Odyssey Fun World Plans to Light Up for Christmas

The light show at Ni Miele's house last Christmas.


By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

Odyssey Fun World in Tinley Park wants to shed light on Christmas this year. Sorry, make that, shed 100,000 lights on the holiday.

The arcade is putting together a light show on the side of its building that will start at 6 p.m. tonight and last through the first week of January.

“We hope it will be the first Christmas lights display for many years to come,” said Clint Paraday, general manager of the family arcade at Oak Park and Harlem avenues.

The lights will twinkle and dance to music as part of a light show designed by Nic Miele, who has been putting on light shows at his home in Batavia for the past three years.

The arcade will remain open as usual when the light show is on and the show will run even on nights the arcade is closed, Paraday said.

“The show will start out about 15 minutes long,” said Miele. “But it will get longer through the season as we add more songs.”

“The lights will move to Christmas music as well as some top 40,” said Miele. “Each song takes about eight hours to program into the computer.”

Paraday said people will be able to stop and watch the show and listen to music on outdoor speakers or tune in to 87.9 FM and listen to the music on the radio.

“There will be LED bars that will display messages, show the lyrics of songs playing and broadcast videos,” said Miele.

The lights are the same kind that you would put on your house, said Paraday.

“We got them at a nice discount from Lowe’s in Orland Park,” said Paraday.

The lights and music are controlled by computers.

“We came out with a big Halloween display,” said Paraday, referring to Odyssey’s recent Fun Farm and Corn Maize. “We decided to do something big for Christmas. Nobody else around here does anything like this. We hope everyone enjoys it.”

Stacked Opens in Oak Lawn

Papa John's opened Thursday in Frankfort.

By Bob Bong

Southland Savvy

Tom Demacopoulos is back in the restaurant business in Oak Lawn with the opening today of Stacked at 5237 W. 95th St. in the former Baja Fresh Mexican Grill.

Demacopoulos owned the Plaza Café in Orland Park from 2005 to earlier this year when he was forced to close because the village plans to tear down the Orland Plaza mall he was in as part of its Main Street Triangle project.

When he shut down the Plaza Café, Demacopoulos said he was probably going to open a new restaurant in Oak Lawn.

Stacked is open daily from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. and features most of the favorites from the Plaza Café but there are some new dishes including a Red Velvet French Toast with Cream Cheese, which sounds positively decadent.

For information, call Stacked at 708-422-5555.

Papa John’s Opens in Frankfort
Papa John’s Pizza opened today at 21114 S. LaGrange Road in the Frankfort Crossing shopping center in Frankfort. The restaurant is open daily from 10:30 a.m. to midnight for carryout and delivery.

For information, call 815-464-2222 or visit them online at http://www.papajohns.com/.

New Home for My Bike of Tinley
My Bike of Tinley Park, which has been selling and servicing bicycles in Tinley Park since 2006, recently moved into a new home at 17210 S. Oak Park Ave. (formerly Flora Bella).

The shop started at 171st Street and Oak Park Avenue. It later moved to a storefront that was larger but also was farther from downtown Tinley. Most recently, the store moved back to a downtown location.

For hours and information, call 708-444-2453 or visit http://www.mybiketinley.com/.

Homewood Holiday Lights and Market is Friday
Homewood kicks off the holiday season in style Friday with the lighting of the village Christmas tree at 6 p.m. at Irwin Park.

Then the action moves to Downtown Homewood for the Hickory Road Holiday Market from 6-9 p.m.

Among the vendors will be Foundation 153 selling premium-grade Fraser firs from Michigan with easy pick-up and loading assistance. Sales will begin at 3 p.m.

The Homewood Rotary will be selling fresh caramel apples.

Students from Homewood-Flossmoor High School will have cinnamon roasted almonds, popcorn and hand warmers for sale.

The Homewood Parent Music Association will be selling decadent chocolate.

Girl Scouts will be selling hot chocolate and handmade scarves.

The Infant Welfare Society will sell luminaria kits for $6.

South Suburban Family Shelter will sell warm apple cider.

The Downtown Homewood Business Association will be selling mulled wine in a new Holiday Lights souvenir mug, $5 for the mug, $7 for the mug and mulled wine, and $3 for refill.

For information, visit http://www.homesweethomewood.com/.

BP Station Coming to Tinley Park

An artist's rendering of the planned BP station in Tinley Park.

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

In case you haven’t noticed, work has begun on the former Clark gas station at 159th Street and 80th Avenue in Tinley Park.

The corner has been fenced off and the building and pumps have been removed as site preparation has begun on a BP gas station that will also have a convenience store and a car wash in the back of the store.

The site plan has been approved, said Assistant Village Manager Michael Mertens.

Calls to property owner George Zervos were not returned.

Pita Wrapped
The Pita Wrap restaurant and an adjoining Verizon store closed recently in a strip mall at 6905 W. 159th St. in Tinley Park.

Orland Chamber Holiday Open House
The Orland Park Area Chamber of Commerce is holding a Holiday Open House at 4 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1, at McCord Gallery and Cultural Center, 9602 Creek Road in Palos Park. The seventh annual Holiday Shoppe will feature unique, handcrafted articles from some of the finest artists and craftsmen in this area. You will be able to choose from pottery, jewelry, fused glass, toys, scarves, wooden boxes, ornaments and much, much more. A portion of your purchases are tax deductible. RSVP to 708-349-2972 or online at http://www.orlandparkchamber.org/.

Rudolph to Rock at Rock Bottom
The Orland Park Prairie and Rock Bottom Brewery and Restaurant are teaming up again to help Orland Township families and organizations this holiday season. Through Dec. 14, Rock Bottom's house red ale will be renamed Rudolph the Prairie Red with 25 cents of each glass ordered going to a fund to purchase presents for families in Orland Township's Holiday Program 2011.

Tinley Holiday Market
The annual Tinley Park Holiday Market will be held Dec. 2-4 at Zabrocki Plaza and the Oak Park Avenue Metra Station. For a complete list of events, including parades and visits by Santa, go online to http://www.tinleypark.org/.