Web Extra! Slideshow

Winter is on the wane and residents are starting to emerge from their long quarantine. So we sent freelance photographer Jason Dorsey out the weekend before last to see what images he could capture.

What he found were pedestrians of the two-legged, four-legged and even three-legged variety. Pets from diminutive to great to Winston Churchill (keep looking, you'll find him) keep the sidewalks well traveled - as do parents and nannies pushing strollers with their well-bundled occupants.
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Many forms of transportation, in fact, are in evidence - everything from skateboards to the Metra, which make the village appealing to both commuters and small platoons of noisemaking daredevils.

For the best people-watching, head over to the plaza in front of the Oak Park Public Library, better known as the "dynamic diversity diorama." Or try the Frank Lloyd Wright Historic District to check out who visits our fair streets and hear them sigh audibly over the housing stock.

But Prairie School architecture isn't the only provider of exterior delight. Wandering our streets inevitably takes one past imposing battleship Victorians, and "the place where the bars end and the churches begin" (19th century teamsters' description of early Oak Park) still clearly aspires to spires, and demonstrates that we also have an appetite for verticality.

But if you want to be dazzled, however, check out the river of light that flows past The Lake in downtown Oak Park, turning nighttime into showtime. The movie palace's marquee, with its cobalt blue and blood-red neon, is the most effective way to disperse the gloomy clouds of night. Climbing the Lake Street ridge from the east is like approaching the land of Oz itself.

Camera in hand or not, Oak Park's streets are worth wandering. We don't usually like to think of ourselves as "pedestrian," but if you really want to see what's going on, you have to become one.

If you prefer a dose of arboreal splendor, meanwhile, head to River Forest. The forest preserves patiently await those who need a different brand of exterior delight.

Get out and see it all before the trees leaf out - and block the view.