I took a refresher course this morning. The owner was very friendly and helpful. It has been a long…read moretime since I last dove. There were 2 other people in my class. The instructor (I think he was the owner) walked us slowly through the whole process. He answered all our questions. The facilities were clean. It was a complete refresher course without missing anything. The products in stock were substantial. I needed a new mask and snorkel. I was amazed that when he saw my goggles were not good, he just said that I should replace them. Not once did he mention buying from them. I did check prices on the internet. I could not find a lower price for the mask and snorkel. Looking forward to scuba diving, again.

I have been a satisfied customer of Below H20 for the last 10 years. I was also certified through…read morePADI through Below H20. The owner, Dave Rautio is a nice guy. He is very knowledgeable and helpful. Every year he organizes a group trip to Little Cayman and Cayman Brac at Reef Divers Resort. This is a very nice dive resort that has valet diving. The dive boats are nice and staff there promote safe diving. I have gone to Cayman many times with Dave on this trip and met a lot of nice friendly people.

I admit -I'm a bit partial. This 5K was held by the gym I go to. I love this gym and sense of…read morecommunity of those who attend every day and I was really excited about this race. It's not every day that you know a large majority of people involved in the event you are attending. However, this review is an objective review based on my experience with many, many 5K events. I was super impressed as to how organized this race was, especially given the really bad weather yesterday. The weather held out until about 15 minutes prior to the start, and then it was a complete downpour! They made frequent announcements and were even prepared and passed out rain ponchos to those who wanted them. Since the registration disclaimer said "rain or shine", the race was on! I was particularly impressed with the turnout and excitement of the crowd to continue to run despite the rain. There were elite athletes going for time, the "regular folks" (like me) and a bunch of walkers and families with strollers. What I LOVED about all the people who were either registered or volunteering (or even those hanging out to support everyone) was that everyone was excited and pumped up and wanted to make this a great event regardless of the damper of the downpour! The route was great -in years past, I was told people in the neighborhood typically come out and cheer but this was not case due to the rain. You could see a few people on their front porch watching, but the weather definitely had an effect on the neighborhood "cheerleaders." No worries -the volunteers along the route were happy to give "high fives" and words of encouragement as they directed the participants down the route! My favorite part of the race was two things -fellow gym member, Theo, spinnin' house music at the finish and our "coach" Lamont, who trains us every day, cheering us on as we crossed the finish line. There is nothing better than having your "coach" see the rewards of all of his training! I am definitely doing this race next year and am hoping for much better weather!

I enjoyed this race despite it being one of my worse 5K run times ever due to not training…read morewhatsoever. Normally in preparation for a 5K, I would do some sort of speed work in-between normal mileage leading up to the event, however both lacked because of life responsibilities. The glorious part about not training is that your pacing is off. Once I clocked that first mile I had an idea of what pace I preferred. Other than that, it felt great not to have that expectation to go out and kill myself, which took a stress load off. But best believe next year I have a goal! And that goal is to beat that 21:33 time that is hovering over my head at the moment. I loved the support that this race had along its course, and the race official brought enthusiasm. Outside of the volunteers on the course there were also people cheering us on from their window or porch, which is rare during a 5k event. The course itself was very accurate, flat, and out-and-back with nothing extra. It was also well marked, yet had a biker guiding the lead runner with everyone else following. Out-and-back courses are fun because you encounter the other runners in route back to the finish, which gives you that extra support to push on. The only thing that can hinder your performance during this race is the weather, so I recommend wearing something on the lines of a light long-sleeved shirt or either that fantastic race shirt with arm warmers. We all know that Chicago weather is unpredictable in the fall, so do not count out wearing shorts. With all being said if you are considering Lawndale 5k you will not be disappointed. Thomas G

Since Yelp changed the title of this listing--which was specifically the NWSI St Patrick's…read moreParade--this review is solely about the parade, and not other programming they may have. I don't think I'd heard of this parade until the last week or so, and it's only about 10 minutes away so we went to check it out. I thought it would be kind of a neighborhood parade + nearby suburbs but there was a sizable presence here. We found parking less than a ten minute walk away on a street in Norwood Park that hardly had any cars parked on it so that worked out well. The parade itself was... lackluster. (I was a bit annoyed at the woman who said they were holding standing space for people who were eventually coming. We found some space a bit further down near the library.) A surprising number of the participating groups were riding in Chicago Trolley buses! I was really kind of surprised about that. This parade has giveaways, but trying to toss from a bus with windows that only open halfway from the bottom up means nothing really gets very far. So then there's a bunch of candy and stuff halfway out in the road, but (as a reasonable safety measure!) they put out metal barricades to keep folks on the sidewalk. So since a bunch of the "floats" weren't actually walking and handing out their giveaways, someone opened the barricade and then there were a bunch of kids out in the roadway trying to catch the candy and beads and everything else that was being tossed out. I wasn't going to let my toddler out on the street and since there were kids in front of us in the street, most of the few folks walking and giving things out stopped coming the two feet back to the sidewalk where we were. It was also really weird that there was a big Teamsters semi taking up 30 feet or so of prime parade viewing space. Like... maybe they should have had a float in the parade if they wanted to participate? (I love that Chicago is a huge union town and the rest of the country would do well to similarly unionize, but it would have been nice not to block so the kids had more sidewalk space from which to watch.) It seems unlikely that it would be the parade review stand, because that would seem unnecessarily large.... Overall, the parade felt a little disorganized, chaotic, and with all the folks in buses or cars, a bit disappointing. I'm a bit shocked that it's been going for 25 years now and they haven't made some improvements. I enjoyed the Forest Park parade quite a bit more. Having said that, I can't say we won't come again depending upon what's happening for toddlers on St. Patrick's weekend. I would probably take the train next time because we can catch it at the station a few blocks away from our home and get out at the Norwood Park station and be at the exact spot we were camping out at today. I did find learn that, apparently, the key is to stand on the east side of Northwest Highway. That side was practically empty!