About OakPark.com and RiverForest.com

It's the website for Oak Park and River Forest that only Wednesday Journal could build. Thirty years of covering these villages and connecting them in print, online and across the back fence helped us create OakPark.com and, also, RiverForest.com.

Here's what you’ll find at these comprehensive community portals:

• Wednesday Journal news. Faster than ever, but still from the reporters — Terry Dean, Devin Rose and Anna Lothson — who you know and can count on. Each day you'll find new reporting on matters large and small, but always local. And you'll find lots more news about the people and events that make these villages so interesting.

• The complete community calendar. We've built the most robust calendar of local events ever. Sort it by date, sort it by topic. Submit your own calendar items along with photos and videos. Annette Coffee, our calendar editor will pull it all together.

• A vibrant conversation. Wednesday Journal has fostered a stimulating discussion in our letters pages for decades that's continued on our website in recent years. But on OakPark.com and RiverForest.com, it will flower.

  Reader comments on news stories, restaurants, sports, and all manner of local life will be front and center on every story. Plus, we've already lined up nearly 20 bloggers covering topics from dining to shopping, from books to religion, from local history to local sports. On our Community page you'll find the full roster of bloggers. You'll also find specific bloggers on appropriate pages such as dining, shopping and the calendar. Make yourself an active part of the conversation.

• Resources: The most complete directory you'll find in town. We've gathered together more than 1,700 local resources. These are businesses, social service agencies, clubs, government entities, churches, restaurants, schools, and more. Our local expertise can't be beat.

More than a year in the making, OakPark.com and RiverForest.com are the work of many people across our company. From our Web department to editorial and advertising, we’ve been working hard to craft a site that meets your needs, helps you find information, keeps you in the loop and makes you part of the conversation about living in these great villages. Thanks to all of our colleagues for their hard work.

We're not nearly done: We've got a lengthy list of additions and expansions already planned. Now, we want to hear from you. What’s missing? What could work better? Tell us. We want to know.

Go. Check it out, and enjoy the new face of Wednesday Journal.

Dan Haley
Editor and Publisher
708-613-3301
dhaley@wjinc.com