The Richards also started an annual tradition of large scale dog vaccinations on the first Sunday in June. Carl and Virginia had a dog that they wanted to inoculate, but the nearest veterinarian was in Tinley Park.

“Carl got the idea to get a vet to come out here and then everybody would bring their dogs. So when he came home and announced this scheme to me, he took my kitchen table up to the lot that used to belong to the community and they brought something like a hundred dogs they vaccinated that first day. It was quite successful because everybody wanted their dogs vaccinated but they didn’t want to go ten miles or something to get it done.”

Mrs. Virginia Richards, interviewed on February 19th 1977
From the Palos Heights Public Library Local History Collection