The Jirousek family offered an example of holiday gatherings COVID-style the day after Thanksgiving.
The extended family with about 15 relatives gathered in Hinsdale’s Burlington Park Friday for Thanksgiving dinner, while still following social distancing guidelines.
“We thought this would be one way to get together,” said Paul Jirousek. “We all hunkered down with our own little families on Thanksgiving Day.”
They chose Burlington Park because Jirousek, who lives in Lombard, and his sons, Peter and Mark, who live in the Beverly neighborhood of Chicago and Eureka, Ill., respectively, are train enthusiasts and often come to Hinsdale to see trains they can’t see closer to home. The BNSF Railway runs along the south side of the park.
“Amtrak was the big attraction for us,” Paul Jirousek said, specifically the California Zephyr, which runs from Chicago to San Francisco, and the Southwest Chief, which goes from Chicago to Los Angeles, three times a week. “We know the timetables. We know what time they leave and what time they come through.”
“Since we can’t come together in the Corner Bakery (which is right across from the railroad tracks) like we used to do, we gathered in the park,” he said.
It was his daughter, Laura Miller’s idea, he said.
“My dad loves watching trains,” said Miller, who lives in Elmhurst. “We are happy everybody came.”
Had it been raining “or at all breezy,” Peter Jirousek said, “it would have been a no-go.”
More Top Picks Fl 41 Glasses For Migraine What The Research Shows
But the weather was sunny with the temperature climbing to the mid-40s, not bad for late November.
“It’s fabulous,” Miller said.
So Peter Jirousek and his wife Renee brought hot turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes in insulated coolers, with the gravy and cocoa kept warm in separate thermoses, and a propane heater to keep themselves warm.
“It’s quite the encampment,” Renee said.
It was Peter and Renee’s second Thanksgiving in a park in two days. They had gone up to Northwestern University to be with their daughter Thursday.
“She was only willing to meet outdoors,” Peter Jirousek said. “So this show has had a two-day run.”
Renee had cooked a 14-pound turkey, so there would be enough meat for both Thanksgiving meals.
Everything went so well, “We plan to do this for the next pandemic,” Peter said.