CHICAGO, Ill. — Connors Park on North Wabbas Avenue of Chicago, IL, continues to be Armenified. Under the auspices of the Armenian honorary consulate in Chicago, on the initiative of the Business-Armenia group and with the support of our local community last year, new benches inscribed with “Chicago-Yerevan” were placed in the square. The benches were made in Armenia and look similar to the ones that had been placed in various cities and towns of Armenia and Artsakh.
Recently another initiative was realized. Signs showing the directions and mileage to London, Paris, Rome, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and…Yerevan (6060 miles) have been placed here. Oscar Tatosian, the honorary consul of Armenia to Chicago, stated at the opening ceremony that this is the continuation of the project that began with the beautiful benches with the aim “to promote Armenia, to promote Yerevan, to promote tourism and trade with Armenia.”
“This sign will show us that the world is very small and we encourage people to travel to Armenia,” Tatosian said.
Paruir Sarkisian, adviser of the consulate, suggested how putting the street signs will be helpful for spreading word about Armenia. “What will the citizens, who are unaware of Yerevan, do when they see the sign? Won’t they simply pull out their cell phones and Google? That’s how they will come across information about our country,” said Sarkisian.
The Armenian folk dance group of the local Sisag Varjabedian School danced at the opening ceremony. As Sarkisian stated to the Mirror-Spectator, they have already engaged in discussion with local touristic agencies so that their touristic bus-tours in Chicago will make a stop at the corner park to show the signs.
The park is also known for one of Argo Tea’s oldest tea-shops opened here: the rapidly developing Argo Tea chain, opened with the participation of two Armenian-American businessmen in 2003 in Chicago, was named the “Starbucks of teas” by the Chicago Tribune.