Scavenger hunt, costume parade and pub crawl included in Harvest Festival

Halloween is still a couple of weeks away but you’ll want to have a costume ready by Friday if you’ll be visiting Oglesby. Harvest Festival begins Saturday morning with a large farmer’s market. Later that morning is the annual scavenger hunt, the Scarecrow Scramble, in which competitor wear costumes.

Children can get dressed up for the costumer parade and trick-or-treating at 3pm (lineup is at 2:45pm). Children’s activities, including pumpkin decorating and a petting zoo, will be set up downtown until 5:30pm.

The city has also added something for adults- a Zombie Pub Crawl begins at 6:30pm.

Learn more about Harvest Fest and the Scarecrow Scramble by listening to an interview that’s up at the WLPO AM and FM news page.

Crash in Peru sends to people to the local hospital

A crash in Peru sent both drivers to the hospital. Police say Tammy Samek of Peru pulled out into the intersection of First and Schuyler Streets and hit Angelo Cerasani’s pickup truck Saturday afternoon.

The pickup spun out and overturned.

Samek and Cerasani were taken to Illinois Valley Community Hospital for treatment. Samek was given a ticket to failure to yield.

Groups gathering to shed light on domestic violence

Rarely does a day in the Illinois Valley pass without someone being arrested for domestic battery. Don’t assume it isn’t affecting people you know. Once a year people concerned about domestic abuse light candles and walk to raise awareness. That night returns Thursday with the Walk with Me event in downtown Peru.

Join members of local Zonta Clubs, law enforcement and others as they walk from Maud Powell Plaza to the Peru Municipal Building. Inside you’ll hear from Tina Frasco, the mother of Francee Wolf who was killed by an ex-boyfriend in Spring Valley. You’ll also her from the Director of Marcie’s Law and founder of IllinoisVictims.org, Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins.

The walk begins at 6:30pm, rain or shine.

No school despite no rats at Jackson Elementary in La Salle

There will be no preschool again this week at Jackson Elementary in La Salle after a teacher claimed to see a couple rats in her classroom almost a month ago.

Superintendent Dan Marenda says he’s hopeful students can return to Jackson very soon. He says they’ve seen no evidence of any type of rodent. The cleaning of the school will continue this week.

While Jackson remains closed, four preschool classes are moved to Northwest and Lincoln schools.

Waltham Elementary starts process of planning for the future

What’s the future hold for Waltham Elementary in Utica? You can help shape the answer by being part of the planning process.

School officials are kicking off a community planning process with a meeting this Thursday at Waltham North School. The meeting starts at 6 and will start discussion of developing a plan for the district’s future with an emphasis on the two schoolbuildings.

A meeting next month will focus on public feedback while school officials hope in December to meet with the public again to go over building options.