Many people may know Jack Hartman as the executive director of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority.
But Tuesday night at The Drake hotel, Hartman, who was honored by the City Club of Chicago as Citizen of the Year, revealed what some may think is a bigger claim to fame: He is one of the founders of the Old St. Pat’s block party.
Now in its 21st year and billed as the world’s largest block party–with a Web site address to match–the event draws hundreds to see bands, drink beer and, of course, meet singles.
Indeed, Hartman and his wife, CeCe, met and eventually became engaged at the party.
“I proposed to her on the stage” of the block party, Hartman said, “although I didn’t have a ring.”
Since then dozens of couples have met at the event and married. The phenomenon caught the attention of “Oprah,” and many of the couples, including the Hartmans, were filmed in the mid-1990s on the steps of the church.
“They wanted to use footage of her from the party,” Hartman said of the show’s producers. “But my wife, who was a bartender at the time, had on shorts and a dirty T-shirt and didn’t want them to use the shots.” They didn’t.
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The Hartmans have been married for 13 years and have a son and a daughter.
While Jack still stops in on the two-day party for at least one day a year, his wife doesn’t like the crowds and tries to avoid it.
So how would he feel if a man proposed to his daughter in public, when she’s old enough?
“I’d love it,” he said. “I’d love a huge wedding at Navy Pier with the whole city there. My wife, she’d say, no way, much smaller.”