There may be a baseball bat hanging over the register and caricatures of strong Italian hand gestures hanging on the walls, but the only thing that should feel intimidated by walking into the newly opened Mel & Mars Bistro To-Go in Algonquin is your hunger. Owner Chef Mario Arevalo will make that go away real quick with a menu of Italian and Mediterranean dishes that, Arevalo said, will remind native Chicagoans of their favorite Chi-Town classics.

Huntley High School students and Sun City residents have been creating exquisite music together for the past 3 years. Residents such as Sam Geati of N.33, who is a member of a men’s tap-dance group called “The Hunks,” the Tall Oaks Tennis Club, the “Travelers” softball team, the 51-piece Concert Band, the 18-piece Jazz Ensemble titled “Lets Dance,” and his own trio, “Blue Skies,” has been working with the students at Huntley High School for the past year.

One hundred voices talking all at once makes cacophony. But 100 voices all singing in harmony makes the 2010 Prairie Singers Christmas concert.