Libertyville Businesses Raise Awareness, Funds for Pancreatic Cancer in Memory of Local Man

Peter Pekkarinen died earlier this year of pancreatic cancer and his family and local business are holding an event "Women of Broadway Fight Pancreatic Cancer" on Wednesday, Nov. 14.

Pancreatic cancer has become one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers and the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the U.S.  It stands out among other commonly diagnosed cancers with only a five-year survival rate of six percent. November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, a non-profit organization. Businesses in downtown Libertyville have come together to help raise awareness and funds to help in the fight against Pancreatic Cancer in honor of a local resident, Peter Pekkarinen who lost his life to this awful disease on March 1, 2012. Please join the fight and help raise funds for the event "Women of Broadway Fight Pancreatic Cancer" planned from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14 starting …

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Patch Profile

Cancer Touches Lives of Libertyville Store Owners

As the “book ends” of downtown Libertyville, two friends and business owners reflect on their battles, hoping to bring awareness and inspiration.

A serendipitous doctor’s visit Serendipity shop owner Kristin Dean visited her general physician in the fall of 2007 because she had a cough. “It was totally unrelated,” Dean said. “The doctor had her hand on the door, she was ready to leave, and I said, ‘By the way, I’m having a few little problems.’” At 43, Dean was far from having routine colonoscopies to look for irregularities or colon cancer, which doctors recommend at 50. “So when I went in for the colonoscopy, that’s when they found it, and it was stage three,” she said. The cancer, which doctors predicted had begun growing eight to 10 years prior, was in her colon and the lymph nodes outside of it. “So they cut out a quarter of my colon, and then I started chemo,” Dean said. “The …

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Patch Profile

Libertyville’s LexiWynn Reaches Coast to Coast

With strong relationships, creativity and fun, a Libertyville couple turned a handmade bag into a nationwide brand.

After years of sewing and designing, Alexa Holzwarth and her husband Seth are taking their business LexiWynn to a national level in direct sales. “My whole goal in starting a business was to just help out with our family income,” Alexa said. “And I didn’t want to work for somebody because I wanted it to be flexible.” Five years ago, with two small sons, Alexa, a former mortgage underwriter, was looking to return to the work force when their kids were in full-time school. “My parents did the whole custom sewing thing with curtains,” Alexa explains of her parents’ Virginia-based company. “So I thought I’d do that and do some little projects here and there, but it wasn’t really fun for me.” Sales through Parties When she designed her own …

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Patch Picks

Starting this week, Patch will offer a list of places to eat, drink or have fun.

Starting this Thursday, Patch will run a new weekly feature called Patch Picks, highlighting editor and reader picks of great local businesses, destinations, services, organizations, ways to spend a day off, and more. You’ll find useful lists to help, your family, friends, and significant others find the best places for everything from Sunday brunch to Valentine’s day celebrations, pumpkin patches, date night destinations, florists, girlfriend nights out, kids party places, parks and more. Now for our first list on Libertyville Patch: Patch Picks: Places to watch the Super Bowl

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Austin’s Set to Put Up an Electronic Sign

The village board recently approved Austin's Saloon & Eatery's request for text amendment, special use permit and site plan permit.

Austin’s Saloon & Eatery may start work on an electronic message board in the near future. At Tuesday’s board meeting, board members approved Austin’s request for a special use permit and site plan permit to construct the electronic message board at 481 Peterson Road, where the restaurant is located. The sign would be similar to the one at the Tranel Financial Group, 1509 N. Milwaukee Ave., and is subject to the similar regulations such as no flashing messages or spinning fade-in or fade-out. There are two differences with Austin’s sign. The board approved a text amendment that would allow for the sign to be located within 100-foot side yard set back if the abutting lot does not meet the minimum requirements for an electronic message board…

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Opinion: Enough is Enough, Illinois

Some Libertyville residents reluctant to discuss state's tax hike.

When Libertyville Patch asked me to write a story last week about how residents and local businesses were reacting to the state tax-rate increases, I never quite realized that my search would turn into a column like this one. But the more I pounded the pavement, what I found was actually quite amazing.  On Jan. 12, Illinois lawmakers approved a whopping 67 percent increase in the state's income tax. Your personal income tax rate will now go from 3 percent to 5 percent until 2015, when it would then drop to 3.75 percent. Business owners will now pay 7 percent until 2015, up from the current 4.8 percent. Despite trying to talk to nearly 20 Libertyville business owners, not a single one was willing to go on the record with me to discuss how …

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Marketing Committee Looks to Create Fitness Contest

Two approaches to competition discussed at meeting.

Members of Libertyville’s Marketing Committee discussed options for creating a fitness competition among village residents at Tuesday’s meeting. Member Antonietta Simonian presented information on a 12-week contest. “We need twelve weeks to lose weight effectively, efficiently, in a healthy way,” she said. She suggested a start date in February, to coincide with American Heart Month. Her idea would incorporate local businesses sponsoring teams of four people. Each team would have a weekly weigh in at one of the health or fitness centers in Libertyville. The team that loses the largest percentage of weight would win. The sponsoring business would win the Mayor’s Cup, an award they could display for a year. Simonian would like to see …

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Parking Commission Survey Shows Many Communities Don't Limit Truck Delivery Times

The commission is considering drafting an ordinance to limit commercial truck deliveries in the downtown area during lunch hours.

Northwest communities that responded to a survey by the Parking Commission say they do not have ordinances to limit commercial truck deliveries in downtown areas during lunch hours. Eighteen communities responded to the survey, which was conducted through the Northwest Municipal Conference, which represents 42 municipalities and one township. “All of them said no, but that doesn’t mean you can’t push the envelope and lead the road,” said John Spoden, director of Community Development during the Parking Commission meeting on Tuesday. The Parking Commission started looking into the possibility of an ordinance after some downtown business owners said delivery trucks were obstructing access to their stores during lunch hours. A Libertyville …

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This Week in Libertyville

Here's a recap of the most important events that took place in Libertyville over the past week.

Each week, Libertyville Patch will summarize the week's top stories, including links to those articles, for your convenience. Whether it involves the village board, local schools, businesses, or stories involving the police or fire department, we have you covered. Unbeaten Wildcats Win 18th Game in a Row Libertyville High School’s girls basketball team goes scoreless in one entire quarter but still beat Stevenson by 13 points. Our girls are on a roll! Illinois Income Tax Hike: What Do You Think?  Illinois lawmakers recently approved a 66 percent increase in the state’s income tax. Once Gov. Quinn signs the measure into law, state income taxes will increase to 5 percent from 3 percent. Many of our readers were outraged at the increase and …

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13 Things You Should Know About Patch

Learn how you can interact with Patch.

It's been almost two months since we launched Nov. 12, and a lot has happened on Libertyville Patch. We've been out getting to know the community and findings its stories, and picking up readers, followers and friends along the way. It's easy to get caught up in all that we're doing, so we wanted to take the time to remind you that there's a lot you can do, too. After all, Libertyville Patch is about you. We've built Patch so that you have plenty of opportunities to comment on stories, share your opinions, post photos and announcements and add events to the community calendar. We hope that our site will strengthen the community, but we can't do it without you. So get to it! 1. Comment on an Article We subscribe to the idea that "news is a …

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