In late September, downtown Naperville welcomed Brandy Melville, and it has been the talk of the town since.
This new location has been quite popular with OH students since the nearest location previously was downtown Chicago. “Brandy” first opened in Italy in 1984; Los Angeles opened the first US store in 2009, and since then there have been 133 stores open worldwide.
Residents from all over Oswego gathered on Saturday to express their artistic creativity, socialize, shop, and eat delicious foods at the Annual Oswego Lantern Festival. Many locals showed up, and even some non-Oswego residents joined in on the fun.
Event organizer and Oswego community relations department member Kelley Bertog said, “We love having community participation, so I think there’s a lot of ways to get involved.”
Bertog also alluded to the fact that the event, centered around an evening lantern parade, serves as a platform to engage the community in local arts because “they thought this would be a really great way to have people create art and then celebrate that art as a part of a larger event.”
The new Mexican cuisine restaurant, Freddie’s Off The Chain, recently opened up in downtown Oswego on Apr. 1. However, Freddie’s is already more than familiar with the food business, starting out as a food truck after the passing of the owner’s son, Freddie.
Freddie’s General Manager, Armando Duran, said, “My older brother’s name was Freddie…he had battled with drug addiction, and he ended up passing in 2017. My mom [[Mona Herrada]] was kind of lost, but my brother always wanted her to open a restaurant, so that’s kind of how the taco truck started going.”
It isn’t surprising that Oswego’s economy is attracting new businesses, as new stores are popping up all around town, and one of the newest is Crumbl.
The delicacy cookie store opened in the heart of Oswego on Douglas Road this fall. The location is dedicated to selling premium baked goods, focusing on quality over quantity.
OH senior Topazio Ochoa said she was excited to work at Crumbl as it was introduced in the Oswgeo community. “For sure, [[I want to work there]] because of hype. Honestly, social media has been giving [[it]] a lot of attention. But it's excitement from the hype that’s [[what really makes this bakery special]].”
Last year, the streets of a small neighborhood in Naperville were flooded with Swifties waiting to see the viral Taylor Swift Christmas house.