Patch's Top Read Stories of 2012

We were busy at Patch this year.

And you voted as it were with your mouse clicks, letting us know which stories you liked the best.

Here are some of them:

OPRF Wrestling Coach Mike Powell: A Man in Full. The beloved coach's battle with a debilitating disease was chronicled in Sports Illustrated.

Allegations against Robert Gaskill led many readers to our site to find out what happened with the River Forest resident and child welfare advocate. Friends came to court to support him.

Mann Elementary School's principal Nimisha Kumar resigned after allegations of ISAT irregularities surfaced in March. According to Elementary District 97, the district, "a few" unidentified staffers reviewed testing booklets and answer documents after they'd been turned in by a small number of Mann third, fourth and fifth graders.

Fire destroyed two popular area spots. Autre Monde in Berwyn was a popular Roosevelt Road destination that went up in June; it has since reopened. Earlier in June, the Velvet Rope on Lake Street was destroyed and several nearby businesses were damaged. Arson was suspected; it has not yet reopened.

Readers were interested in a true area mystery: the death of local resident Catherine Trage. We posted links to the stories from Oak Leaves.

Readers didn't only click on the sad stories. One was about Oak Park native Cecily Strong who parlayed her talent and made it to Saturday Night Live. Way to go Cecily! Readers seemed to want to know where the best tattoo parlors were in town.

And when the storm hit this summer, folks came to Patch to find out where the power went out. And not to be outdone, people certainly wanted to know about the time change.

Thanks for making 2012 a great year for us.