Good Reads of 2024: Editor’s picks for The Record’s best stories of the year

We published the year’s most-read stories, but that list doesn’t necessarily contain the best, or most captivating or compelling, stories of 2024. And I couldn’t just leave those out.

So, in case you missed them or in case you want a refresher, I pulled out 10 of my favorite stories from 2024. If you have down time this week, give ’em a read (or reread).

For 20+ goats in Glencoe, dinner is served

How and why the Glencoe Park District hired a group of goats to spend a week on some of its parkland.

The demolition of historic Lincoln School

A short story boosted with dramatic photos of the fall of a historic building in Highland Park.

‘Like hard chicken’: Avoca West students chow down on cicadas for charity

Avoca District 37 took advantage of a natural phenomenon with a fun — and kind of gross — fundraiser.

Fishing for answers? Those dead little fish on the shoreline aren’t fun to look at, but it’s nothing compared to 1967

Ever heard of dead fish removed by the truckload? Read this story.

Wheelchair-accessible van is ‘incredible gift’ for Wilmette girl and her father

A holiday story sure to turn on your waterworks

‘It was unreal … terrifying’: Local first-responders part of search-and-rescue efforts after Hurricane Helene

Firsthand accounts of the havoc Helene brought to the East Coast

How one couple’s love story led them back to a New Trier classroom

All love stories are special, but serendipity is rarely this … serendipitous.

A Ramblers celebration under the lights

An event at a football game that was about much more than football

Community Classic: Chia Leah and Central Station meet on the diamond to celebrate each other and Wilmette

Why play softball?

Why not?

Pregame ceremony leads to cheers and tears when Highland Park honors veteran Shawn Hoffmann and his family

Find those tissues. Here comes another one.

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