Evanstonian competing in this year’s race— she is a six-time USA Track & Field national award recipient — other locals will be running, volunteering and cheering.

Melissa Ramsey — who has been captain of the Evanston Running Club’s Chicago Marathon aid station for the past 10 years — will be positioned around the 17-mile mark with a team of approximately 180 volunteers who will offer water and Gatorade to runners.

Ramsey recruits all volunteers for the aid station. Many ETHS cross country team members volunteer each year, part of an enduring relationship between the two groups. Black Girls Run and the Rogers Park Running Club will also fill spots at the aid station this year, Ramsey said.

Before the sun rises on race day, volunteers arrive and begin setting up the station.

“We set up about 24 8-foot tables,” Ramsey said. “We just start piece by piece, putting the tables together and putting the cups out, and then mixing that Gatorade or pouring that water and building four or five levels of cups onto the tables.”

Read the full story at the 🔗 in our bio
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📝: Macy Millones
📸 : Steve Helfrich by @evanstonroundtable

97

1

9 days ago

Argos American Bistro, a breakfast and lunch restaurant preparing to open in the former Ted’s Snack Shop, plans to keep the space mostly the same, owner Lucely Reynoso told the Evanston RoundTable.

“We know Ted’s Snack Shop was a very loved place to eat and gather, so we want it to feel familiar to our neighbors,” Reynoso wrote in an email to the RoundTable.

Ted’s Snack Shop closed in June 2025 after a long run serving the neighborhood breakfast and lunch staples. It was open for over 50 years.

Argos will get a fresh coat of paint and some “spruce ups” but few other changes for now, she said.

Reynoso, an Evanston resident, will run the restaurant with her husband, Chuy Reynoso, and son Rodolfo Reynoso, with help from other family members, including son Alexander Reynoso.

Chuy Reynoso has worked as a chef at fine-dining French, Italian and steakhouse restaurants across Chicago for more than 20 years, she said. Rodolfo Reynoso has been an assistant manager at an Italian restaurant in Chicago for the past few years.

The family chose the name Argos American Bistro for its reference to Argos, one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world.

“We all want to go together in Greece when the restaurant starts going well,” Reynoso said. The food will not be Greek, though.

The restaurant will start by serving breakfast and lunch, Reynoso said, although further expanded hours could happen in the future.

The family has not set an opening date yet.

Read the full story at the 🔗 in our bio
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📝 & 📸 : Margo Milanowski by @evanstonroundtable

69

3

10 days ago

Every seat was full when Bookends & Beginnings founder Nina Barrett welcomed the audience to “Black Voices: Who Gets to Tell the Story,” held Sept. 30. Moderated by veteran Chicago radio personality Allie Ellison Zemtseff, the panel brought together six local Black writers to explore critical questions of representation, such as who shapes the narratives of Black life, and how writing their stories preserves memory, identity and lived experience.

In her introduction, Barrett noted that Bookends and Beginnings is in its 13th year of operation in downtown Evanston. “We’re in the business of telling stories, and I think we all know that Evanston is full of stories by Black voices that have not been heard,” she said.

The panelists included author and media creator Meleika Gardner, author and equity consultant Gilo Kwesi Logan, nonprofit Evanston Present and Future founder Kemone Hendricks, author and librarian Lesley Williams, Evanston RoundTable columnist Peggy Tarr and Bennett Johnson, who in 1961 became a founding partner of Path Press, Inc., the first Black-owned book publishing company in the U.S.

The audience was fully engaged in a conversation that was both vibrant and poignant. Johnson spoke first, and his quick wit drew a warm, collective chuckle from the crowd. “I’ve been Bennett Jones Johnson for a very long time,” said the civil rights activist and Path Press founder, who was born in 1929 in Chicago and moved to Evanston at the age of 2.

Moderator Zemsteff posed the question to panelists: “We often think of storytelling as simply ‘telling what happened.’ But every storyteller makes choices about what to include or leave out, whose perspective to center and whose voice may never make it onto the page. How do you decide whose story deserves to be centered in your work and what responsibility do you feel toward the people whose stories you’re telling?”

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📝 & 📸 : Heidi Randhava by @evanstonroundtable

42

1

11 days ago