Commission Planning 'Seven Wonders Of Morton Grove' project

Morton Grove's Community Relations Commission is working on a contest geared toward promoting the “wonders” the village has to offer.

The commission convened Tuesday and bounced around ideas for what it called the Seven Wonders of Morton Grove Project.

“We’re looking for citizens to find things in Morton Grove, or about Morton Grove, that they consider wondrous—that they love, that they think are worthy of public admiration and public comment,” explained commission member Erik Swanson. “So everyone can realize what a great town we live in.”

While the commission intends to have the details of the project ironed out by early August, the plan so far is to have residents nominate and vote on wonders at the Morton Grove Farmers Market, and then to announce some time in October what seven win the designation as Wonders of Morton Grove.

Commission Chair Samina Hussain said that the seven wonders can include “a tree, a wall, or a sign, or a building, or forest preserve, even an event.”

“The idea is promoting what’s unique and good about the village,” said commission member Tony Kovacs.

According to Swanson, the idea for the contest came from a Mount Prospect resident who approached commission members in April at the Library Spring Blast. Mount Prospect held its own Seven Wonders contest in 2008. The commissioners talked it over and decided that it would be great for Morton Grove, Swanson said.

Trustee Shel Marcus, the village board’s liaison to the commission, emphasized that there are numerous sites with little-known historical relevance to the village.

“The ground you’re walking on has a tremendous history,” he said.

He offered Harrer Park as an example, saying that “People don’t know that where Harrer Park is, there used to be a big airport. Pilots used to come there in the 20s and 30s and give people rides on planes.”

“This building itself used to be the first school in Morton Grove,” Hussain said, referring to Village Hall, where the meeting was being held.

Despite this emphasis on historical sites, Swanson said that “ideally there will be a mix of historical interests and the modern,” including “hidden gem” restaurants such as Bert’s Place.

The commission noted the importance of promoting the contest and discussed using social media strategies to get the word out about the event. There is also the possibility of online nominations and voting via a social media platform such as Facebook, although everything is still in early planning stages.

 “We have to give ourselves some time," Hussain said. "It needs time to be promoted everywhere. And then we have to see what the outcome is. If we only get two or three entries we’ll have to reevaluate how to handle it."

Other topics covered in the meeting included: positive reviews of , which the commission hosted June 25 at the Farmers Market; mention of an informative video recently recorded to educate residents on how the commision functions; and preliminary discussions about updating the commission’s policy book, which members said is slightly outdated.