An accomplished Irish duo for more than 20 years, Mike Knauf (flute, soprano sax, Irish whistle, and vocals) and Thomas Steffens (piano/vocals) return with their fun repertoire of over two hundred fifty Irish songs. It’s becoming a Garlands tradition to have Mike and Thomas entertain us at this time of year. Continue Reading St. Patrick’s Day Irish Music for the Soul with the Soul
Don’t let the act of moving stand in the way of living your best life! The Garlands relocation experts will help you sell your current home – without the stress and with outstanding results. Plus leave the packing, moving and unpacking to us! Find out how to get a jump on the Spring real estate market at our “Moving Made Easy” seminar.
Don’t let the act of moving stand in the way of living your best life! The Garlands relocation experts will help you sell your current home – without the stress and with outstanding results. Plus leave the packing, moving and unpacking to us! Find out how to get a jump on the Spring real estate market at our “Moving Made Easy” seminar.
“Eddie and the Boys from Illinois” gave us such a fun Oktoberfest evening, we had to have them
back asap. A trio this time, performing some of your favorite Mardi Gras songs from the streets
of New Orleans! Continue Reading Mardi Gras Party with “Eddie Korosa and his Band from the Bayou”
In the second of her five-part series “Why I’m Optimistic,” Myra Loris takes a look at the prominence of young people as agents of social change and expanded equality both past and present. Topics include the Children’s March of 1903, the Children’s Crusade of 1963, the “Never Again” March of 2018, and much more. She breaks down trends and events in contemporary American life that encourage optimism;in short, why we have reasons to be optimistic. Continue Reading Harper College: A Child Shall Lead Them with Myra Loris
Porsche, BMW, Audi, and Mercedes Benz have millions of fans all over the world and are synonymous with the quality and success of German engineering. Hardly anyone knows, however, that the history of the automobile’s origin is, to a great extent, due to Bertha Benz, a young mother of five, who, in a secret attempt to visit her mother, became the first human being to drive an automobile over a long distance. Join German historian Anette Isaacs, M.A., as she introduces you to Bertha Benz who was born 170 years ago and who truly changed the world with her history-making adventure! Continue Reading The Amazing Adventure of Bertha Benz (and the history of the German automobile)
Ann Wayne, an instructor at One Life Kitchen in Barrington and recently of the Daily Herald Cook of the Week Challenge, will demonstrate two easy and delicious crockpot recipes, one for a soup and one for a stew. These recipes can also be made in standard stove-top pots. Delicious tasting at the end. Continue Reading Winter Crockpot Cooking Demo and Tasting
Singer Entertainer Chris Colletti keeps the music of the Big Band Era alive as he takes you on a journey back to a sweeter, simpler time … when a song and its lyrics really meant something. They touched us…many times so deeply that we will forever hold them close to our hearts. Chris’s energy and enthusiasm, style, lyrical interpretation, and powerful vocal styling
make his date here a don’t miss an hour of enjoyment. Continue Reading Evening Concert with Chris Colletti
GiGi’s Playhouse runs free therapeutic, educational, and career-oriented programs for children and adults with developmental
disabilities. Their mission is to change the way the world views Down Syndrome. This Pop-Up Shop will feature the personalized
gifts sold in their retail shop. GiGi’s looks forward to spreading some love here at The Garlands. Continue Reading Pop-Up Shop: Valentine Hugs and Mugs
Great Decisions, America’s largest discussion program on world affairs, began in September, but each session is
a stand-alone, so you may buy the book through the instructor, Gary Midkiff, for $30 and start at any time. Continue Reading Great Decisions with Gary Midkiff
The holiday tradition continues with an assortment of tasty teas, a selection of tea sandwiches, sweet mini-pastries, and, of course, scones and lemon curd. The Nutcracker dancers will dazzle and Snow Queens and Sugar Plums while guests sip, nibble and savor the season. Continue Reading The Garlands Holiday Tea
It’s A Doo-Wop Holiday! The Diamonds’ newly revamped holiday show, Silver Bells and Diamonds, will have you out of your seat with high-energy favorites. Then the foursome sing a Christmas medley and then classic tunes from the 50’s and early 60’s, including their biggest hit, Little Darlin’, all featuring their signature harmony-filled vocals and always-entertaining stage presence. Last summer the Diamonds performed here to rave reviews. Continue Reading Silver Bells and THE DIAMONDS
December 7, 1941: the event that propelled the United States into the Second World War. Battlefield expert and author Robert Mueller reviews why and how the Japanese almost wiped out the American Pacific Fleet in one fell swoop. Using the individual stories of men who responded to the attack, Mr Mueller presents the tactics and consequences of the most treacherous assault ever launched upon American soil. The program ends with a review of surviving relics and, appropriately, a visit to National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Continue Reading Pearl Harbor- A Day of Infamy
You are in the room with prolific British “Queen of Crime” author, Agatha Christie, creator of such famous detectives as Hercule Poirot, the eccentric Belgian, and English spinster Miss Jane Marple. Ms. Christie will enjoy a career spanning more than 50 years, and her work will sell into the billions. But today the year is 1949, and you have come to keep her company at her home in Devon. Agatha Christie is going away, and she has some things to tell you. Betsey Means, who recently brought us children’s advocate Mother Jones, animates the Queen of Crime. Continue Reading The Mystery of Living – Packing for Syria with Agatha Christie
Last spring Martina Mathisen brought us the wildly creative Six Wives of Henry VIII. Now she turns our attention to Chicago during the 1920’s, a time saturated with surprise, sequins … murder! Sit in as 1920’s flapper Flora shows you how fashion, crime, and prohibition mixed with explosive creativity to shape the decade of the century. Learn how reality relates to the 2002 Oscar-winning film Chicago. Travel back to 1920 and decide for yourself what’s fact and what’s fiction in Chicago True Stories. Continue Reading Chicago True Stories
This series, lead by Harper College instructor Myra Loris, is designed to examine social, economic and political issues that are currently significant in our national experience and then look back, historically, at the many successful ways in which such issues have been dealt with in our collective past. Continue Reading Myra Loris: Why it Matters – Culture and Unity
Author and historian Jerome M. O’Connor shares insights from his upcoming book which observes the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in 2020. Indispensable to the re-telling is that he personally visited all sites. Explore the British airfields, including pilot and movie star Jimmy Stewart’s base, where the Eighth Air Force launched attacks against Germany. See Berlin then and now. Enter the Berlin house where, over breakfast, the “final solution” to murder Europe’s Jews was decided. View the London mansion where 63 captured German generals lived in near luxury – or so they thought. Continue Reading Secret Places/Unknown Spaces
Being obsessive-compulsive about all of his ideas, Adolph Hitler was specific about which sculpture, paintings, dance and music would be tolerated and collected by the Reich and which “degenerative” art had to be destroyed. Harper College instructor Ann Leslie takes you down the Nazi path of destruction as she describes how they stole and destroyed some of the world’s most precious work. Continue Reading Hitler Vs. Art
Grab a seat on the train as we head on down to River City, Iowa. There’s trouble in River City when a fast-talking salesman gets his heart stolen by the town librarian in The Garlands Play Readers’ adaptation of the Tony Award-winning Broadway classic. Continue Reading Play Readers presents “The Music Man Jr.”
What is the role of the arts and culture? Harper College instructor Myra Loris explores some of the ways in which culture has reflected and created a unique American historical experience. Review the New Deal Arts Programs at the 1933 and 1965 World’s Fairs, art as a propaganda tool during WWII, and more. Continue Reading Why It Matters: Culture