Drinking liquor downtown will be allowed more openly under a pilot program that starts June 1 and ends Dec. 31 with the city reserving the right to end the program at any time if needed.

Drinking outside those guidelines will be prohibited, including in the City Square.

The rules were approved unanimously by the City Council on Tuesday.

Chicago Street restaurants encouraged approval of the new “social district,” which allows for open drinking, as an improvement in the downtown business environment.

“The social district, I think, would be a great thing to add downtown,” Marzell Richardson III, owner of Richardson’s restaurant, told the council.

His restaurant will be among those allowed to sell drinks-to-go in city-approved cups that include the name of the restaurant from which the drink came and the date and time when it was poured.

Businesses providing alcohol are limited to those with a full kitchen that get 40% or less of their revenue from liquor sales “ensuring the program complements the city’s goals for family-friendly downtown activity,” according to a staff memo on the program.

The social district and the restaurants allowed to participate will be along Chicago Street between Jefferson and Cass streets.

Jefferson and Cass streets also serve as U.S. Route 30 in and out of downtown.

Allowing open drinking to cross those routes would require state approval.

Deputy City Attorney Stephanie Silkey said state approval was unlikely and staff did not consider it worth pursuing.

Silkey said the city will post banners to clearly mark the boundaries where open-air drinking is allowed.

“We want to be very clear where the social district starts and ends,” Silkey said.

Hours for the social district will be 4 to 10 p.m. between May 1 and Sept. 30 and 4 to 9 p.m. between Oct. 1 and April 30.

Silkey also outlined rules for City Square, which were approved by the City Council.

Alcohol is prohibited unless it is in the city-approved cup that makes the Square part of the social district.

The rules also include a “limited” ban on begging and panhandling.

Court decisions bar the city from banning panhandling.

City Attorney Todd Lenzie said the City Square limit is aimed at barring aggressive and threatening behavior.

“It’s not correct to say we’re banning panhandling,” Lenzie said. “We’re banning harassing conduct that can come with panhandling.”

The city rules also bans sleeping in the City Square.

They also set hours when the square is open to the public.

The square will be open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. from May 1 through Sept. 30. It will be open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Oct. 1 through April 30.

Extended hours will be allowed for city-sponsored events and permitted events.

The rules also prohibit dogs and other animals from the square.

The surface of the square is artificial turf, which is not dog-friendly. But is is expected endure better than natural grass with the wear and tear of a continuous stream of human visitors that the city expects.

Other rules include a ban on skateboards and rollerblades, permit guidelines for events, no grilling although picnics up to 25 people are allowed without a permit.

The City Square ordinance is 16 pages long detailing other restrictions.

Silkey said staff looked at rules used in similar public areas outside Joliet and the City Square rules are “in line with similar ordinances in surrounding communities.”

In Ottawa, St. Brigid Parish chartered two buses and sent 110 parishioners to Dolton to see where the former Robert Francis Prevost grew up and worshipped before becoming pope.

“People are very pleased with his leadership,” said Monsignor Mark Merdian, pastor of St. Brigid Parish. “Worldwide, you can see how popular he is.”

Friday marked the first anniversary of Leo’s election. Catholic clergy interviewed for this story said the new pontiff not only is proving popular but also leaving his mark on the faithful of Illinois.

The Rev. Chris Groh, retired pastor from St. Mary Magdeline Church in Joliet, said Pope Leo is bringing a Midwestern approach to the papacy.

“Historically, the Catholic Church in the Midwest has approached things very particularly,” Groh said. “The Midwestern church is never too liberal or too conservative.”

Groh said Pope Leo has stood up for the right to life on abortion questions while following in the footsteps of Pope Francis.

“The Midwest is always in the middle, and that’s where Pope Leo is,” he said.

Groh said Pope Leo has proven “to be a pretty good listener” in accordance with the Order of St. Augustine, in which he served as a priest.

“He realizes being pope is not just being someone with jurisdiction and in charge,” Groh said. “He also is a servant of the people.”

At Providence Catholic High School in New Lenox, students embraced the connection almost immediately after Leo’s election.

The Rev. John “Fr. Merk” Merkelis, the school’s president, said students placed yellow tape and handwritten arrows around Leo’s name on a plaque honoring Augustinians who served at the school, adding the message: “We love our pope.”

Merkelis said interest in the Augustinian order and the Catholic Church generally has climbed over the past year, with more people exploring Order of Christian Initiation of Adults programs and returning to Mass.

“There’s been an uptick in people attending church,” Merkelis said. “We don’t know if it’s just because of Leo, but I think it’s definitely related.”

Merkelis, who attended high school, Villanova University and Catholic Theological Union alongside the future pope, said Leo remains “the same guy today that he was back then.”

Earlier this year, Merkelis visited Leo in Rome.

“I said, ‘I knew how to talk to the pre-pope, I don’t know how to talk to the pope,’” Merkelis recalled. “And he looked at me and just said, ‘It’s me.’”

Leo’s first year has affected Illinois dioceses directly.

The Diocese of Joliet is searching for a new bishop after Leo elevated Ronald Hicks to archbishop of New York City, while the Peoria Diocese is preparing for the Sept. 24 beatification of Fulton Sheen after Leo advanced the long-stalled cause earlier this year. In Springfield, church leaders continue developing a shrine to Augustus Tolton, the first Black priest in America.

“It is certainly exciting to have an Illinois native as pope,” said the Rev. Paul Carlson, pastor of the Catholic churches in Oglesby and Utica. “I never thought we would ever get an American, certainly never expected one from Chicago.”

That was the consensus view after Pope Francis died on Easter Monday 2025. Vatican correspondents compiled a list of papabili, or frontrunners for pope, and Prevost’s name surfaced as a dark horse in the run-up to the conclave.

“Cardinal Prevost wasn’t widely known before his election, I don’t recall ever hearing of him,” Carlson said. “Not that that is a bad thing. I think this is a pope who is going to take his position seriously, but also one that isn’t necessarily looking to make a splash. And that might be exactly what the Church needs.”

Leo also may be driving interest among would-be converts. In La Salle, the Very Rev. Tom Otto had a late night on Holy Saturday because he baptized and/or confirmed two dozen people into the Catholic Church.

Otto emphasized that conversions had been rising in recent years – the pandemic is among the reasons people are seeking stability – but having a U.S.-born pontiff certainly has not impeded the outreach.

“He sort of has had a calming effect, I think, on a lot of people within the church,” Otto said. “He’s just very reassuring, just kind of a steady hand at the helm.

“It’s kind of those kinds of comments that I hear from a lot of people.”

It wasn’t just La Salle. Penny Wiegert, director of communications for the Diocese of Rockford, said the number of new Catholics received into the diocese jumped from 743 last year to 996 this year.

“We’ve had a focus on getting people back to church since COVID, when the churches were closed, and Mass attendance has been steadily growing,” she said. “But this was an indicator, this was some kind of movement going on, not just in our diocese but around the world.”

Wiegert emphasized that the increase is because of several initiatives and societal trends, but an American-born pope certainly has bolstered the outreach.

Peoria’s bishop said the number of people received into diocesan churches “pretty much doubled” since Leo became pope. The Most Rev. Louis Tylka said his churches welcomed 750 catechumens or candidates completing their sacraments at the Easter Vigil.

“To make a direct correlation saying that all the increased numbers are because Pope Leo is now the pope? I think that’s a falsehood,” Tylka said. “I think it’s certainly a launching point for many as they are exploring and asking these more significant questions. The response to the Holy Spirit moving in their lives is what’s drawing them deeper into the church.”

Nevertheless, Leo’s election “has created some interest and excitement,” not least because he green-lighted the Sheen beatification, which had been on hold for more than six years.

Leo’s pontificate hasn’t been conflict-free. Although both the White House and Vatican disputed the characterization of a “feud” between Washington and Rome, Leo’s stances on war and immigration have been at odds with current U.S. policy.

Closer to home, there is a minor conflict over baseball. Otto said he wishes Leo, a lifelong fan of the White Sox, cheered for his beloved Cubs.

“No one’s perfect,” Otto smiled, “not even the pope.”

• Shaw Local reporter Jessie Molloy contributed to this story.

The Dick’s deal is designed to open the door to dozens of stores and restaurants moving into the Rock Run Collection development at Interstates 55 and 80.

“We’ve seen other retailers say, ‘If you have a Dick’s House of Sport, I’m in.’ It’s that special,” Vincent Corno, senior vice president of real estate for Dick’s told the council before its vote.

More than a sporting goods store, the House of Sports concept creates a recreation center with such features as a playing field, climbing wall, golf cage and skating rink.

“It’s not like anything you’ve seen before,” Corno told the council.

Developer Cullinan Properties says it can bring 50 more stores and restaurants to its Rock Run Collection with the Dick’s deal done.

“We’ll shape Joliet’s economic future,” Cullinan Chief Strategy Officer Maria Toliopoulos told the council.

She said the retail development will make Rock Run Collection “a nationally recognized, super-regional destination.”

The city will issue $37 million in general obligation bonds to help finance the development of the 120,000-square-foot Dick’s House of Sport and another 300,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.

Construction of Dick’s and other stores will start this summer, according to city officials.

Cosmo confirmed the summer construction and said the Dick’s House of Sport is scheduled to be open by back-to-school time in 2027.

City officials expect most of the other retail space to be occupied and doing business by 2028.

The Joliet location is one of three Dick’s House of Sport under development in the Chicago region. Others are planned for Schaumburg and Orland Park at the sites of existing Dick’s Sporting Goods stores.

Corno said the Joliet store “will be a crown jewel. It will be exactly what we want because it’s going to be built from the ground up.”

Cullinan has not named any other retailers for the site.

Toliopoulos said Cullinan has lease agreements that are contingent upon the Dick’s deal being made with the city.

Some of those stores may come out of the city’s current central retail district around the Louis Joliet Mall.

Dick’s Sporting Goods now has a store at a shopping center in that area.

Corno said the company has not decided what to do with that location but it could become a clearance store for merchandise coming out of the new store in Rock Run Collection.

Toliopoulos when questioned by Shaw Local said some of the stores coming to Rock Run Collection now do business in Joliet.

But, she said, some of those stores were looking to leave Joliet, and others want a second location in town.

“We have a lot of new concepts,” Toliopoulos said, noting many of the prospective stores and restaurants will be new to Joliet.

“We have some that are looking to leave Louis Joliet Mall regardless of what we’re doing, so we’re providing them an opportunity to stay in Joliet,” Toliopoulos said. “We also have infill opportunities for stores with existing locations.”

Dick’s Sporting Goods was looking to leave Joliet before representatives from the city and Cullinan urged the retailer to consider moving into Rock Run Collection, Mayor Terry D’Arcy said.

Both D’Arcy and Corno mentioned the meeting at a trailer.

“The collaboration that has put this together is something I’ve never seen before,” D’Arcy said at the council meeting.

D’Arcy said 300,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space will be developed in the next 18 months and increase the city’s potential as a destination point.

“We’re going to be a regional draw for everyone,” D’Arcy said.

Finance Director Kevin Sing said the incentive package is set up so that Cullinan only gets money as stores and restaurants open for business.

The city will issue $37 million in general obligation bonds to help finance the retail development. The plan is to pay off the bonds with tax revenue collected from the stores and restaurants.

The new issue comes on top of $102.5 million in general obligation bonds that the city issued in 2022 to help finance development of Rock Run Collection.

The city at the time authorized up to $105 million in bonds. Sing said the amount actually issued was $102.5 million.

Sing said the city is better protected under the new bond issue because Cullinan only gets money as stores and restaurants open and begin generating tax revenue for the city.

“It’s expected to be 90% open by 2028,” Sing said.

He said the city expects Cullinan Properties to generate enough tax revenue to pay off the bonds by 2044 and another $237 million in additional tax revenue for the city at that point.

YMCA officials estimate attendance for the three-hour event on Saturday was about 2,500, which was more than they had expected.

The YMCA on Saturday also topped 6,000 members at the new facility, which opened the previous Monday.

The Village of Shorewood YMCA replaces the Galowich Family YMCA in Joliet, which had a membership of about 2,500.

“About all 2,500 have transferred from Galowich,” said Katy Leclair, president and CEO of the Greater Joliet Area YMCA.

The Greater Joliet Area YMCA now has facilities in Shorewood, Plainfield and Morris but none any longer in Joliet.

The closing of the Galowich YMCA on Houbolt Road followed the closing of the Smith Family YMCA on Briggs Street in Joliet in 2021.

Membership is not restricted by municipal boundaries, however.

“People have asked if you have to be a resident of Shorewood to join,” Leclair said. “You don’t.”

There is more room for members at the Shorewood YMCA. At 60,000 square feet, it is twice the size of the Galowich facility.

That means a bigger swimming pool, improved fitness facilities, and a variety of rooms to be used for kids, adults and even babysitting when parents and guardians are using the Y.

Felicia Frazier lives in Minooka and now uses the C.W. Avery Family YMCA in Plainfield.

“I’m looking to move here,” Frazier said while walking a treadmill during the open house.

The Shorewood facility is “much closer” to home, and she likes the new exercise rooms, Frazier said.

Kevin and Kelly Hennessy of Rockdale are among the Galowich families who have moved membership to the Shorewood Y.

“Our son’s a member,” Kevin said.

“He loves it,” Kelly said, noting their son was busy at the Y, and they expected to be there until the open house ended. “That’s why we signed him up – to get him active.“

“My kids love it,” Carmen Bates of Minooka said. “One loves basketball, and the other said, ‘Mom, there’s a pool.’”

In addition to an eight-lane pool and gym, the Shorewood Y has group exercise studios, a cycling studio, a wellness center, youth play spaces, indoor and outdoor walking tracks, an outdoor playground, and fields for summer camp and youth programs.

“We have enough space that there is equipment for everyone,” said Carolyn Hamilton, chief marketing and strategy officer for the Greater Joliet Area YMCA.

The Village of Shorewood YMCA is located on the west end of the village at 1801 W. Jefferson St.

It is an area that is seeing new home construction.

Rich Zidrich of Shorewood lives near the Y and was at the open house.

“We’re just trying to see if this would fit our lifestyle,” Zidrich said. “We’re very impressed with the equipment and the amount of room.”

The ordinance was on the City Council agenda for a vote at its Tuesday meeting.

But City Manager Beth Beatty announced at the start of the Monday council workshop meeting that the ordinance would be pulled from the agenda.

“We are going to try to ease any concerns and misconceptions about the ordinance,” Beatty said.

City staff will consider input on the proposed ordinance before bringing it back for a vote at the May 19 meeting, she said.

The ban ordinance was developed as the city developed rules for the newly opened City Square.

Rules for the City Square will go to the council for a vote on Tuesday.

Those rules include setting hours when the public can use the square, along with banning sleeping, fighting, animals and weapons.

The council also will vote on a pilot program allowing public drinking in the City Square and along a section of Chicago Street under certain guidelines.

The City Council is slated to vote Tuesday on the deal, which would mark the city’s second major bond issue to help finance the Rock Run Collection project.

The city in 2022 agreed to issue $105 million in general obligation bonds to finance roads, sewers and other infrastructure on the 310-acre site banking on tax dollars from the development to eventually pay off the bonds.

Now, the council will decide whether to issue another $37 million in general obligation bonds for the retail plan laid out by Cullinan.

The proposal was first presented publicly at the Monday council meeting.

“It will allow us to bring in over 50 national and super-regional retailers who are waiting for the Dick’s House of Sport to move forward,” Cullinan Chief Strategy Officer Maria Toliopoulos told the council at its workshop meeting.

Dick’s House of Sport would be a 120,000-square-foot combination store and recreation center with features including a playing field, ice rink, climbing wall and more.

Another 300,000 square feet of retail space would be developed along with the Dick’s House of Sport, Toliopoulos said.

She said the retail complex planned by Cullinan would employ 5,000 people.

The plan was first presented two hours before the workshop meeting at a special meeting of the council’s Land Use and Economic Development Committee.

Rock Run Collection now is the site of the new Hollywood Casino Joliet and a 570-unit apartment complex. A seven-story Drury Plaza Hotel is under construction along with a Ricky Rockets Fuel center. Several fast-foot restaurants are under development.

A Dick’s House of Sport and 50 more stores would add a new dimension to the project.

“This development will.be a place where people from the region will come for shopping and dining,” city Finance Director Kevin Sing told the council.

Sing said the $37 million will only be distributed to Cullinan as stores open.

“The revenue from the site will pay for the incentives,” he said.

The proposed incentive agreement provides better protection for the city than the previous $105 million bond issue by requiring that retailers be operating and generating revenue before any of the city bond money is distributed, Sing said when interviewed after the meeting.

“To get the full amount, all 300,000 square feet has to be open plus Dick’s,” Sing said.

The Joliet Slammers played an exhibition game against the Gateway Grizzlies in the same prison yard that was the home field for inmate teams that played baseball for decades at the former Joliet Correctional Center.

The crowd included actor Bill Murray, a co-owner of the Slammers, who observed while mingling at the ballgame, “It’s probably one of the greatest games played here because the players all will be able to go home to their families.”

Some players of yesteryear went home after the games, because the prison would host visiting teams from the outside.

One such team was the Palos A’s, a men’s team that included Al Budding of Palos Heights.

Budding was at the game on Thursday and shared some memories of what it was like to play at the prison in the 1960s.

“Unique, different, interesting – a little nerve-wracking," Budding said.

[ Photos: Joliet Slammers take their game to the Big House ]

The Palos A’s turned in all their equipment when entering the prison and got it back when they got on the field.

Inmates in the stands were as likely to cheer for the A’s as for the prison team, he said.

On the field, Budding said, “The game was baseball. There were no shenanigans. There were no complaints. There were prison-inmate umpires.”

The history of baseball at the prison was told in banners on display for visitors, many of whom stopped to learn about the history.

Warden Edmund Allen, who got the job in 1913, described his introduction of “one hour a day for recreation” as “one of my first innovations” in a report to the state the following year, according to the banners. He reported baseball being played “on a field set apart for that purpose within the prison walls.”

The home team, Redwings, would host games against teams from other prisons and military bases, including Great Lakes Naval Training Station.

They also played local baseball clubs like the Palos A’s.

“We heard from many people in Joliet who remember coming here to play baseball with the prisoners,” said Greg Peerbolte, chief executive officer for the Joliet Area Historical Museum that manages the prison.

Peerbolte said the 5,500 attendees on Thursday would make what was called the “Big House Ballgame” the most attended event yet at the prison, which has hosted two Blues Brothers concerts featuring Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi.

Slammers Executive Vice President Night Train Veeck said he believes the team could have sold 25,000 tickets for the game based on the number of calls it got.

“It’s a really unique event in a unique place,” Veeck said.

Ticket buyers were largely from the Joliet region and places nearby, Veeck said.

But there were people from places well beyond Joliet.

Matt Nelson of Coralville, Iowa, has a hobby of visiting ballparks.

“This will be my 158th professional ballpark,” he said, noting the game was between two professional teams.

“I can count a new one,” Nelson said of his visit to the Old Joliet Prison. “But it will be unlike anything I’ve ever been to before.”

The prison gates opened three hours before game time, and many of those interviewed commented on the sense of history they gained through the unique access to the prison, which closed in 2002.

“I didn’t know any of this that I’m reading now,” Ray Kucera of Lemont said while reading the banners describing the history of baseball at the Joliet prison.

Jessica and Will Giroux of Plainfield also spent time at the banners, reading about the place of baseball in the Joliet Correctional Center and other prisons.

“Now that we’re here,” Jessica said, “it’s so cool to read about the history and to learn how much baseball was a part of it.”

The ban, which would be applied to people deemed to be disorderly or committing other offenses, will be considered along with rules for the newly opened City Square and a “social district” allowing public drinking within limits downtown.

The council’s legislative committee unanimously approved all three proposals last week.

But one council member said she is concerned about the implications of a ban barring residents from city property.

“We are treading a thin line between trampling on the rights of city residents,” council member Suzanaa Ibarra said.

The proposed ban was developed as the city examined rules for use at the downtown City Square, which opened last week.

Ibarra said Joliet was going too far in creating a ban that would apply to all city property.

“I am definitely in favor of protecting City Square,” she said. “But I am hesitant to block access to all city property for 60-90 days without due process.”

The proposed ban actually could be applied up to the lifetime of the offender.

The proposed ordinance provides for a six-month ban on first offense, a 12-month ban on a second offense, and a lifetime ban after a third offense.

A lifetime ban also could be imposed on anyone found on city property while banned for the first or second offenses.

City officials said exceptions will be provided for banned residents to conduct certain business, such as paying for water bills at City Hall or attending City Council meetings.

The resolution creating the ban does not outline exceptions but does say a banned individual can enter “certain public property for a specific government purpose.”

It also does not require a court conviction for offenses that would trigger a ban. Joliet police would determine whether someone should be banned.

Appeals could be made to a city hearing officer.

At the same time the city is loosening rules for public drinking downtown, creating what is called a “social district” around the City Square.

People would be allowed to take to-go drinks from restaurants located on Chicago Street between Cass and Jefferson streets, an area that includes the square, and drink in public in that area.

The rules for City Square set general hours when it is open at 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. from May 1 through Sept. 30 and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Oct. 1 through April 30. Extended hours are allowed for permitted events.

A long list of rules has been created for the Square, including a ban on dogs and other animals with the exception of service animals.

“I saw the opening of ‘Gone with the Wind’ here,” said Marty Terlep of Joliet, who is 97 himself. “That was 1939.”

He remembers wanting to stay for a second showing of the four-hour film, but his mother said it was time to come home.

Terlep was among more than 400 visitors who came to the Rialto Square Theatre on Sunday for a 100th anniversary celebration that included tours of the theater, which opened May 24, 1926.

Many, if not most, had their own special memories of the Rialto.

Andy Honiotes was one of four members of the Joliet Region Model A Restorers Club who brought the classic Ford cars to the Rialto to add a touch of the 1920s to the celebration.

“The first movie I saw here was ‘The Absent-Minded Professor,’ ” Honiotes said. “That’s when I got interested in old cars.”

The 1961 film featured Fred MacMurray and a Model T Ford. Honiotes would buy his first Model A Ford five years after seeing the movie.

Lorin Lynch, whose great-uncle Hiram Lynch was the first stage manager at the theater when it opened, started working as a stagehand in 1974.

Lynch, still working as a stagehand, describes working at the Rialto as “a real family tradition” that included his brothers, father and grandfather.

The Rialto was mostly showing movies when Lynch became a stagehand. But he remembers working a weekly series of country music shows at that time that featured star performers Dolly Parton, Mel Tillis, Tom T. Hall and Jerry Reed.

Grace Juracka of Frankfort was at the celebration with her fiance and family in large part because they were considering having her wedding there.

“Gorgeous,” Juracka said of the Rialto. “The interior is so stunning. I always thought it was beautiful.”

She has her own memories of the theater.

“The first time I was here was for ”Weird Al" Yankovic as a child," she said, adding her brother was a big fan of the comic musician.

Juracka also worked at the Rialto as a production assistant when Fox TV used the theater to film parts of “The Big Leap,” a show that ran for one year in 2021-22.

All those memories were part of what made the Rialto 100th anniversary celebration special, said Steve Randich, president of the Rialto Square Theatre Foundation.

“It’s amazing, just hearing all the stories that people are reminded of when they are here,” Randich said. “It’s so heartwarming to hear people talk about what they did as young people. This theater means so much to so many people.”

The theater has been holding a series of anniversary events.

The free event Sunday included tours that provided access to the Rialto green room, where stars including Taylor Swift have put their signatures on the walls.

Stars, show business and movies were not the only memories for visitors.

“My grandparents were here for their first date,” said Kathryn Kinnett of Coal City. “They would say how beautiful it was. They were not well-to-do people, but they liked to come here because of the elegance and the music.”

Kinnett brought her three granddaughters, ages 4 to 8, who were looking up and around at the lobby, designed to resemble the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles in France, and the chandelier named “The Duchess.”

“They are pretty amazed,” Kinnett said. “They are just looking around at all the beauty.”

Berry and sister Melody Berry-Eskridge were in Joliet for the Chuck Berry exhibit at the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66.

Chuck Berry’s renown includes being called the “Father of Rock and Roll.”

His son compared the music to a baby that grew with the influence of a variety of genres and musicians, many of whom came from Illinois.

He described the influence of blues, gospel, country and jazz music, noting Illinois bands and musicians, while outlining the development of rock ‘n’ roll music.

The museum, he said, is a place where visitors “see in an interesting setting the wonders of Illinois rock and roll.”

“If my dad was still alive, he would be standing here today and enthusiastically sharing his thoughts,” Berry said.

Charles and Melody, like their father did, live in the St. Louis area.

But Charles described how his father’s career was launched by a visit to Chicago in 1955 when he met the owners of Chess Records.

The museum has an exhibit devoted to Chess Records just around the corner from the new Chuck Berry exhibit.

Chess Records recorded “Maybellene,” a song that became a No. 1 hit and launched Berry’s career.

“My dad was on the road from 1955 to 2014,” Charles said in an interview after his speech.

Charles mingled with museum visitors, talking about his father and music.

It was the second visit to the Joliet museum for Charles and Melody.

“We came up in 2022 when dad was inducted,” Melody said.

Berry is in the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66 Hall of Fame. He was among the first musicians inducted into the national Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when it opened in Cleveland in 1986.

His son commented on the importance of the Joliet museum in telling the history of rock ‘n’ roll in Illinois.

“There’s only one place dedicated to celebrating Illinois’s own rock and roll history,” Charles Berry said.

Charles was accompanied at the ceremony by his wife, Cheryl.

Not at the ceremony was Chuck Berry’s widow, Themetta, who at age 99 was not able to make the trip.

But it was considered, Charles said, commenting on the family response to an invitation to the event from museum board member Jim Murphy.

“When Jim asked if my family would come and participate in the festivities,” he said, “it was not whether we would participate but if our 99-year-old mother would be able to come with us.”

The museum is located at 9 W. Cass St. in downtown Joliet.

Police said they went to Riverwalk Homes, a city-owned housing complex, at 12:55 p.m.

The stabbing victim was on the fifth floor of the building in the 300 block of North Broadway Street. He was taken to Saint Joseph Medical Center by the Joliet Fire Department.

“A male juvenile has been detained as a person of interest and transported to the Joliet Police Department for questioning,” according to a police news release.

A knife has been recovered at the scene, police said.

The investigation is ongoing, and police remained on-scene as of early Sunday evening.

“Anyone with video footage or information related to this incident is encouraged to contact the Joliet Police Department Investigations Division at 815-724-3020,” according to the release. “Those wishing to remain anonymous may contact Will County Crime Stoppers at 800-323-6734 or submit a tip online at crimestoppersofwillcounty.org.

Vidales was pronounced dead at 3 a.m. Sunday at Saint Joseph’s Medical Center in Joliet, according to the Will County Coroner’s Office.

Joliet police officers responded to a homicide at 1:51 a.m.

The shooting occurred in the area of Anthony’s Restaurant and Pub, which is in the 3100 block of Voyager Lane.

Multiple gunshots were heard coming from the nearby Dollar Tree parking lot in the 2900 block of Colorado Avenue, Joliet Police Sgt. Dwayne English said.

Officers immediately responded and found a 31-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound to the head, English said.

He was taken by the Joliet Fire Department to Saint Joseph Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead, English said.

Officers conducted a canvass of the area and detectives and crime scene officers investigated the scene, he said.

Officers recovered multiple spent shell casings and a handgun in the parking lot, English said.

Two unoccupied vehicles and the south side of Rise Dispensary, in the 2900 block of Colorado Avenue, were struck by gunfire, he said.

“This investigation remains ongoing as detectives work to determine the events leading up to the shooting and a possible motive. No one is currently in custody,” English said.

Anyone with video footage or information related to this incident is encouraged to contact the Joliet Police Department Investigations Division at 815-724-3020.

Those wishing to remain anonymous may contact Will County Crime Stoppers at 800-323-6734 or submit a tip online at crimestoppersofwillcounty.org.

No through traffic will be allowed between Van Buren and Clinton streets, according to a news release from the city.

Sculpture parts built in China are being shipped to Joliet from the Port of Los Angeles, according to Lisa Dorothy, project manager for the City Square project.

Those parts will be put together on the new City Square to create what is called the “Unity Dome.” It is a sculpture designed to reflect various aspects of life in Joliet.

The Joliet City Council will vote next week on a $37 million tax-incentive package to bring Dick’s House of Sport and other retailers to the Rock Run Collection project now under development at the intersection of Interstates 55 and 80.

The store would be the first retail project in Rock Run Collection, a project designed to create a new business district in Joliet at the highly traveled interchange area.

“With them comes a whole slew of retailers,” said City Manager Beth Beatty said of the Dick’s project.

But the city plans to issue a $37 million general obligation bond that would basically pay developer Cullinan Properties the cost of developing the Dick’s project and another 250,000 square feet of retail space.

Essentially, taxpayers will cover the cost of development with the city expecting to recoup the money over time from tax dollars generated by the business.

Cullinan would only get the money when the stores are open, Beatty said.

The plan will be presented to the council at its Monday workshop meeting, Beatty said. The vote is planned for Tuesday.

Dick’s Sporting Goods now has a store in the Louis Joliet Mall area of Joliet.

The proposal for a new location would mark the next phase of development at Rock Run Collection.

Hollywood Casino Joliet last year moved to Rock Run Collection.

A seven-story Drury Plaza Hotel is being built there.

Several fast-food restaurants are in various stages of development along with a Ricky Rockets Fuel Center at the I-55 interchange built to provide access to the site.

The project also includes a 570-unit apartment complex built as part of a mixed-use development where people would live, work and play.

Two warehouses have been built.

Joliet resident Adrian Ramos commented on the change the square brings to downtown.

“It makes it more vibrant,” Ramos said. “You already have kids running around. It brings energy.”

Tom Svoboda, a Route 66 enthusiast, was visiting from Alsip on his birthday weekend.

“We came for the Route 66 festivities,” he said. “It’s nice to have a green square in the middle of town.”

The Joliet Slammers played an exhibition game against the Gateway Grizzlies in the same prison yard that was the home field for inmate teams that played baseball for decades at the former Joliet Correctional Center.

The crowd included actor Bill Murray, a co-owner of the Slammers, who observed while mingling at the ballgame, “It’s probably one of the greatest games played here because the players all will be able to go home to their families.”

Some players of yesteryear went home after the games, because the prison would host visiting teams from the outside.

One such team was the Palos A’s, a men’s team that included Al Budding of Palos Heights.

Budding was at the game on Thursday and shared some memories of what it was like to play at the prison in the 1960s.

“Unique, different, interesting – a little nerve-wracking," Budding said.

The Palos A’s turned in all their equipment when entering the prison and got it back when they got on the field.

Inmates in the stands were as likely to cheer for the A’s as for the prison team, he said.

On the field, Budding said, “The game was baseball. There were no shenanigans. There were no complaints. There were prison-inmate umpires.”

The history of baseball at the prison was told in banners on display for visitors, many of whom stopped to learn about the history.

Warden Edmund Allen, who got the job in 1913, described his introduction of “one hour a day for recreation” as “one of my first innovations” in a report to the state the following year, according to the banners. He reported baseball being played “on a field set apart for that purpose within the prison walls.”

The home team, Redwings, would host games against teams from other prisons and military bases, including Great Lakes Naval Training Station.

They also played local baseball clubs like the Palos A’s.

“We heard from many people in Joliet who remember coming here to play baseball with the prisoners,” said Greg Peerbolte, chief executive officer for the Joliet Area Historical Museum that manages the prison.

Peerbolte said the 5,500 attendees on Thursday would make what was called the “Big House Ballgame” the most attended event yet at the prison, which has hosted two Blues Brothers concerts featuring Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi.

Slammers Executive Vice President Night Train Veeck said he believes the team could have sold 25,000 tickets for the game based on the number of calls it got.

“It’s a really unique event in a unique place,” Veeck said.

Ticket buyers were largely from the Joliet region and places nearby, Veeck said.

But there were people from places well beyond Joliet.

Matt Nelson of Coralville, Iowa, has a hobby of visiting ballparks.

“This will be my 158th professional ballpark,” he said, noting the game was between two professional teams.

“I can count a new one,” Nelson said of his visit to the Old Joliet Prison. “But it will be unlike anything I’ve ever been to before.”

The prison gates opened three hours before game time, and many of those interviewed commented on the sense of history they gained through the unique access to the prison, which closed in 2002.

“I didn’t know any of this that I’m reading now,” Ray Kucera of Lemont said while reading the banners describing the history of baseball at the Joliet prison.

Jessica and Will Giroux of Plainfield also spent time at the banners, reading about the place of baseball in the Joliet Correctional Center and other prisons.

“Now that we’re here,” Jessica said, “it’s so cool to read about the history and to learn how much baseball was a part of it.”

The lottery will take place at 9 a.m. in the clerk’s office at the Will County Office Building, located at 302 N. Chicago St., Joliet.

The lottery required by state law determines which established party appears first in races on the ballot, according to a news release from County Clerk Annette Parker.

Representatives of the established parties have been notified of the lottery, according to the release. A representative from the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office will be present.

Thursday is the day of the Big House Ballgame, a unique exhibition Slammers game that will be played in the Old Joliet Prison and has drawn the interest of thousands of people.

The game reenacts the prison-yard ball games of the now-closed Joliet Correctional Center.

It also is the Joliet contribution to the kick-off of the Route 66 centennial celebration. Joliet is one of four cities along the old Route 66 route chosen to hold kick-off events on that day.

Fans of the era may want to stay for the weekend.

On Friday, Joliet holds its first event at the new City Square, which opened downtown this week to the public when perimeter fences were taken down.

“I love it,” Sarina Eich said of the new square, which she visited with her dog, Lucy.

“We’ve been walking past here since we moved here in December. She (Lucy) has been trying to get in,” said Eich, who lives downtown.

City Square rules allow dogs but caution owners to keep them off the artificial grass. The green surface area is artificial, although there are planters with natural plants and trees in the square.

The opening of the square is momentous for Joliet, creating a public space downtown that has not been there before.

“This is a space for all the residents of Joliet,” said Ann Sylvester, director of cultural affairs and special events for the city

Sylvester said she hopes to see the square attract residents throughout Joliet.

“I hope people from Joliet, especially on the outskirts, are drawn to it,” she said.

The Friday event will include live music and a car show, both of which are styled to pay tribute to the days when Route 66 travel was the fashion of the nation.

The event is 4 to 7:30 p.m.

The historic highway dates back to 1926 and lasted until the 1970s, providing a route from Chicago to California. It was a popular pathway for Americans traveling during the early days of the automobile era and remains a destination for tourists looking to discover Americana.

Anyone interested in that bygone area might be curious about an event on Saturday at the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66, although it is not open to the public.

The museum, located downtown at 9 W. Cass St., will open a new exhibit devoted to Chuck Berry, nicknamed “The Father of Rock and Roll.”

Berry had a hit with his 1961 version of the classic song “(Get your kicks) On Route 66.″ Two of his children will be at the Saturday private event.

The Rialto Square Theatre on Sunday will hold a 100th Anniversary celebration.

The event, which starts at 1 p.m., includes tours of the theater and a showing of the Disney Pixar movie “Cars.”

The city also will have a disc jockey on the new City Square on Sunday along with a miniature golf course to help the Rialto celebrate its 100th anniversary.

Partners that support the center this week celebrated the opening of the new facility at 1300 Copperfield Ave.

The center, which provides job and career services to hundreds of people a month, is now in a county-owned building on the former Silver Cross Hospital campus.

It’s been there since the end of February, having moved from its former location on Glenwood Avenue in Joliet. But a ribbon-cutting for the new offices was held Monday.

“Over the past year, we worked intentionally to strengthen how we serve our community,” center Director Michelle Stiff said at the ceremony.

Stiff also is director of the Workforce Services Division of Will County, which, she noted, has opened 14 kiosk locations around the county to provide satellite services away from the Workforce Center.

“We expanded our reach to place kiosks throughout Will County to ensure our services extend well beyond Joliet to the communities that need them most,” Stiff said.

Services also include career counseling, skills assessment and workshops.

Kiosks are located in several libraries and other locations where people seeking job services may encounter them.

The new Copperfield Avenue location for the Workforce Center may also make services more accessible, said Caroline Portlock, director of the Workforce Investment Board of Will County.

The board, a group that develops local workforce strategies, is among nearly a dozen partners involved with the Workforce Center.

Portlock noted that the center now is near the Joliet Veterans Affairs Clinic, also on the former Silver Cross Hospital campus, and is in the same building as the Veterans Assistance Commission (VAC) of Will County.

Job help for veterans, Portlock said, is “one of our priority services.”

The county recently moved the VAC offices into the building on Copperfield Avenue.

Both services were moved from a Glenwood Avenue building, where the county leased space, into larger quarters.

The Workforce Center occupies 16,000 square feet on Copperfield Avenue, which compares to 12,000 square feet it had on Glenwood.

The number of people who visited the new offices for services in March was 1,044, Portlock said. That was up from 838 in January, the last full month when the Glenwood Avenue offices were open.

Will County unemployment hovers around 4%, Portlock said.

That’s in the range of what’s considered an ideal rate for a healthy economy. But Portlock said there are segments of the workforce being left out despite the relatively low unemployment rate.

“That’s not taking into consideration some of the untapped talent,” she said. “If you look at unemployment among African-American men, that’s a double-digit number. If you look at disabled workers, that’s in double digits.”

There is no cost for services at the Workforce Center regardless of whether the client is working or not.

“It could be someone who’s looking for employment,” said Elizabeth Gonzalez, chair of the Workforce Investment Board of Will County. “It could be an established worker. It could be 18- to 20-year-olds who are not sure what they want to do.”

Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant noted that “all the work” at the center is federally funded “and thankfully there is bipartisan support” for the program.

The roomier Workforce Center on Copperfield Avenue also provides space for hiring events.

Lisa Markusic, career pathway coordinator at the center, talked about some of the services it provides while giving a tour of the new facility.

She pointed to silent rooms that job-seekers can use for Zoom interviews with potential employers or private meetings with career counselors.

The center also hosts hiring events where job-seekers can meet face-to-face with employers.

The next job fair at the center is 2-5 p.m. on May 21.

“We want any job seekers to come to our hiring events,” Markusic said.

The series, if approved for production, will depict the lives of police officers using the city of Joliet as the setting for the stories it tells.

The creator of the series, Brian Udovich, is a native of Joliet.

Many of the crew members and extras involved in the filming on Monday also have local roots.

Plainfield resident Senica Billingsley, the first assistant director for the show, said she was proud to have “American Blue” filmed close to home in Joliet.

“I’m just really proud of what we’re doing,” Billingsley said during a lunch break for the filming on Monday. “I love the stories that the series is going to tell.”

“American Blue” will not be your typical crime drama.

“It’s really about the lives of the officers,” Billingsley said. “I feel that’s a story no one’s really told.”

The experience of police officers is being told with a local angle to such a degree that Joliet Police Department squad cars were used in the filming.

Iconic images of Joliet also were filmed.

Those images included St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, built downtown in 1905 and just this year illuminated with a lighting system that was turned on for the pre-dawn filming crews looking for Joliet images for “American Blue.”

Billingsley described the church as “gorgeous this morning.”

“The sun was rising behind it,” Jim Nieciecki, a retired Prospect Heights firefighter who serves as medic for the HBO film crew, said of the church. “It looked really cool.”

The church was not the only local image that captured the imagination of the HBO film crews.

A barge on the Des Plaines River going under a raised drawbridge, a scene that typically evokes groans from Joliet motorists, captured the imagination of the film crews.

“That’s really iconic – to have the bridge rising and see the barge going through," Nieciecki said.

The Monday morning filming “went very well,” he said. “No injuries, which I’m happy about.

Nieciecki is on hand in case of filming injuries, which are not unusual, he said.

Stunt actors were involved in the Monday morning filming, which involved a domestic altercation in public as police intervened.

“Bad Guy One,” which Nieciecki said is how he is described in the script, is thrown to the ground at the Jackson Street Bridge, creating an opportunity for injury that at times happens in filming.

But the domestic altercation at the Jackson Street bridge went off without any injuries other than scratches to one of the several stunt actors involved.

Robert Demakis, assistant location manager for the Joliet scene, seemed satisfied with how it turned out.

Demakis arrived at 1 a.m. to begin preparing the filming. Security crews had already been on North Bluff Street overnight to secure parking, he said.

Dozens of trucks from the film crew were parked along North Bluff Street leading to the Jackson Street Bridge. Scores of film workers were there, too, along with extras hired to be in the filming.

The pilot would establish both the main characters and Joliet as the scene of the show.

“A lot of it is establishing Joliet as a character, as well as establishing the main characters of the show,” Demakis said.

That was the plan behind the one-year, $4.8 million interior renovation now completed.

The Joliet Public Library held an open house on Friday to showcase the changes to the branch at 3395 Black Road.

One satisfied patron at the library was Marie Suligoy, age 10.

“It’s a place where you can read and have fun at the same time,” Suligoy said.

She described the new Kid Zone as “huge.”

Features include a Book Burrow cabin where children can play and a larger story time area farther from the adult library section so as to mute any noise for patrons who prefer quiet.

The renovation involved a rearranging, not enlarging, of the building.

But creating a separate space for children with more kid-friendly features was one of the main goals.

So was creating an atmosphere where patrons felt closer to the Rock Run Preserve that borders the library lawn.

Colors and textures “found inspiration” from the natural setting, Kristin Richardson, architect with the firm Engberg Anderson, said of the redesign.

Richardson said patrons should find more “places where they can look outdoors.”

Joliet Public Library Executive Director Megan Millen said patrons will find more places where they can meet with each other, too,

The number of study rooms, which also serve as meeting places, has doubled from two to four. A teen room has been added for teenagers to gather.

“Every improvement was made with our community in mind,” Millen said in remarks during a ceremony before the open house. “Libraries today are dynamic places where everybody is welcome.”

Anders Dahlgren, principle with Library Planning Associates, also involved in the project, commented on the same theme.

“The library of the 20th Century was about collections, while the library of the 21st Century is about connectivity,” Dahlgren.

Many library patrons may be disappointed, however, that the redesigned Black Road Branch does not bring back the coffee shop.

The popular Book and Bean Cafe closed at the end of 2023 when its owners retired.

Library management at the time said it would not replace the cafe but consider it while the redesign was in the works. The new Black Road Branch does not include a cafe.

It does include a gathering area with chairs and tables in the former cafe space. But instead of hot coffee, sandwiches and pastry, there are two vending machines.

Millen said the space remains popular with patrons.

“It’s a place for people to meet,” she said. “It’s always in use.”

Patrons at the open house overall appeared happy with the renovation.

“The changes are great,” said Gino Ballone, who was there with his family. “This is brighter and more modernized than in the past.”

The renovations were the first major changes made at the Black Road Branch since it opened in 2002.

The Joliet Public Library is a city library. It has a board of trustees and property tax levy, but both must be approved by the City Council.

The city provided a $3.5 million loan to fund the renovation project, and several city officials were at the library ceremony.

“We’re all so very grateful for what you’ve done to renovate this library,” Mayor Terry D’Arcy said whole commenting on a new atmosphere in the building. “The renovation has changed the feel when you walk in.”