Candice Grace, 56, known to Riverside residents as Candi, fell in love with the village in 1990.
While heading to a friend’s birthday celebration in Berwyn, she drove through Riverside and was hooked. Grace was recently named Riverside’s Person of the Year.

Q How does it feel to be named Riverside’s Person of the Year?
A It’s amazing. I am honored and humbled. I know people on the winners’ list from prior years, and I am amazed I am included because most of them have lived here so much longer and have had a longer career here. I have only been here for 19 years and three months.
 
Q How did you get involved in village organizations?
A I started with the Riverside Junior Woman’s Club after I moved here. The interest really started in Chicago. My daughter went to a preschool that had a big fundraiser every year. The second year, I co-chaired the fundraiser. I learned how to get raffle prizes and how to throw a dinner dance. When I joined Juniors, no one wanted to get the raffle prizes, and I volunteered to do it. Diane Powers, my friend and the president of the club at the time, said that was the hardest job to fill. I’ve also been on the PTA, the long-range planning committee for District 96, the school board and the village board. I have a lot of energy, so if something needs to be done, I like to step up and do it.
 
Q What has been your favorite job in Riverside?
A The thing I am most proud of is the eight years I spent on the school board. I spent two prior years on the planning committee, got elected, and got to implement those plans. Being involved in software, it was important to me to figure out how technology and computers were going to be a part of the school. When we started, students went to computer class once or twice a week. We wanted them to be integrated into the classroom, so we set up pods — five computers per classroom. We helped the teachers learn to put their lesson plans on the computer a few teachers at a time and set the tone for how the computers were going to be used. Not everyone needs to know how to take computers apart, but they do need to learn how to use them. We don’t teach classes in crayons or pencils, we use them as tools to learn. Computers are tools, too.

Q Do you have a favorite Riverside memory?
A Not just one, I have so many. On Sunday, June 28, Riverside held a Garden Walk, and my garden was on the walk. I got so many compliments, and I knew more than half of the people who came to walk through my garden. Some of my friends who don’t live in Riverside came over, and they were dumbstruck by how many people I knew, all because of the different groups I’ve been in.

Q What would your perfect day in Riverside look like?
A I would go to the library and get some books. Walking into the library is so beautiful. I would walk over to Grumpy’s Cafe (1 Riverside Rd. #105) and get some ice cream and stop at Aunt Diana’s (29 E. Burlington St.) and get a piece of fudge. I’d go to look at the florist, and then sit in my yard and read. I’d have dinner at The Chew Chew Cafe (1 Riverside Rd) and then spend some time going down streets I don’t normally go down, looking at people’s yards and houses.