PHOTOS: Noon Year's Eve at KidsWork Children's Museum

Frankfort kids rang in the new year a few hours early.

KidsWork Children's Museum hosted a "Noon Year's Eve" gathering on Monday. Frankfort kids had the opportunity to celebrate New Year's Eve with the proper fanfare and still get to bed at an appropriate hour. The museum provided noisemakers for the occassion and dropped balloons from the ceiling at noon. More than 100 kids attended the event and BMO-Harris Bank's mascot, "Hubert the Lion" made an appearance as well. Get news alerts and Facebook updates from these Lincoln-Way Patch sites:

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New Exhibit Sets Sail at KidsWork

Children's museum teaches kids about fishing, boat safety while keeping them on dry land.

A new boat exhibit is making a splash at the KidsWork Children's Museum in the Trolley Barn. The exhibit, which first opened about a month ago, centers around half of a row boat that kids can climb and play in. The boat, donated to the museum by the Monee Reservoir, was originally too big to fit in the display area. "It was actually fourteen feet long," museum spokesperson Angie Spero said. "So we actually hired our handyman to cut it in half and kind of finish it off." Inside the boat are toy fishing poles, nets, and fish for children to play with, and the walls around it are adorned with real fishing poles, tackle, fish-themed decorations, and educational posters about fishing and boat safety. The decorations were donated to the museum …

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What to Do With $400K? Village Board Looks at How to Spend Grant Money

With four downtown improvement projects are under consideration, Frankfort officials will seek opinions from residents and downtown business owners before they decide how to use the grant.

It's a nice decision for the Village of Frankfort to have to make, figuring out how to spend $400,000. The Village Board reviewed plans Monday for how to spend a $400,000 state Department of Commerce and Economic Development grant on downtown improvements.  At a Committe of the Whole meeting, the board considered the four possible projects that the grant would fund: Village officials will be talking with residents and downtown business owners this week about the projects, and the public will be able to comment on the plans at a series of meetings, open houses and public hearings. The first opportunity will be at the Departmental Operations Committee meeting Oct. 12. Open houses to review the projects will be Oct. 14 and 17, and a public …

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Local Business Buzz

Let It Rip Sports Asks Village to OK New Location

Plus: KidsWork Children's Museum needs part-time help, and D'Marie Salon and Day Spa offers fall deals.

Local Business Buzz is a roundup of what's going on in Frankfort's business community. This includes store openings and closings, listings of special events and a look at upcoming sales and deals. READ: New Laser Tag Venue Set to Open in Frankfort PLEASE VISIT the listings for Let It Rip Sports, Stratagem Laser Missions, KidsWork Children's Museum, D'Marie Salon and Day Spa and other Frankfort businesses in the Patch Places directory.

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Take Frankfort Out to the Ballgame: Slammers Host Community Night for Village

Mayor Jim Holland will throw out the first pitch at Aug. 12 game.

The Joliet Slammers are sponsoring a Frankfort Community Night on Aug. 12 that will include the Frankfort Brass Band playing outside Silver Cross Field and Mayor Jim Holland throwing out the first pitch. There also will be a Split the Pot raffle that will benefit KidsWork Children’s Museum. And as an added bonus: It will be Elvis Night at the field, with fireworks after the game.  For those residents looking for a VIP experience, $40 can get you a seat in the mayor's suite, as well as $15 in Slammer loot. But before the event, Spikes, the Slammers' mascot, will be at KidsWorks at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 5, to meet and invite fans to the Frankfort Community Night. When: 7:05 p.m. Friday, Aug. 12 Where: Silver Cross Field, 1 Mayor Art …

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