Visit Jamilla Yipp Photography Studio at 136 Harrison for a great opportunity to take a photo with Santa. Santa photos are free with a Toy donation.
Photos with traditional Santa from 10am-12pm and Photos with Black Santa (Aka Maui) from 2-4pm.Sign up online for a slot from this link. Advance Sign Up is recommended, but walk-ins will be accommodated between signed up slots.
Spot Cece the little pig with wings hidden in shops and businesses, win prizes, and attend FREE, local, family-friendly events in the Oak Park Arts District from November 15-22! There’s so much to discover as you Toddle Around Town!
Toddlin’ Around Town is just what it sounds like: a family friendly way to play and explore in different areas of Oak Park with your toddlers, babies and young children sponsored by The Collaboration for Early Childhood.
Special Events will happen on Satuday, November 16, as Toddlin’ comes to an end in the Arts District and we celebrate Saturday with Santa! Enjoy pictures with Santa, Family Friendly activities, and other special events along Harrison Street.
Halloween is in the Air in the Oak Park Arts District
In this entertaining video from the Village of Oak Park, one of Frankenstein’s Monsters takes a surprising detour to Harrison Street in the Oak Park Arts District.
Thankfully, a delicious stop at Publican Quality Bread helps calm the creature, ensuring that business can resume smoothly. Join us for a glimpse of this wild encounter and see how a little hospitality can tame even the most misunderstood beings!
The Art and Wine Walk Returns to the Arts District
It’s time for a little Sippin’ & Shoppin’ in the Oak Park Arts District!
Our Second annual Art & Wine Walk takes place on Saturday, December 14, from 3-7pm.
It’s a perfect time to treat yourself to some wonderful wines, magnificent art, delicious hors d’oeuvres and great holiday shopping – all in the historic Oak Park Arts District!
We are thrilled to be partnering with a local gem, Anfora Wine Merchants for this event. Support artists and local businesses all while treating yourself to a fun afternoon out.
Ticket Sales will be $50 and include a wine glass, complimentary tastings throughout the participating locations, a wine tote, box of water, and a bottle of wine to be picked up later at Anfora Wine Merchants!
There will also be small bites, music, and sales throughout the Oak Park Arts District businesses.
Save the Date and Stay Tuned for ticket sales to open up.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month and many of the local shops and businesses within the Arts District offer services for enhancing mental health and whole body, mind, and spiritual wellness.
From therapy and counseling to studios specializing in Reiki, meditation, dance, and language learning, along with unique gyms focused on holistic health rather than just toning—many of the businesses here are united by a vision to help individuals achieve wellness.
Check out many of the local businesses in the Arts District to enhance your Mental Health and Well-Being.
Natalie Walsh
Natalie Walks guides clients to identify and release what’s no longer serving them in order to move forward to live a life filled with passion and purpose, shining their inner light on their own life as well as those around them!
Tip from Natalie Walsh: Through our lives we take on the weight of grief, limiting beliefs, physical, mental, and energetic blocks from traumas, past “versions” of ourselves which we become attached to, even when that version is no longer feeling good or bringing us joy! I help clients to clear that and welcome new abundant energy into their bodies, their energy, their homes, their work, and their relationships so they can live the beautiful, purposeful, peaceful life they were put on earth to live! Learn more about Natalie Walsh.
Mosaic Counseling & Wellness
Mosaic believes that there is room for growth in all of our lives. They understand that the fit between therapist and client is essential to success as healing occurs within relationships. They practice from an insight-oriented, collaborative, and individualized approach to meet the unique needs of clients. They offer services for children, adolescents, adults, couples and families. Mosaic therapists work with clients to co-create an empathic and accepting space where they can feel safe while also feeling challenged to work towards change.
Tip from Mosaic: Take a moment for yourself today with the gentle art of journaling. Amidst life’s hustle, it’s important to pause, breathe, and reconnect with your inner world. Carve out some quiet time, grab your favorite notebook, and let your thoughts flow freely onto the page. Nurture your mind, one entry at a time. Learn more about Mosaic.
Purple Sun Arts
“Raise Your Vibration” is the theme at Purple Sun Arts. Visit the shop to see a delightful collection of Cicada inspired paintings, artwork, and jewelry that will inspire and help you raise your vibration. The shop offers an immersive arts experience for those who seek purpose and meaning.
Tip from Purple Sun: Try out Cosmic Smashbooking™ and Cosmic Coaching™ with Dr. Ann Viernes, founder of Purple Sun Arts. Her workshops and transformational life coaching sessions helps clients create more purpose and meaning in their lives.
Fifty First Street Studio
Fifty First Street is a shop and studio for people interested in fostering a creative lifestyle. The studio offers workshops for all ages to learn new visual art skills, find connection with themselves and others, and expand the boundaries of their own creativity.
Tip from Cassie, owner of Fifty First Street: Pop in and check out the ceramics + goods in the store. She encourages you to them in your hands and feel the weight of each piece. These items are meant to be used and loved. Consider a workshop to expand the boundaries of your own creativity! Learn more about Fifty First Street.
By Kelly Pollock, feature writer for The Buzz Cafe
Laura Maychruk became a real estate agent in 1993. And now, thirty years later, she is achieving a long-realized plan of opening her own brokerage, Maychruk Real Estate, located above Buzz Café at 905 S. Lombard Avenue in the Oak Park Arts District.
Shortly after graduating from college in Pennsylvania in 1991, Laura married her husband Andrew, loaded up a U-Haul, drove to Oak Park, and moved into an apartment. She started looking for a job and landed at the Chicago Tribune. Laura and Andrew eventually bought a house on Lombard Avenue and all was well until Andrew was laid off. “We were freaking out,” said Laura. “We had a $900 mortgage payment and didn’t know how we were going to pay it.”
Laura had grown up around family who were real estate developers which made her think that she could give it a try. “I don’t know what makes me think this stuff. I thought, ‘I know how to cook,’ and so I opened a restaurant,” laughed Laura. “I guess I’m just really confident in my abilities.”
In 1993, you could get a real estate license in a weekend. And so she did. Laura worked with Century 21 and sold real estate during evenings and weekends. “I sold a house a month the first year.” The next several years were busy ones. Laura and Andrew relocated for a time to Washington, D.C., and then they moved back to Oak Park and opened Buzz Café in 1998. Then, the first of the Maychruks’ four children were born. Real estate had to take a back seat to everything else going on in Laura’s life.
By 2005, she was ready to jump back in. Serendipitously, Laura met David Gullo of Gullo & Associates. “I told him that I still had to run Buzz and so the only way our working together would work was for him to move his office above the restaurant and he agreed to do that.” Their affiliation continued until last month when Laura opened her own brokerage, Maychruk Real Estate
When asked why she decided to go out on her own, Laura answered, “My business was growing exponentially. I was ready for something new, but I didn’t want to go to one of the big offices in town. Offices have rules and policies that I didn’t want to hassle with.”
More importantly, Laura said, “Real estate agents are in competition with each other whether they are in the same office or not. Information is extremely powerful. You might know one thing that nobody else knows and that could lead to a sale.” She didn’t want to risk what joining a local office could mean for her business.
While this move to her own brokerage is a big deal for Laura, for her clients nothing will really change. “My territory is hyperlocal. Just Oak Park, River Forest, and Forest Park. I’m an ambassador for this area and I love, love, love this area. I love teaching people about it and sharing my community with them.” Laura stays connected to her clients long after closing. “My clients get to benefit from my thirty years of experience. I know the history of the area and I know what’s going on now. Well after they’ve moved in, my clients text me and ask, ‘Who can I call for this or that?’”
As to the type of clients she is looking for, Laura has no preference for buyers or sellers. “I appreciate both and I like keeping my business even between them because when I’m working with sellers I want to be able to tell them what buyers are looking for. And vice versa, for my buyers it helps to know what sellers are experiencing right now.”
Laura’s life is chaotic, but she loves it. “I get up early, between 4am and 6am. I do emails and paperwork until about 8am when I go to Buzz where I’ve taken on the role of general manager. After the lunch rush, around 2pm, things slow down at the restaurant and I spend my afternoon and evenings meeting with clients and taking them to showings.” She tries to get to bed as early as possible before starting it all over again the next day.
For now, Laura doesn’t plan to bring any other agents into the brokerage. “My plan is just to do the same thing I always do—be the best real estate agent that I can be for my clients,” said Laura. “Show up everyday and work hard. That’s my life in a nutshell.”
Laura and Maychruk Real Estate can be reached at 708-205-7044 or by emailing [email protected].
By Kelly Pollock, feature writer for The Buzz Cafe
Jamilla Yipp has honed her craft as a photographer for fifteen years. Now, after four years in the Oak Park Arts District, she is moving to a new space just down the street. When Jamilla first considered moving her business out of her home, she wanted to be on Harrison. “I live on Taylor and I wanted to be able to walk to work and to be available to my kids. The Arts District was where I wanted to be. And now this new studio is in my dream location.” Jamilla is excited to be moving to the heart of the Arts District and hopes to have the new Jamilla Yipp Photography studio up and running at 136 Harrison Street in January.
Growing up on the southside of Chicago, Jamilla took an interest in photography at a young age. Then when she and her husband had three children in less than four years, she felt that she wouldn’t make enough money at a traditional 9-to-5 job to justify putting them in childcare every day. So she became determined to turn her passion into a career. “I told myself that this hobby had to become something real or these kids weren’t going to eat,” says Jamilla.
While she had always loved photography, she wasn’t a professional. Jamilla contacted her wedding photographer and asked her if she would take Jamilla on as an apprentice. She agreed and Jamilla spent the next eighteen months learning everything that she could. After that, she focused the first five years of her business on wedding and newborn photography. But weddings were exhausting and took up her entire weekend and Jamilla realized that her true love was photographing newborns.
“When I first started my business, I told myself that I would never shoot families because it didn’t seem like me and then it became my niche,” Jamilla laughs, “I found that I liked shooting families over weddings.”
But being a lifestyle photographer has taken a toll on her body and Jamilla is now looking to transition to more branding and corporate work. “I will still keep working with my families, but I’d like to supplement that with more corporate clients. Families are wonderful, but my 40-year-old knees can’t keep chasing toddlers through parks. After fifteen years, I have a ton of injuries. During outdoor shoots, you’re carrying equipment, you’re bending, lifting, and lunging. People don’t realize how physical it is.”
The years of the pandemic have also taken a toll on Jamilla. She moved into her first studio in 2018 and spent the next year working in the space and fixing it up. Just as she got to the point of being ready to promote it more, it was 2020 and COVID hit. “I paid for a space for two years for a business that was going nowhere.” Jamilla survived by using her savings to pay the bills and because of a corporate client who still needed work done during the pandemic. Finally, in 2021, lifestyle photography picked up again and this year, “I am finally breathing easier,” says Jamilla.
Jamilla has seen a lot of changes in the industry since she started fifteen years ago. “Newborn photography was just becoming a thing,” says Jamilla. “Anne Geddes was the one who started the trend. Her style was really posed babies with props. That’s how I started, but about eight years ago when my fourth child was born, I transitioned to the way that I shoot now.”
Jamilla describes herself as a hybrid photographer. “I tell people that I’m not 100% posed and I’m not 100% lifestyle. I’m both. I pose my clients, but then I have them interact so that it comes off as a lifestyle picture. I’m a coach. I don’t leave my clients to their own devices.”
In her newborn shoots, Jamilla believes in baby-led posing. “I still wrap newborns, but if a baby fights the wrap, then I will only try a specific pose one more time. I’m not going to force a newborn into a pose because that can lead to injury. At the end of the day, the baby is in charge of the session.” Although she no longer does birth photography (“too stressful”), Jamilla does do Fresh 48 sessions in the hospital that capture a newborn in its first few days of life.
When asked about the explosion in lifestyle photography in the years since she started her career, Jamilla points to the shift from film to digital photography as a major factor. “When DSLR cameras became more accessible and affordable, women could tap into that. And because a woman is more willing to let another woman photograph her birth or her newborn, lifestyle photogaphy took off. And women photographers are now a huge part of the industry.”
