The Berwyn mainstay known as Vesecky’s Bakery closes on Dec. 5, 2023, after more than a century of serving up Eastern European baked goods.

Chicagoland celebrated Thanksgiving through community dinners, Turkey Trot and the annual Thanksgiving parade. Communities offered Thanksgiving dinners to migrant families who are celebrating the holiday for the first time. Pro-Israel supporters and runners honored the hostages with missing-persons posters of individuals who were taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023. And Chicago’s Thanksgiving Parade, which began in 1934 to “help lift the spirits of residents suffering through the Great Depression,” according to its website, brought thousands of spectators together.

The 89th annual Chicago Thanksgiving Parade was held on Nov. 23, 2023, on State Street, running from Ida B. Wells Drive to Randolph Street in Chicago. The parade featured giant balloons, marching bands, performers and a visit from Santa Claus.

People in the Brighton Park neighborhood protested plans to erect a migrant tent city in an empty parking lot on 38th Street and California Avenue. The Pritzker administration has moved to officially scrap the plan over an environmental report.

Chicago firefighters gathered downtown to honor those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.

Residents from across the Chicago area take stock after severe storms lashed the area on July 12 and steady downpours led to flooding earlier in the month.

The northwest suburb of Arlington Heights, longtime home to Arlington Park horse racing, is in line to become home for a new Chicago Bears stadium.

Hundreds participate in the Living Way of the Cross on Good Friday in the South Chicago community on April 7, 2023.

Chicago firefighter Lt. Jan Tchoryk died and three firefighters and two residents were injured at an extra-alarm blaze at a high-rise building in the Streeterville neighborhood on April 5, 2023, officials said. At about 8 a.m., a 3-11 alarm and mayday were called for a building on the 1200 block of North DuSable Lakeshore Drive.