Preservation Oak Park hosts storytelling night, plans to make it a quarterly event

Preservation Oak Park started as a grass roots organization with a mailing list that morphed into active Facebook group. With a membership of roughly 1,300 people, its mission is stated as: “This group is devoted to education about the built environment in Oak Park, Illinois. It celebrates the community’s rich architectural and planning heritage and issues regarding the preservation and restoration of that heritage.”

One of the founders, architect Christopher Payne, said that not all of the group’s members are local to Oak Park, but for those who are, a new event aims to give people a reason to gather in the name of preservation.

On Nov. 13, Preservation Oak Park will host a storytelling event that celebrates the history, people and places that make Oak Park and the surrounding community unique. The evening will feature six, 360-second presentations by local experts on a variety of subjects related to “Hidden Oak Park.”

Payne said it’s an idea he’s been thinking of since 2017. He calls the event PechaKucha-inspired. PechaKucha, which means “chit chat” in Japanese, is a presentation that tells stories through images instead of text. Think Power Point with images. The events typically follow a 20-by-20 rule: Each presentation consists of 20 slides that are displayed for 20 seconds, resulting in a total presentation time of six minutes and 40 seconds.

 “Instead of long, droning speeches, this is much faster,” Payne said.

He added that he was also inspired by the Buffalo Architecture Foundation, which fostered interest in local architecture with events comprised of six-minute building stories.

“In Preservation Oak Park, most of the things we do are related to organizing around the latest, greatest threat. That doesn’t really teach people about preservation,” he said. “I thought we’ve got great stories about the built environment and place-making in Oak Park, and we should share those.”

The first event will feature six speakers. While all topics relate to “Hidden Oak Park,” Payne emphasized that there will be a wide variety of topics covered by an eclectic group of presenters.

• Trained chef and foodie Melissa Elsmo, a former GCM employee, will talk about an underground supper club in Oak Park. 
• Glenn Burr, homeowner of a Frank Lloyd Wright house will give a talk entitled, “Frank Lloyd Wright was Punk as F*ck.” 
• Local author and historian Peggy Tuck Sinko will present on Helen Freer Morris, who has connections to Oak Park’s first Girl Scout troop.
• Historic preservation tax credit professional Andrew Elders will speak about Erwin’s subdivision, and landscape architect Nick Petty will discuss native landscapes. 
• Finally, Shawn Stephens, owner of One Lake Brewery, will talk about the renovation of the brewery, which won an historic preservation award from the village.

This inaugural event will take place at One Lake Brewery, and Payne said the idea is to host future events in similar venues.

 “We want people to appreciate the sites as well as the storytelling. One Lake has won an historic preservation award for a pretty significant restoration that has changed their corner of Oak Park,” he said.

Going forward, Preservation Oak Park hopes to make the storytelling event a quarterly gathering with a different theme for each event. 

Payne said the evenings will have some architectural stories and some alternative history stories.

 “Hopefully, we end up touching all kinds of history,” he said.

He added that he also hopes that the events will galvanize people to get excited and get more involved with local preservation.

“There’s a real void locally with the Unity Temple Restoration Foundation and Pleasant Home Foundation no longer in existence. Nobody is here to do interesting programming like this,” he said.

The aim is to strengthen Preservation Oak Park while also giving voice to the diverse stories that make up the local community.

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