With outdoor dining on Park Street more than a month into its season, Mundelein officials and a couple of village businesses held an event recently to introduce the scene and detail some of the upcoming plans for the area.
The block-long street closure for the alfresco venue, which starts where Route 45 meets Park Street, began in early May and is scheduled to go until November. In addition to a sort of grand opening event that invited residents to take part in free appetizers, live music and an open mic night, Mundelein officials also gave more details on a pocket park that is to be created in the empty lot next to AREA Coffee.
Phil Gilardi, of Tina G’s cafe, spoke on behalf of his wife and owner of the restaurant, Tina, and said the past month has been a good atmosphere, including the June 4 event.
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“Really, since the streets been closed, even last year, it’s busy all the time now,” Gilardi said. “It’s good for the town.”
Brandon Curtis, operations team manager for AREA Coffee, said the cafe is planning to host open mic nights every Friday night. The event June 4, he said, had a large number of people, filling even the empty field next to the cafe.
“The whole street was packed,” he said. “It was a pretty high turnout.”
Assistant Village Manager Peter Vadopalas agreed, saying he thinks the season, so far, has gone well and the community response has been positive. Though the heat has taken a bite into the lunch crowd, he said.
“The evenings and the weekends are pretty busy,” he said. “There’s more planning detail in the works (for the area).”
