Soup to Nuts closing in Geneva

After more than 35 years of providing healthy food and natural healing to area residents, Soup to Nuts will close its doors Oct. 31 when the lease is up at its 716 W. State St. location in Geneva.

"It's just time for us," owner JR Carmany said. "We've done our job in educating people about eating well and explaining what natural health was.

"There is more awareness, and some of the products are more readily available," Carmany added.

It wasn't always that way for "health food" stores, especially when Soup to Nuts first came on the scene as a retail site in the early 1990s.

"Before, we were just the weirdos selling 'rabbit' food," she said, poking fun at the mainstream view of healthier foods at that time.

Carmany will continue her Healthwise holistic services, most likely from a smaller location in the area.

Considering she started Soup to Nuts as a natural food co-op on the front porch of her James Street home before establishing a storefront, it should not be difficult for Carmany to find a place to continue practicing holistic healing.

"It was getting hard to do both, in operating a store and running the health business," Carmany said. "But we became the resource center for people, and we are hoping to continue our annual health fair in some form."

There is no doubt that Soup to Nuts' loyal customers will find it difficult to see the store close.

"There won't be anything around here that can replace us and the education we provided," JR's husband, Craig Carmany, said. "We were the last family-owned operation in this line of business."

Most small operations focusing on health food and services have closed because "big box" store operations have begun selling watered-down versions of the products, making them widely available, Craig Carmany added.

JR Carmany said she would continue to try to help people as best she could, but she and her husband "will not be retailing anymore."

Teacher for the ages

Is the secret to longevity hiding in a degree to teach physical education in school?

Parishioners at St. Charles Congregational United Church of Christ are preparing for a big party next Saturday, and that physical education thing may have something to do with it.

Fran Gustafson will celebrate her 100th birthday from 2 to 4 p.m. in the church's fellowship hall. In a note about the birthday party, the church provided some background on Fran, saying she was the only physical education instructor for boys and girls from first through 12th grades when she first came to St. Charles in 1937.

She walked from one school to another in those days, because she didn't have a car. She married math and chemistry teacher Wirth Gustafson in 1939.

Those two served the community in various volunteer functions for 63 years, until Wirth died in 2002.

One can only imagine the number of stories Fran and her friends could share. But she may also have some advice - get a physical education degree.

Dating outdoors?

An email service called Thrillist is telling its subscribers that Geneva's Island Park is one of the top "outdoor date" sites in the Chicago area.

Island Park is nice, no doubt about it. But having been married for more than 30 years and having walked through the park hundreds of times with my wife, I haven't given much thought to its potential as an "outdoor date" location.

At the risk of sounding like a Seinfeld episode, I ask the question, what qualifies as an "outdoor date?" We used to call that "a walk in the park" or simply "going outside."

With the growing popularity of al fresco dining, it might be safe to say that many dates are conducted outdoors these days. So, you may as well take a walk through Island Park as part of the evening.

Batavia Depot, virtually

I just went on a tour of the Batavia Depot Museum - and never left my desk. Anyone can do it through Google Maps.

It's pretty cool. You look up the museum on Google Maps and click on "See Inside" on one of the photos, and then you navigate your way around the museum.

The Batavia Park District says Brad Lawrence of Fox Virtual Tours photographed the museum. Because he is a certified Google photographer, the photos were converted to Google's Street View technology.

Viewers are able to check out both levels of the museum, plus the caboose and Coffin Bank just outside the museum.

Hit the barn sale

Don't forget, it's your last chance from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday to stop by the St. Peter Barn Sale at the Kane County Fairgrounds.

The volunteers who put on this monstrous event each year work pretty much all year to make it happen. If you go, you will see why you should thank them.

Super sketch display

It seemed like a cool idea, and the Illinois Association of Museums apparently agreed. The association awarded the Geneva History Museum for excellence in exhibitions for its display, "Start With a Sketch."

The display shows cartoonists, illustrators and voice characters in Geneva throughout the city's history.

dheun@sbcglobal.net