He was asleep the evening of May 17 when his next door neighbor’s home exploded. Zimmerle walked out of his house that night with nothing but the clothes he had on and his wallet. He’s been allowed back in just once, to get his cellphone and a few other odds and ends he needed.

Fencing now surrounds both home sites as investigators determine if Zimmerle’s house in structurally sound. He’s been told the blast shifted the house off its foundation. He’s been staying at a McHenry-area hotel since that night.

“It has been deemed unoccupiable and not safe,” McHenry County Director of Planning & Development, Adam Wallen, said of the home’s current condition. Wallen has not been on site himself, but as the county code enforcement agency is in contact with investigators.

The 7:50 p.m. explosion killed one woman, identified as Sandra Patnaude, and injured her husband, Dean Patnaude, and son, Andrew Patnaude.

The explosion ripped the power lines away from Zimmerle’s house next door and collapsed the chimney, Wallen said.

Most strikingly, the Patnaude home’s roof landed on Zimmerle’s roof, Wallen said.

Zimmerle works overnights, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., but had that Saturday, Sunday and Monday off that weekend.

“I got off on Saturday morning and got prepped to paint. I painted the garage door and anything with dark trim,” he said.

He worked on the house until about 1 p.m. Sunday. “I cleaned up and went inside to relax and fell asleep,” he said.

He woke up to the explosion. He had the presence of mind to grab his wallet – something his sister had mentioned doing when her Arizona house caught fire a few years ago, Zimmerle said.

Had he not thought of that, he may not have had the ID and credit cards needed to get him through the past few weeks, Zimmerle said.

After the explosion, he walked into a nearby bar with no shoes or shirt on, said Kim Doran of East End Pizza and Ice Cream. She was able to help connect Zimmerle to the Red Cross that night and is working on a fundraising event for the Patnaude family.

“One of the first people there was the Red Cross,” Zimmerle said this week. “They gave me a stipend for clothes ... to get to work.”

He’s working with his insurance company, which is also now paying for his hotel stay, while waiting to see if the home he’s owned for 17 years will be a total loss.

Zimmerle was also forced to buy a different car. He only had liability insurance on his two older cars – a 2005 and a 2009 – and they are not covered by homeowner’s insurance.

“All of the glass is shattered” on those two cars, Zimmerle said.

A third car sitting inside the garage is a newer Corvette. That car has full coverage, but he cannot get to it. He’s unsure of its condition and will not be until he is allowed inside.

In the meantime, his replacement car is getting him to and from work. He purchased a vehicle that is the same make and model as one of the totaled cars so he can continue to use the same snow tires and rims.

Because a death was involved, the investigation is taking its time, Wallen said, adding Zimmerle’s home isn’t condemned but is tagged to prohibit entrance. Repairs will be needed before anyone other than investigators – from insurance companies, fire and the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office – can enter.

The Zimmerle home and the now-flattened Patnaude home are the only two that are fenced off, Wallen said. Other houses in the area have superficial damage to siding or windows.

If other neighbors believe they have more damage, they should call their insurance providers, Wallen added.

Nearly three weeks after the explosion, Zimmerle is waiting to find out what’s next – if he will be able to get anything else out of the home or the garage. He knows a structural engineer has been on site, as has an insurance adjustor and an attorney for the insurance company.

“I don’t know if I will ever be made whole,” Zimmerle said.

“We have been able to grow significantly there,” Stetson said as she announced the opening of her second location at 395 Cary-Algonquin Road in Cary. That’s in addition to the existing Cary store at 27 Jandus Road.

The grand opening event of the Cary-Algonquin Road space began Friday but continues Saturday beginning at 11 a.m.

The new location will cater to a specialized audience, Stetson said.

“As we are meeting and learning about all of these people, there was an opening for something a little more game-focused,” Stetson said.

The new location will give gamers a spot to buy, learn about and play their favorite TCGs – tradable card games.

The most-known tradable card game might be Pokemon, Stetson said. But another game, My Little Pony, has recently picked up steam too.

“It came out of nowhere and is doing super well now,” Stetson said.

She also had to balance her now-thriving Lego piece mail-order service and the space it needs at the Jandus Road location.

“We were running out of space,” Stetson said.

Stetson participates in bricklink.com. The site allows Lego users to buy individual pieces from resellers like her, and Stetson will ship to buyers in the U.S.

“We get a lot of calls from people who just need one random piece,” she said, adding that part of the business has grown since she opened the store in July 2024.

“We needed to either move stuff out of [Jandus Road] so we could ... expand our bricklink footprint,” or move it to another space, Stetson said.

She picked the new site based on one of the neighbors, in hopes it would bring clients to the shopping center – the now-closed Cary Dairy.

But nearby parks, preschools, a driving school and an athletic center also help to raise visibility for the location, she added.

“It is a community gathering location,” Stetson said, adding she is excited to see who moves into the ice cream shop. “We are happy to partner with whoever comes here next.”

But the two local stores – bookending Cary with one on either end of Route 14 – will differentiate in what they sell.

The Cary-Algonquin Road space will have smaller items, game card packs and events for those who play the games.

They have a group of girls, ages 10 to 14, who’ve been playing Dungeons and Dragons together, said store manager Tallulah Heath, and will invite them to play at the new store too.

“Magic the Gathering is Thursday night for us,” Heath said. “They talk about coming down here.”

The Jandus Road location – which also has a large space for groups to meet and play their favorite role-playing and card games – will continue to carry the large Lego sets.

“Pokemon, we will continue to do there because it is big for us,” Stetson said, adding their “Pokemon Professor” is at the Jandus store from 10:30 a.m. to noon most Saturdays. “She is there with ... people who are interested in trading Pokemon cars but also interested in learning” the game.

Stetson first opened her store concept at McHenry’s Riverwalk Shoppes, and opened and closed a McHenry store since then.

“Our Pokemon was strong” at the now-closed McHenry location, Stetson said, adding that Landmark School closing also affected sales there. “I don’t think that the business model made sense in the location we were in.”

Berggren, president and CEO of the county’s tourism bureau, Naturally McHenry County, said that for quilters like her, the process includes frustration, seams stitched together only to be ripped back out and “mistakes that sometimes are not noticed until the quilt is complete.”

But those imperfections are what make the final piece both beautiful and unique to that quilter, Berggren said Wednesday as she accepted one of 10 Women of Distinction awards.

Now in its 14th year, the Shaw Local/Northwest Herald award recognizes women throughout McHenry County who make a difference in their communities as mentors, leaders and role models.

This year, almost 100 women from different backgrounds, businesses and towns were nominated, said Laura Shaw, Shaw Local’s market manager. More than 300 people attended the awards luncheon, held Wednesday at the Boulder Ridge Country Club in Lake in the Hills.

It’s stories like Berggren’s, and the work she and the other honorees and nominees do in the community, that makes McHenry County what it is, Shaw said.

“Seeing these incredible women recognized for the way they lead, serve, and uplift others is a powerful reminder of the difference one person can make in our community,” Shaw said.

Berggren sees similarities between quilting – taking individual beautiful pieces of fabric and connecting it to others just as unique – as very similar to the community she lives and works in.

“None of us makes it on our own, and the true beauty lies in the individuality of each of us coming together to build this community,” Berggren said.

The other 2026 honorees are:

Sponsors of awards and luncheon include: BMO Bank, the Community Foundation for McHenry County, Caldwell Consulting Group, McHenry County College Education to Empowerment, JH Events and Flowers, CASA of McHenry County, Naturally McHenry County and Tricoci Salon & Spa.

When the latest proposed development there will get a final vote from the McHenry City Council, however, is up in the air. On Monday night, the Council voted to table the developer Lennar’s request – to build 599 single-family homes on 293 acres – until issues raised by residents and the Council are addressed. The Council did not put a date on when that proposal should come back for their consideration.

“We will work with Lennar ... and the Council members individually, so that the next product that does come forward is something we can be happy with,” Jett said at the close of the meeting.

The motion to table Council action on the development passed on a 5-2 vote, with Alderwomen Bobbie Baehne, 1st Ward, and Sue Miller, 7th Ward, voting no. The vote came after more than two hours of presentations from Lennar, comments from residents, and questions from the Council.

Lennar first came to the Council in November 2024 seeking feedback on the development dubbed Preserves of Boone Creek. At the time, Director of Community Development Ross Polerecky said it was the largest single-family development pitched to McHenry in 20 years.

The property was annexed into the city in 2005 with an eye towards development, but it was never platted and no construction was ever started there, Polerecky said.

Second Ward Alderman Andy Glab was on the Council then. At that time, 20 years ago, developers came to the Council three times to get approvals, Glab said.

At that point, developers also included commercial properties along Bull Valley Road.

“That is why the density is higher” in the current proposal, said consultant Michael Werthman, who authored Lennar’s traffic study. The 2005 plan included 11 acres of commercial that can now be used for homes, he said, adding “commercial generates more traffic than a single-family home does.”

Traffic, the number of children that the development could bring to McHenry schools, the density of homes and the amount of open space included in the plan were among the concerns voiced by residents who spoke for a half-hour during the meeting – largely against the project.

For resident Matt Matusek, it is the traffic burden on existing residents that concerns him the most.

“There is no consideration for the people who are there,” Matusek said.

Resident Ross Courtemanche said, “I believe it is way too big for what our community is,” adding that he doubted Lennar’s assertion that a portion of the homes would be affordable.

According to Lennar officials who spoke, the development would include three types of homes including an age-targeted, active adult section.

Planned amenities include a clubhouse with a pool, play structures, fire pit and grilling stations, three miles of internal walking trails and a multi-use path along Bull Valley Road. The age-targeted section also includes parks with bocce and pickleball courts.

In what Lennar calls the “core” section of the development, 212 homes would be available on slabs, ranging from 1,625 square feet to 2,178 square feet of living space. Each would have a two-car garage and are considered more affordable.

Current home prices were not brought up in the meeting, but in 2024’s proposal, Murphy said Lennar was looking to keep prices in the $200,000 to $400,000 range.

While the development could bring additional children to McHenry District 15 or McHenry High School District 156, those numbers would replace falling enrollment, Rick Murphy Sr. of Lennar said.

“We did talk to the schools,” Murphy said. “They are down a significant percentage from where they were 15 years ago. Instead of empty classrooms, they can use [tax] money to help teach children.”

He also noted that the age-targeted, active adult homes do not generate school-aged children.

City Attorney David McArdle suggested that Lennar come back with changes to the plan when a development agreement is also ready for a Council vote.

That may take time and additional engineering by Lennar.

“Reengineering the project is ... a big ask,” Polerecky said.

To prepare for that $115 million project, work began in 2025 with crews removing trees and other brush lining the road, timed to protect bats overwintering in trees.

This year, crews from ComEd are moving power lines and other power infrastructure to make way for the Illinois Department of Transportation project, running Route 120 to Route 176.

Brian Runowski, ComEd’s vice president for projects and contracts, gave a breakdown of the company’s portion of the project, as well as the parallel wooden roads the ComEd crews are driving on as they make way for the new road.

For this project, the electricity utility is erecting 246 new power poles, moving or restringing 43 miles of electrical wire and laying 2,600 feet of underground cable, Runowski said.

They’re aiming to complete the work in December and hope to have little affect on drivers during that time, he added.

Part of how crews avoid disrupting traffic patterns is by using a network of temporary lanes parallel to the road – sections of planking laid down where the trees had already been removed.

As part of the company’s pre-project assessment, the environmental team determines if there are threatened species, wetlands or other concerns crews need to be aware of, Runowski explained.

“Up in that area, we have the rusty bee – that is a protected species," Runowski said. The rusty patched bumble bee was designated as an endangered species in 2017.

“That is where the wooden roadway comes into play,” he said. “We set our poles outside of their habitat” and the mats help protect the ground from being crushed, or the equipment sinking into the dirt.

“The wooden mats protect the wetlands and overall accessibility,” Runowski said. “With the mats, it is actually less pounds per square inch of impact on the ground” as compared to construction vehicles.

“They prevent rutting and the larger impact is it distributes the weight,” Runowski said.

Once the poles are reset and the wires strung, the mats are moved. They can also be stored from project-to-project, depending on if they were damaged, Runowski said.

A majority of the work is being done with live wires, so no power is getting interrupted as the new sections are put up and old poles taken down.

On the route between Crystal Lake and McHenry, drivers can already see where the poles are being moved on either side of the road – giving an idea of how the new road will flow once construction ends.

ComEd moves the poles as far back from the right-of-way as possible “to minimize the potential of another relocation in the future,” Runowski said. “Hopefully we’d only have to relocated two or three – not another 246."

In addition to working with IDOT, the utility works with municipalities were lines also can be underground, and other utilities stringing lines on the same poles.

“We coordinate with local entities as early as possible for coordinated public relations” if roads need to be closed while poles are moved or manholes accessed, Runowski said. “We rarely have to close a road in its entirety.”

Russ Adams, McHenry’s director of public works, said that IDOT has split the construction project into two legs – from Bull Valley Road north to Route 120 and from Bull Valley south to Route 176. Both contracts will be on their own schedules.

A pedestrian and biking path also is planned for the entire route.

The Fox River Grove Fire Protection District was called at 11:52 a.m. for the blaze on Victoria Drive, Lt. Nicholas Schaefer said. On arrival, crews found a three-season porch at the back of the home engulfed in flames, he said.

Much of the damage was contained to the exterior of the home. Small propane tanks that were being stored nearby also popped from the heat, Schaefer said.

The fire was knocked down in about a half-hour, and crews remained on scene checking for hot spots until about 2 a.m., Schaefer said.

A damage estimate was not available, and the fire’s cause remains under investigation.

Michael A. Novak is charged with indecent solicitation of a child “with the intent of committing an act classified as criminal sexual assault,” according to a criminal complaint in McHenry County court.

Novak was booked into the McHenry County Jail on Wednesday, records show, and later that day was ordered after an initial hearing to remain in jail while he awaits trial.

According to a news release from the McHenry Police Department, Novak approached two juveniles who were walking in the area of Elm and Front streets and who did not know him. He then made an inappropriate proposition, requesting to engage in a sex act, according to police and the criminal complaint.

Police said the person involved was identified using surveillance video from a nearby business.

Novak is accused of approaching the two teens about 5:30 p.m. Saturday, according to the criminal complaint.

The couple spent two years at McHenry’s Riverwalk Shoppes retail incubator figuring those needs out: what specialty teas and single-origin coffees their clientele wanted, and what would work when the business found a permanent location of its own.

That dream comes to fruition on Saturday. AteaCo is hosting its grand opening at 1323 Riverside Drive, the former McHenry Flying Dragons martial arts school.

The Giles family – owners of Reeses Barkery and Pawtique – purchased the building in 2025. Rajeh and Altahif toured it the next day and quickly signed a lease. Renovation work in the 100-plus-year-old structure started in September, getting it ready for the coffee and tea shop.

In addition to small-batch tea mixes and single-origin, fresh-roasted coffee, Rajeh and Altahif will sell a mix of pastries and baked goods, hot drink accessories and hope to offer a day-long spot for McHenry residents to gather, the couple said.

“It is not just a breakfast or a morning spot,” Altahif said. “It is a midday spot, and an after-dinner, grab-a-dessert spot.”

Rajeh wants to see friends getting together for a coffee klatsch, book club, or for high tea, too. High school students are welcome to get their coffee there – and so are their grandparents.

“This is the dream. We want this to be a community space. We want people who want to come here to work, to hear live music, for trivia nights and game nights,” Rajeh said.

A thing they’ve noticed about McHenry since moving to town in 2023 “is there is not much to do for people who don’t drink, on Friday and Saturday night,” Altahif said.

“There is not a lot of sober fun,” Rajeh added. “For us, we want a space that is curated for all ages ... small kids, older kids, seniors. There is something for everybody. A 10-year-old who can’t go into a bar, and a 75-year-old who might not want to.”

Since 2022, they’ve worked to perfect their 30 specialty tea mixes and the 12 single-origin coffees that Altahif roasts himself.

When asked what kinds of baked goods they plan to offer, their answer is “yes.”

When they picked the location, two doors down from the Riverside Bake Shop, the thought was that synergy between a coffeeshop and the bakery just made sense. But a January fire gutted the McHenry institution, and reconstruction of the bakery could take a year.

Instead, Atea plans to work with a rotation of kitchen-licensed bakers.

“We are doing something a little different because we are a small business and want to give other small business owners help,” Rajeh said. “We are going to have local bakers who will be working with us.”

So, yes, they will have muffins, scones and cookies, cakes, cupcakes, and cheesecakes, she said. And, likely, everything in between.

“They can have hundreds of ideas, and if it doesn’t sell, they will change it to something else,” Altahif said.

To start, they will limit their hours of operation to Saturday through Tuesday. Once more staff are hired and trained, the hope is for at least six days a week.

Shelves have also been set aside to allow local small businesses and crafters a place to display their wares.

Both Rajeh and Altahif are still working their day jobs. Altahif works in logistics, which has helped him as he sources coffee beans and teas. Rajeh works in research education, recently finished her second master’s degree and is working on her doctorate in psychology.

They also had their first child, a boy, four months ago, as both worked on getting the shop remodel finished.

“We are trying to do all of the things that we need and want, for us, and making that space in your community a safe space for everyone,” Rajeh said. “It was important for us to bring that to the community of McHenry.”

According to the suit, filed in McHenry County court, Nicor “inadequately responded to complaints of leaking natural gas at or near the property,” before the before the 7:50 p.m. explosion and subsequent fire at the Birch Drive home, in addition to other allegations.

In a response emailed after the Memorial Day holiday, a Nicor spokeswoman said the gas utility is not at fault.

“We assisted local and state authorities in their investigation and have determined this event was not caused by our facilities,” according to the release.

The suit asks for findings of personal injury to Sandra Patnaude and her wrongful death, and for the personal injury of her husband, Dean Patnaude, who was severely hurt in the explosion and fire.

He “sustained severe and permanent injuries, both externally and internally” and has “suffered great pain and anguish, both in mind and body, and will in the future continue to suffer ... great disabilities and an inability to enjoy a normal life,” the lawsuit states. It added he will “be liable for large sums of money for medical care and services.”

Their son, Andrew Patnaude, was not mentioned in the lawsuit, which seeks a judgment in excess of of $50,000 for each of the counts. Andrew Patnaude was also injured in the explosion, according to officials, as well as family friends who set up two GoFundMe accounts for the family.

Helping the Patnaude Family Recover and Heal was created by Janson Cynowa of Wonder Lake. Help the Patnaude Family Recover was created by Ryen Austin of Crystal Lake. Both can be found at gofundme.com.

In the filing, the suit does not say if they family had made a complaint about a potential gas leak prior to the explosion.

Nicor does not control gas lines past the meter, according to the company response.

“Nicor Gas owns and operates more than 34,000 miles of underground pipes in Northern Illinois, including service lines from the street to meter; the company does not own or operate the lines that extend from the meter to natural gas appliances in a home or business,” the statement reads.

Wonder Lake Fire Protection District Chief Matt Yegge said Monday the final report from investigators is not yet completed.

The McHenry County coroner has not officially identified Sandra Patnaude as the person who was killed, but she has been identified by family and friends. According to the coroner’s office, officials will need to use either dental records or DNA to verify identity.

The Patnaude’s attorney, Brad Balke, could not immediately be reached for comment.

The suit, filed May 4 by law firms including Texas-based Burke Law Group, seeks damages from cannabis sellers in 13 states where recreational marijuana is legal. Plaintiffs claim they overpaid for products marketed on medicinal claims that the lawsuit argues are not supported by science.

The case has drawn attention from local experts who study addiction, drug policy, and the science of cannabis itself. Their views reflect a complicated reality: marijuana can help some people, but the evidence is messy, contradictory and increasingly clouded by commercial interests.

“Whether you believe cannabis offers benefits to some users or is a dangerous substance, you can find a study to reinforce that belief,” said Dr. Richard Miller, a Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine professor emeritus of pharmacology who studies drug addiction and psychotropic drugs. He’s written books on the topic.

Miller acknowledged legitimate medical uses. Cannabis can work as a pain reliever and has shown promise for multiple sclerosis, seizures, and inflammation. “Many of these things seem to be true,” he said.

But he also noted that the scientific literature cuts both ways. Studies show marijuana can increase the risk of schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety – although the strength of that evidence depends on study design, control groups and the population studied.

“There are papers that say things like that. The scientific literature is vast,” Miller said. “It doesn’t mean that someone else hasn’t found the exact same opposite.”

Chris Reed, who runs the Woodstock-based New Directions Addiction and Recovery Services Northern Illinois Recovery Center, argues the debate has shifted since marijuana went from medical use to legal, recreational use.

“Legalized recreational marijuana rode in on the back of the medical support that it can provide people,” Reed said. But now, Reed said, dispensaries market cannabis like a cure-all, often with staff who lack medical credentials.

“Some of these places have a medical liaison inside the front door, without any medical certification or degree,” he said.

Reed also points to a generational shift in pot use. Today’s marijuana is far more potent than it was in the 1960s and ′70s, and he sees a direct link between adolescent use and serious mental health problems in the future.

Reed pointed to studies linking high-potency marijuana use among adolescents to later mental health risks.

“The rates of schizophrenia are increasing, particularly in younger people,” Reed said. “There is a direct correlation between adolescent marijuana use, potency, and severe mental health disorder.”

He is not arguing for prohibition. “I am not saying there shouldn’t be an ability to smoke marijuana,” Reed said. His concern is the marketing. “Positioning it as this medical miracle drug without acknowledging harm – that’s the problem.”

Luke Tomsha, founder and director of The Perfectly Flawed Foundation in La Salle, has studied drug policy for decades and sees in the lawsuit echoes of past public health failures.

“This is very similar to the tobacco lawsuits and opioid settlements,” Tomsha said, “when private business weren’t upfront about risks and it led to significant health issues and ultimately a public health crisis.”

Tomsha emphasizes that cannabis has real benefits for some people. But he worries about youth, whose brains are still developing.

“Their brains aren’t fully developed, and they don’t have a handle on their emotions,” he said. “Too much cannabis can be harmful in a variety of ways. You hear about psychosis, for example.”

He also noted a practical danger: dosing confusion. Edibles can range from 2 milligrams to 200 milligrams, and mistakes happen.

“A marijuana overdose isn’t necessarily lethal, but it is a very uncomfortable experience,” Tomsha said. “A friend may give them an edible and say it was 5 milligrams, and it ends up being 50 – that can put people in a state of panic or extreme anxiety.”

In Illinois, the suit was filed in Rockford’s Northern District of Illinois and Madison County by former Republican McHenry County state’s attorney, Pat Kenneally, and Jack Franks, a Democratic former Illinois lawmaker and one-term McHenry County Board chairman. Both are now in private practice, with Kenneally at the Burke Group.

As the state’s attorney in 2023, Kenneally required McHenry County dispensaries to display signage, warning customers of potential marijuana mental health risks and “the FDA has not approved cannabis for the treatment of any disease or medical condition.”

Humans have used marijuana “for tens of thousands of years ... because they found it beneficial,” Miller said. “It is a very ancient medication.”

Now that it is a business, “there is a lot of hokum that people claim” regarding its benefits, Miller added. Some, he said, are absolutely true, and others “are an advertising ploy.”

“Their contributions have paved the way for future generations, breaking barriers and challenging the norms,” Morgan said Monday at the Crystal Lake Memorial Day service.

This year, the women who served was a focus for the annual event.

“We honor those have have made the ultimate sacrifice and the women who broke barriers and the women whose hands healed wounds,” Morgan said.

One of those women veterans was invited to be the keynote speaker Monday. Erica Watson Borggren is a 1998 McHenry High School graduate who went on to West Point, graduating with a political science degree before going on to Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.

After earning her masters degree at Oxford, Borggren’s service began. She went on to serve in Korea as company commander of the Medical Service Corps.

From 2008 to 2010, and with a toddler at home, she was called to serve on the staff of Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq.

Before that deployment, she wrote two letters – one for her husband and one for her son to open in his 18th birthday, Borggren said.

“Every service member has either done or considered” writing such a letter, Borggren said, calling it the “open only if” the writer has died letter.

On Memorial Day, it is right to remember not only the women and men who died in service to their country, but also the family members who had to open those letters, Borggren said.

When she served as the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs director under Gov. Pat Quinn, she went to many funerals for those killed in action in Iraq or Afghanistan, Borggren said. She met parents at those funerals “who were holding themselves together at the hardest moments in their lives.”

What others can do for those Gold Star families - the families who lost a loved one to war - is to show up, Borggren said. “Be present, bear witness and honor them.”

In Lake in the Hills Monday, the village rededicated its Veterans Memorial, which was installed in 2015 and was moved nearby for the construction of the new police station.

Those U.S. stores were only in Illinois. In addition to Crystal Lake, the restaurant had locations in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood, Des Plaines, Evanston, Deerfield, Naperville, Schaumburg and Buffalo Grove.

The Crystal Lake store officially opened along Route 14 on May 18, 2023, and was the third in the state after the Schaumburg and Naperville locations.

As the international chain opened locations here, founder and native New Yorker Steven Marks said, “Chicago was the perfect choice for GYG’s U.S. expansion because of the access to some of the best and freshest produce in the country,” according to news releases at the time.

Calls made Friday to the Crystal Lake store were not answered. The company website was also shut down, with a message reading: “After six years of burritos and big dreams in Chicagoland, we’ve made the difficult decision to close our U.S. restaurants” and invited diners to their international locations.

“If you’re ever in Australia, Singapore or Japan, come find us – we’ll have your favs waiting for you," according to the site.

The Woodstock Fire/Rescue District paramedics were called about 5:20 p.m. to the North Fleming Road for a dirt bike crash on private property, department spokesman Alex Vucha said.

Crews arriving in scene found the adult male with a serious lower-extremity injury that did not appear to be life-threatening, he added.

Due to the injury’s severity, however, a medical helicopter was requested and met an ambulance Northwestern Medicine Woodstock Hospital’s helipad, according to the release.

No other injuries were reported during the incident and the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the crash, Vucha said.

About 9:17 p.m., Crystal Lake Fire Rescue was dispatched to a home on Gleneagle Circle in Lakewood for the report of multiple juveniles “who sustained traumatic injuries after a tree fell on them,” according to a news release.

A total of three patients were found. A medical transport helicopter was called to the scene and landed nearby to take one of those injured. According to the release, that person was in serious but stable condition.

The other two juveniles who were hit by the tree or parts of it were treated by Crystal Lake Fire crews and released at the scene.