Enjoy McHenry County This Week (9/6/22) and Resume McHenry County Updates.

D-155 Health Careers Lab set to open this month

Community High School District 155 is about to open its new Health Careers Lab!

The state-of-the-art facility at Crystal Lake Central High School received a $1.5 million grant through the Advance McHenry County initiative to get the program going. The lab will train 70 students this school year to become state-accredited certified nursing assistants to help meet a crucial and growing need in our hospitals and long-term care facilities.

District 155 will officially cut the ribbon at a Sept. 20 ceremony. You can click on the video above from earlier this summer to see how this program will help train the next generation of health care professionals!

We have more good news to share this week about how Advance McHenry County is helping local youth forge new career paths – keep reading!

Youth manufacturing internship program a success

Advance McHenry County‘s investment to get a youth manufacturing internship program off the ground is paying off!

Ninety-two youth, ages 16 to 18, were employed by 19 county manufacturers this summer through the 10-week Manufacturing Pathways Rotational Internship Program. The McHenry County Board allocated $717,300 to McHenry County College and the Manufacturing Pathways Consortium to create the internship program to expose high school students and recent graduates to local manufacturing career opportunities.

After interning this summer with Jessup Manufacturing and General Kinematics, one student went on to join MCC’s Apprenticeship Program and has been hired by a Huntley manufacturer. Another student who interned with TC Industries will be joining the company this month as a permanent employee.

Other participating students lauded the internship’s hands-on nature and the depth of knowledge of their instructors.

Talk and Tour series focuses on “Rain gardens that Work”

If you take your kids to the Woodscreek Park splash pad in Crystal Lake to keep cool, you also happen to be parking in a beautiful and innovative way to clean runoff and recharge the watershed.

In the latest installment of the Talk and Tour Series, attendees got a firsthand look at how the Crystal Lake Park District uses rain gardens to handle rainfall and splash pad water at the park while simultaneously creating habitat for butterflies, pollinating insects and other wildlife.

You can click on the video above, or click here to watch the presentation on county government’s YouTube page.

The Talk and Tour series is an ongoing partnership between the McHenry County Planning and Development Department and the Environmental Defenders of McHenry County to give the public a close-up look at ways that communities, businesses and households can sustainably manage resources and save money doing so. You can find a schedule of upcoming events, and register for them, by clicking here.

Woodstock receives almost $3M in Rebuild Illinois funding

The City of Woodstock has been awarded $2.96 million in Rebuild Illinois funding for a number of downtown improvements.

Woodstock’s plans call for extensive renovations and remodeling of the city-owned Woodstock Opera House, including new lighting, seating, and renovation of the Stage Left Cafe. Downtown improvements to the historic Square include new perimeter building lighting, and renovations to the bandstand and spring house.

The state funding will be paired with $1.6 million from the city to help complete $4.6 million in downtown projects. The Rebuild Illinois grant was one of 50 totaling $106 million to revitalize 50 commercial corridors and main streets across the state.

Click here to learn more about the city’s plans for the funding.

Johnny Appleseed Festival returns to Crystal Lake

Crystal Lake’s largest one-day event brings downtown Crystal Lake alive to celebrate fall.

The Johnny Appleseed Festival returns to downtown Crystal Lake from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24. The day is filled with live music, many free events, and low-cost games and rides, and inflatables.

Click here for a complete itinerary and list of events, or call Downtown Crystal Lake at 815-479-0835 for more information.

Oktoberfest coming to McHenry County O’zapft is!

Bavarian for “it’s tapped,” the phrase is yelled the moment the first keg is tapped at Oktoberfest in Munich. If you can’t get out to Germany this month, you can’t go wrong celebrating Oktoberfest right here.

McHenry County is home to many award-winning brewpubs, all of which commemorate this holiest of beer lovers’ holidays – and many of which brew their own version of Oktoberfest beer. Visit our friends at Naturally McHenry County for a list of local brewpubs and a calendar of Oktoberfest events.

Fun fact: Oktoberfest beer in Germany and America are quite different. While the US version tends to a thick, malty and sweet tribute to the harvest, true German Oktoberfest beer is not – it’s only slightly dark, with a slightly higher alcohol content.